You really don’t think these kinds of discussions happen with Cardi B or Taylor Swift singles? Because this stuff isn’t confined to alternative and rock only.
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Alt 92.3 Music Changes
- Thread starter MVB13
- Start date
Let's just say a lot more time is taken in picking singles in other genres.
And the listeners are a lot more tolerant.
Which is strange, considering that the late Mix 107.3 isn't known to be a particularly alternative friendly Hot AC. With Mix gone, you would expect WASH-FM to benefit.
Those two screenshots are not so bad if they only just dropped the 90s.
Victorres, I can certainly understand why you feel that way regarding the Washington situation.
DC101 adjusted its playlist to go even more pop/alternative right around the time Mix 107.3 went away. Apart from the logo and morning show, any vestiges of the brand's Rock heritage are long gone.
DC101 is the station people use to avoid bubble gum pop (Hot 99.5), dentist office music (WASH) and hardcore hip hop. That said, WASH certainly benefited, too, from Mix's demise.
DC101 adjusted its playlist to go even more pop/alternative right around the time Mix 107.3 went away. Apart from the logo and morning show, any vestiges of the brand's Rock heritage are long gone.
DC101 is the station people use to avoid bubble gum pop (Hot 99.5), dentist office music (WASH) and hardcore hip hop. That said, WASH certainly benefited, too, from Mix's demise.
Exactly. Five decades ago, listeners had Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Elton John, etc. songs they loved and songs they hated, but they weren't avoiding the stations that were playing those personal "bad songs" or calling for the firing of music and program directors for playing them, nor do they do so today with classic hits stations. I still love "Crocodile Rock" and still hate "Little Jeannie," but I still listen to the classic hits station that plays both and have never questioned the qualifications of the person who put them in the playlist.
I'm amazed so many commercial FM alternative formatted stations still exist. 2021 was the year some of the ratings laggards were finally scrapped. I hope that trend continues into 2022. Time to put something on the dial (where underperforming alternative stations currently stand or once stood) that listeners and advertisers alike will actually appreciate.
The advertisers have already spoken. They support several rhythmic formats, plus country, AC, CHR (which is in a slump, but still attracts younger women, whom advertisers adore), classic rock and sports. No matter the format, if it contains much current rock product, advertisers want little to do with it. Even in cities where the stations do relatively well, the advertisers still hold their noses and won't pay what they pay to advertise on similarly or even lower rated stations that do well in 25-44 female.
AAA formatted WXPK 107.1 The Peak, in Westchester County plays lots of new rock. They even have a nightly program devoted to new releases. Another "rule" they break is that there shouldn't be a very large playlist containing deep tracks.
I guess they are able to do this because they are a suburban station that relies on advertising from local businesses, rather than agency buys. It's great to have suburban stations that can offer programming which wouldn't work with stations located within New York City.
I’m still a bit surprised no one picked up Hot AC when Mix was sold as speculated at the time, but unfortunately DC is under-radioed from a signal standpoint so nobody really has anything to flip.
Good point. Certainly iHM wasn't going to flip any of their signals (their existing stations were the largest beneficiaries of Mix's demise). Howard University - nope. Urban One - nope. Was hoping Audacy would nix its deal with Bloomberg so that WPGC could be jettisoned to 99.1 to allow 95.5 to flip. Instead, they re-upped with Bloomberg.
WPGC perhaps is still a decent biller despite ho-hum ratings for much of the past five years.
WPGC perhaps is still a decent biller despite ho-hum ratings for much of the past five years.
As someone who grew up listening to K-Rock, it was always frustrating being in market #1 and having the MOST conservative playlist. K-Rock in late 97 started adding non-modern cuts and branded themselves "Rock Radio", ignoring many big songs that charted high on the alt charts. It was nice to have access to LIR (being in Southern CT) to counter-balance them.
WPGC has fallen hard over the last few years for sure.
I hate WDCH was just so given up on. It’s a rough signal in Northern VA, but it just seems so wasted now, but I’m sure Bloomberg is paying Audacy ample $$$. 107.9 WLZL is another basement dwelling station, but it has a more MD focused signal than 99.1 WDCH. They don’t do much in DC and don’t show in the Baltimore ppm.
Another music FM was lost with the switch of 105.9 to WMAL-FM, but that move has paid off tremendously well for Cumulus.
Side note: iHeart also probably likes having DC101 in a more female friendly demographic to take advantage of the gap between 99.5 and 97.1 listeners.
And then there's the case of WAVA-FM
105.1 is sadder than 99.1 or 105.9 considering it’s a full market powerhouse, but knowing Salem it’ll probably outlive everyone on this board if FM radio is still even around.
I AM a bit surprised, though, that Salem doesn’t use 105.1 for its news/talk format to get it on FM and shuffle the WAVA programming to one of the AM’s.
Like it or not, that song was a #1 Alternative Airplay hit in 2004. Just because a song crosses over to the pop charts doesn't make it un-Alternative.
Big A and I have gone back and forth about playlists for years. He would refer to placing songs like The Reason as (my paraphrase) placeholder songs. Meaning that once a dominant sound rises in current Alternative, songs like this will be removed.
My take is to separate the lines between Classic and modern/current. Where The Reason isn't a good example, as we don't hear it cross format as much; my observation of it is that the Nirvana, STP, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Green Day, The Offspring songs (Grunge and 90s Punk) have a great amount of cross-over between Alternative stations that have a focus on Alt-Rock, Modern Rock, and Classic Rock. At least with a band like Hoobastank, it doesn't get much airplay.
My take is to separate the lines between Classic and modern/current. Where The Reason isn't a good example, as we don't hear it cross format as much; my observation of it is that the Nirvana, STP, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Green Day, The Offspring songs (Grunge and 90s Punk) have a great amount of cross-over between Alternative stations that have a focus on Alt-Rock, Modern Rock, and Classic Rock. At least with a band like Hoobastank, it doesn't get much airplay.
I think that's what Alt92.3 is doing now, with an emphasis on the classic. I see maybe 20 currents in their playlist.
That has led listeners who want more currents to complain.
It's odd that mornings on Alt 92.3 are now jockless, following the dismissal of the morning team. All of the other dayparts do have personalities.
Northeast Radio Watch offers the opinion that if Audacy wanted to flip the station to a simulcast of WINS, it is now a little easier to do so quickly, without having to deal with ending a morning show. Seems to me that if management wants to do this, ending a morning show wouldn't be a major obstacle. But I can't think of any valid reason the station wouldn't at least have a temporary host for mornings, if they intended to keep the current format for the long haul.
Northeast Radio Watch offers the opinion that if Audacy wanted to flip the station to a simulcast of WINS, it is now a little easier to do so quickly, without having to deal with ending a morning show. Seems to me that if management wants to do this, ending a morning show wouldn't be a major obstacle. But I can't think of any valid reason the station wouldn't at least have a temporary host for mornings, if they intended to keep the current format for the long haul.
This doesn't just affect New York. The WNYL morning show was also airing on several other Audacy alternative stations, and they too are just running music. KVIL in Dallas is just running music. So unless they're planning on blowing up the format on a bunch of stations, they'll just run music.
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From what I understand, mornings are not very important for alternative stations. Afternoon drive has more audience. So there's no real rush to add new hosts whom the listeners will find reasons to dislike.
I was reading that during Thanksgiving, even WCBS-FM didn't use fill-in hosts. So this seems to be the approach in other formats as well.
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