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Another new Cox translator for Greenville?

They have a webstream now (and I see are also on the Tune In mobile app):

http://streaming.x985fm.com/_players/coxradio/index.php?callsign=WJMZHD2

It's funny that 93.3 seems to have added new material as time has gone on, but they have never "updated" and cleaned out all of the 70s and most of the 80s. I see a lot more artists on the X985 website now that I haven't heard (Evanescene, Coldplay, Kings of Leon stick out). I wonder if The Planet thinks anything about all of this. They certainly haven't changed anything. They probably take on an attitude that "that sissy rock won't hurt us, WE ROCK!" Exactly the response Rock 101 had to Chuck-FM.
 
carolinaradio said:
They have a webstream now (and I see are also on the Tune In mobile app):

http://streaming.x985fm.com/_players/coxradio/index.php?callsign=WJMZHD2

It's funny that 93.3 seems to have added new material as time has gone on, but they have never "updated" and cleaned out all of the 70s and most of the 80s.  I see a lot more artists on the X985 website now that I haven't heard (Evanescene, Coldplay, Kings of Leon stick out).  I wonder if The Planet thinks anything about all of this.  They certainly haven't changed anything.  They probably take on an attitude that "that sissy rock won't hurt us, WE ROCK!"  Exactly the response Rock 101 had to Chuck-FM.
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Thanks for the stream! As far as 93.3 goes, they may have added "new material" but even without the outdated '70s and '80s stuff, they still would sound awful. It's like the louder the better and who cares if it's really any good.

EDIT: Ugghh...can't get the stream to work for me at work for some reason. Just says loading...then nothing.

As far as the updated website, they have added quite a few names to the list. Seems like a lot of older alt bands more than new ones, but still shows a good variety. Now if they can only implement that. Do like their little "P1" list ...particularly the one saying P1s want to hear more NEW music.
 
Just out of curiousity, mainly because I don't want to listen to The Planet to see if they've responded, I checked out what they've been playing over the last 24 hours. Aside from Green Day's "Oh Love" and the Black Key's "Gold on the Ceiling", it's the same Staind, Korn, AvengeSevenfold, Hoobastank, Tool, Shinedown crap along with the older grunge and even older Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. What a sad, sad station. And surprise, surprise -- "Zombie" by The Cranberries at 11:27 p.m. last night. As if the mix isn't bad enough, how can they even justify playing a song like that with the otherwise screaming guitar trash they play? I think that may even be worse than when MY was playing an occasional '70s song when they first went to Hot AC.
 
I agree. If you ever listen long enough, on top of all of the other issues with The Planet, their audio quality is HORRIBLE. Always has been. I actually heard X98.5 play "Oh Love" today, which was pretty good to hear as it's not been out long. Hendrix and Zeppelin (and even though you didn't mention them, Skynyrd and Pink Floyd) need to be put out to pasture and left to Rock 101. I understand the concept of "active" rock mixing older and newer rock, but they just reach too far back IMO. They're in the same building as the classic rock station, for crying out loud!

I saw that X98.5 doesn't plan on adding air personalities. While I think personalities are a very valuable asset to a radio station, I'm fine with that decision. After all of these years of The Planet's "attitude", I'm fine with the music taking the driver's seat. Radio 104.5 has very good (and tolerable) personalities - that's one reason I enjoy them, but I'm happy with X's decision.

Oh, the webstream quit working for me a little after 4, but came back. It dropped out again but returned soon.
 
carolinaradio said:
I saw that X98.5 doesn't plan on adding air personalities. While I think personalities are a very valuable asset to a radio station, I'm fine with that decision. After all of these years of The Planet's "attitude", I'm fine with the music taking the driver's seat. Radio 104.5 has very good (and tolerable) personalities - that's one reason I enjoy them, but I'm happy with X's decision.
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Yeah, I saw that on their Facebook page as well. I'm fine with that as well as long as they have a playlist / last 10 on their site so if there's something I don't recognize I can find out what it was. I was running some errands tonight and heard The Killers' "Runaways", "Oh Love" and what I believed to be the latest single from The Offspring amongst some older alternative.

I feel like I'm rambling on and on in the thread and you and I are probably the only ones that really care. But at the same time, for the past year, we've both been saying how nice it would be to have a decent rock station and how bad The Planet and Rock 101 are. So since we finally got our wish (which in and of itself was surprising), I like to hear how it's doing.

It's not Radio 104.5 (and since that station is so unique I could never expect it). But it seems like it's going to be a pretty good station and I'm certainly happy with it.

