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99 X Is Back

IMHO Alternative has to be the most difficult music format to execute on a commercial radio station. You can't play a lot really of commercially successful acts or tunes or you get into classic Rock, The music has to be "different" yet recognizable which limits "indie" tracks. You are trying to be hip and not being part of the "establishment" (sorry for the 1960’s term) while playing commercials.
 
It's nearly impossible to pull off with the younger demographics being peeled off by hip-hop and country. Rock no longer rules suburbia.
 
It's funny how you guys act like you know younger audiences like gen z well when you claim we "like country", the only people who are making those country songs go up on the charts is conservatives who are streaming it all at once because they're "anti-woke" or whatever. Zach Bryan is one of the few exceptions since a lot of people think he's actually kinda a good artist. Morgan Wallen is more popular only for his n word incident.

Yes, gen z loves hip hop, but if you think none of the generation is into rock, then why has there been a resurgence in interest of nu metal, what about tiktok loving Deftones and new wave? What about bands like Lovejoy or Boygenius blowing up on the alt charts, what about the stan accounts of IDKHOW or Twenty One Pilots I get on my feed all the time?
 
IMHO Alternative has to be the most difficult music format to execute on a commercial radio station. You can't play a lot really of commercially successful acts or tunes or you get into classic Rock, The music has to be "different" yet recognizable which limits "indie" tracks. You are trying to be hip and not being part of the "establishment" (sorry for the 1960’s term) while playing commercials.
I totally agree with this. Use this board as an example. If someone doesn’t like a few songs that a station plays then the PD is terrible at his job an embarrassment etc…I think we can all guess who I’m referring to. Plus, all the sub-genres in that format tend to dislike the other sub-genres in that format. I try to look past the music on those stations and look more at the other parts of the brand that matter just as much.
 
It's funny how you guys act like you know younger audiences like gen z well ....
I could make a gazillion snarky remarks in poor taste because I worked in newsrooms in the 1970s but instead, I'll just point out the prevailing demographics hereabouts.
 
I could make a gazillion snarky remarks in poor taste because I worked in newsrooms in the 1970s but instead, I'll just point out the prevailing demographics hereabouts.
which demographics? that gen z doesn't listen to radio? of course we don't, you guys never tried to appeal to us since you don't know our music tastes well.
 
so have fun making radio a boring gen x retirement home. the real alternative scenes will stay alive with the power of the internet.

it sucks its this way since i want radio to have a future, i have a passion and interest for it, but you guys clearly just want alternative to die out and radio in general to die out, gen xers get to have all the fun, millenials and zoomers are streaming even though some of us have nostalgia/love for radio or would give it a fair shot if it appealed to us with new music.
 
I hate to break it to you but you don't speak for an entire generation. Nobody does. Everybody has freedom to listen to their own music their own way.
But you guys can speak for an entire generation?

I never even said no one should be allowed to listen to anything. I said "there is clearly an audience of gen zers who would be willing to listen to alternative radio if they appealed to them by playing local/new artists they might be into"

I talk to Gen Zers because I am a Gen zer. I browse music nerd websites like rateyourmusic that is full of Gen Zers and them gushing about stuff like Animal Collective, George Clanton, Squid, Yves Tumor, Knocked Loose, there is literally a band called Maneskin thats big with Gen Z (I don't like em but I'd play them because they have an audience), pop punk has a revival because of gen z discovering or remembering stuff like My Chemical Romance, pop artists have been making rock tracks right now.

Clearly Gen Z like rock.
 
which demographics? that gen z doesn't listen to radio? of course we don't, you guys never tried to appeal to us since you don't know our music tastes well.
Demographics of people who participate regularly on this board.

I don't like sweeping conclusions about "generations", myself. Such conclusions demonstrate a lack of analysis.
 
I also have a radio nerd friend who's a few years younger than me who loves radio because of the new artists he'd grow up hearing like Twenty One Pilots, The Neighbourhood, New Politics, etc... but alt radio in San Diego doesnt play them anymore really because everyone's trying to play the same stuff oldies stations are playing to appeal to a small minority of gen xers who were complaining how it isn't the 1980s anymore, leaving music lovers and young people with no interest for 91X. My friend and I still love the station a lot though and tune in and just try to request when we can.

I went to the Resurrection Sunday live event a couple weeks ago, met the PD, twas awesome. I talked with younger 91X workers who literally said to me "they miss new music being played on the station more" and "we share some artists to the music director and program director and get played on Planet Nu Nu".

The millenials and gen zers who are interns or work for radio probably reccomend a lot of cool artists to the older workers and stations, but for some reason, there's only Gen X appeal for every alternative station now. 99X, 91X, 94.9 and KROQ are trying to play older stuff because of nostalgia.

It's just leaving wasted potential for new music and new local music that could help continue the stations to thrive once Gen Xers are gone.

What will the millenial or Gen Z workers for radio do when that happens?
 
Demographics of people who participate regularly on this board.

I don't like sweeping conclusions about "generations", myself. Such conclusions demonstrate a lack of analysis.
you guys aren't gonna be around forever you know. think about the younger gens before you.

If I were in the business and had a career, i'm in my 50s-60s, would I just think about the station i work at and the music I played and introduced to my audience during my younger years, or would I also consider the new music that's happening with young people that would fit my station and I might dig?
 
so have fun making radio a boring gen x retirement home. the real alternative scenes will stay alive with the power of the internet.

it sucks its this way since i want radio to have a future, i have a passion and interest for it, but you guys clearly just want alternative to die out and radio in general to die out, gen xers get to have all the fun, millenials and zoomers are streaming even though some of us have nostalgia/love for radio or would give it a fair shot if it appealed to us with new music.
I don't think anyone particularly wants anything. There are some industry professionals here (I'm not one of them) who are simply describing what they observe with regard to listener behavior. I don't think they're pushing an agenda here.
 
you guys aren't gonna be around forever you know. think about the younger gens before you.

I think you mean "after you".
If I were in the business and had a career, i'm in my 50s-60s, would I just think about the station i work at and the music I played and introduced to my audience during my younger years, or would I also consider the new music that's happening with young people that would fit my station and I might dig?
You might be more likely to find that on noncommercial stations, to be honest. College radio had that role at one time, but it seems to have lost its vitality in recent years.
 
But you guys can speak for an entire generation?

Huh? Who?

I said "there is clearly an audience of gen zers who would be willing to listen to alternative radio if they appealed to them by playing local/new artists they might be into"

Fantastic. I'm sure there's a station somewhere that does that, and it probably streams. Knock yourself out. But there are only so many local radio stations in every town, and they prioritize their programming based on what makes them money. Radio is not in the music distribution business. The record labels have deals with streaming services that ensure their music is getting out. That's how the system works. If radio in your area doesn't play what you want, subscribe to a streaming service. There are lots of them.

However radio stations are not going to change their format to suit one person. That's what personal streaming lists are for. Radio is a mass medium. It programs to masses. If that's not you, then find something else.
 
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