I think The Planet should be worried. Despite the weaker signal, The Planet doesn't have that great of ratings to begin with so anything that bites away at it is going to hurt.
 
awp69 said:
Yeah, I saw that on their Facebook page as well. I'm fine with that as well as long as they have a playlist / last 10 on their site so if there's something I don't recognize I can find out what it was. I was running some errands tonight and heard The Killers' "Runaways", "Oh Love" and what I believed to be the latest single from The Offspring amongst some older alternative.

I feel like I'm rambling on and on in the thread and you and I are probably the only ones that really care. But at the same time, for the past year, we've both been saying how nice it would be to have a decent rock station and how bad The Planet and Rock 101 are. So since we finally got our wish (which in and of itself was surprising), I like to hear how it's doing.

It's not Radio 104.5 (and since that station is so unique I could never expect it). But it seems like it's going to be a pretty good station and I'm certainly happy with it.

I think The Planet should be worried. Despite the weaker signal, The Planet doesn't have that great of ratings to begin with so anything that bites away at it is going to hurt.
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Yeah, the muted reaction on here is kind of surprising, because I read posts on here in other markets where a lot of posters petition for an Alternative (or sometimes AAA) format. Guess it's just more of a reflection that it's not a really popular format in this neck of the woods. Still, with little overhead, I don't think the numbers will have to be great. I'm most curious to see if it manages to get what 96.7 The Buzzard, who sounded more like The Planet, was getting (upper 1's) in the ratings once established. Main thing to factor in, though, is that 96.7 has a little more strength than 98.5.

I listened for a decent span tonight and liked what I heard, but could do without the Beastie Boys who they seem to play frequently. I hear a lot of Linkin Park, but yet to hear "Burn It Down" (their latest, which Channel 96.1 even plays). I think I'm hearing some more currents, though, so perhaps things are coming together even more. Seeing that this whole thing came from nowhere (98.5 was static 2 weeks ago), my expectations are pretty low.

I never, ever thought Alternative would come back here. I thought it would be a good choice for this frequency, but Cox had everything covered up so well that nothing ever pointed to Alt. This was terribly needed. I don't think Cox could have ever had any impact on WORD with talk. If they were trying to use the new signals to protect JAMZ, I don't see any benefit for JAMZ from an Alternative format -- The Planet, who it likely overlaps with most as far as audience, is already at the bottom of the ratings pile.
 
carolinaradio said:
I listened for a decent span tonight and liked what I heard, but could do without the Beastie Boys who they seem to play frequently. 
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I agree about the Beastie Boys. Think there's been some people on Facebook complaining that they play them too much as well.

I know MY has less to react to since there's not much overlap compared to The Planet, but see that they've added "Oh Love" as well and they actually do have "Burn It Down". Surprised that they haven't added "Runaways" as it's actually more Hot AC friendly than The Killers' older songs. Was surprised to hear Live on MY last night ("Lightning Crashes", not their new single).
 
BTW, still can't get the stream to work. I think it's an issue with my outdated work laptop (we're still on Windows XP!).

Trying the Tune In app, but it cuts in and out a lot because of our poor Wi-Fi.
 
awp69 said:
I know MY has less to react to since there's not much overlap compared to The Planet, but see that they've added "Oh Love" as well and they actually do have "Burn It Down". Surprised that they haven't added "Runaways" as it's actually more Hot AC friendly than The Killers' older songs. Was surprised to hear Live on MY last night ("Lightning Crashes", not their new single).
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I've heard "Lightning Crashes" on MY several times. They seem to throw a bone to the Alternative audience every now and then. If anything, I guess X could take a little of the male audience from MY, but I don't see any notable impact on MY.

The stream cuts out for me sometimes, too, but I have Windows 7. Same for the TuneIn app on my iPhone. I THINK TuneIn somehow rebroadcasts the station's main stream, so I guess they both go down at the same time.
 
Here I am yet again. I just noticed that you can look at the playlist from past hours within the TuneIn app.

They really are playing just about all of the "currents" and newer bands that they list - Young the Giant, Imagine Dragons, newer singles from Mumford & Sons and The Killers, etc. The thing is that they play them so infrequently that it's a little annoying. They play things like STP, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and the Beastie Boys more often than anything.

To me they sound quite a bit like 103X, which was great 15 years ago, but there's been plenty of new music since then.
 
awp69 said:
Here I am yet again. I just noticed that you can look at the playlist from past hours within the TuneIn app.

They really are playing just about all of the "currents" and newer bands that they list - Young the Giant, Imagine Dragons, newer singles from Mumford & Sons and The Killers, etc. The thing is that they play them so infrequently that it's a little annoying. They play things like STP, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and the Beastie Boys more often than anything.

To me they sound quite a bit like 103X, which was great 15 years ago, but there's been plenty of new music since then.
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Yeah, but I don't think the TuneIn last played is displaying all of the songs. It only shows a handful of songs an hour, and they're playing way more.

Add Linkin Park and RHCP to that list, too. I hear them almost every time I tune in. Here's the current Alt chart: http://secure.randr.com/bdsradiocharts/charts.aspx?formatid=6&lightbox=true

I still haven't heard "Ho Hey", "45", "Tonguetied", "Burn It Down", "Too Close", or "Kill Your Heroes." Still haven't heard "Everybody Talks" (not actually a current anymore) from Neon Trees, but have heard "Animal" several times.
 
Think the TuneIn list did show most of the songs you listed, but, yeah, if they are playing them, it's very seldom. Only one of those I've actually heard myself was "Too Close".

Looking at the full alt chart you linked, there's maybe 10 of the top 40 that I've actually heard on air. Some bands - like Metric and Silversun Pickups - I haven't heard at all, regardless of whether a current or not.
 
Gotta keep in mind that it's better than The Planet. But listening almost all day today, I think I've heard two or three currents at most. Yet I've heard Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Linkin Park (again not their latest), Puddle of Mudd, Beastie Boys and Stone Temple Pilots --- ALL at least twice.

And soooo many 90s...Bush, Filter, Alice in Chains, 3 Doors Down...along with Korn, Seether, Tool and Incubus.

Feel like I'm beating a dead horse...or I guess they seem to beating a dead horse with a playlist that feels like classic alternative mixed with harder Planet-style rock. Oh well, it's still another button to try on the dial. And there's really nothing they could do to make themselves worse than The Planet. Just another case of "new rock" not really translating to what's really new.

Guess it's just frustrating when they have a really good opportunity to bring so much new to the table.
 
I noticed like 3 songs from the 90s in a row around lunchtime today. I wonder if they're trying to be a Classic Alternative? Somebody mentioned this on the Alternative board, and I thought I would mention it here, they indeed played "Bodies" by Drowning Pool the other day. Would The Planet even play that?

I still haven't heard Florence & The Machine, Kings Of Leon, or Coldplay, either, in addition to the artists you had mentioned - all of which are mentioned on the website. I'm surprised they play "Pumped Up Kicks" so frequently but not other similar-sounding songs that are newer. I consider FTP to be "light" or "pop" Alternative.

I can definitely do without Tool and Korn. Goodness. Leave them to The Planet. Still what I listen to the most, and likely will be continue to listen to the most, but it's just a shame that there's new music that's not getting played.
 
Certainly seems more like Classic Alternative with just a sprinkle of new stuff. But it's kind of like how The Planet calls themselves New Rock 93.3 (even though they are Active rock). I'm not sure why X98.5 is also using "The All-New Rock Alternative" if most of the music they play isn't new.

Oh, and yes, I don't understand why they play "Pumped Up Kicks" fairly regularly too. That's not even the bands latest (just like the Neon Trees' "Animal"). A lot of newer bands they say they play on their website are not being heard -- or at least not very often.
 
This afternoon, I finally heard "Tongue Tied." Seems like they are playing more new songs, but still a lot of 90s grunge. It doesn't seem like they go an hour without playing a current anymore.
 
carolinaradio said:
This afternoon, I finally heard "Tongue Tied." Seems like they are playing more new songs, but still a lot of 90s grunge. It doesn't seem like they go an hour without playing a current anymore.
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Yeah, I listed a bit today to and, yes, still a lot of '90s grunge and just older alternative in general, but I did hear a few at least "newer" songs that they weren't playing. Finally heard them play Silversun Pickups and, maybe as a response to some of the comments on Facebook, some lighter alternative. And it's funny, still nothing like Coldplay, but it was really strange that they played Matt Kearney. Even with some other songs they were mixing in it sounded WAY out of place. They played it right after the Beastie Boys (there was a promo between, but it still did not fit). I know Matt Kearney is pop-rock and it's good to hear him on places like B93.7 or MY, but I don't think even Radio 104.5 plays him.

Anyway, if they can play him, there's definately no reason they can't play Coldplay or other "alt light" songs.
 
That's certainly an odd fit that seems better suited for an AAA station. Do you remember which Matt Kearney song it was? Was it "Closer To Love?" It did well on AAA, but didn't chart on Alternative according to Wikipedia.

Silversun Pickups and Grouplove are a step in the right direction...I hear Of Monsters & Men a lot, which is also lighter alternative. They are definitely on the right track, hopefully they will continue to improve. A sound like X-102.9 in Jacksonville would definitely be acceptable.

The funniest song that's missing is "Burn It Down", Linkin Park's latest - as much as they play them, it seems like they would play it!
 
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