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Favorite Alternative radio stations Reboot

KPNT remains the class of the Alternative format with a strong mix of classic and modern Alternative with a careful selection of top Active Rock currents mixed in. They are the only Alternative-formatted station to top a market in 6+ in several years.

The Rizzuto show has been #1 in St Louis for years and is a delightfully zany listen. They are fond of stunting with music blocks and retro golds on the weekends as well, pulling out many forgotten songs out of a hat.

Great morning show, great DJs, great playlist. Have a listen.
 
The first two hours of music on KPNT today, to give the curious an idea of what they're walking into:

10:04 AM: Live - "Lightning Crashes"
10:16 AM: Three Days Grace - "I Hate Everything About You"
10:20 AM: The Lumineers - "Ho Hey"
10:23 AM: The Killers - "Mr. Brightside"
10:27 AM: Metallica - "Wherever I May Roam"

10:40 AM: System of a Down - "Spiders"
10:44 AM: The Offspring - "Why Don't You Get a Job?"
10:47 AM: Palaye Royale - "Broken" (current)
10:51 AM: Linkin Park - "In The End"
10:54 AM: Coheed and Cambria - "A Disappearing Act" (current)
10:58 AM: Modest Mouse - "Float On"

11:09 AM: Weezer - "Beverly Hills"
11:12 AM: Wage War - "Godspeed" (current)
11:15 AM: Oasis - "Don't Look Back in Anger"
11:20 AM: Breaking Benjamin - "I Will Not Bow"
11:24 AM: Story of the Year - "Real Life" (current)
11:28 AM: Red Hot Chili Peppers - "By The Way"

11:35 AM: Pearl Jam - "Black"
11:41 AM: Fall Out Boy - "Centuries"
11:44 AM: Green Day - “Holiday”
11:48 AM: Highly Suspect - “Natural Born Killer” (current)
11:52 AM: Bush - “Machinehead”
11:57 AM: Arctic Monkeys - “Do I Wanna Know?”
 
Favorites? OK...

KPNT - favorite commercial alternative station
KEXP - favorite big non-commercial alternative/indie station
WBER, WHSN - a couple of favorite small non-commercial college alternative/indie stations for their music playlists
CIND - Indie 88.1 - favorite Canadian commercial alternative station
CBC Music (Radio 2) - favorite non-commercial Canadian alternative/AAA/indie mix in the afternoons on "Drive" (station has block programming).
104.7 Radio Hit - Special mention to this favorite international alternative station from Costa Rica
Triple J - Longtime Aussie favorite
 
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Some interesting statistics in that article. The male/female audience split is closer than the male audience stereotype often discussed here. There are even stations where females outnumber the male listeners.

And then there's this which refutes so much of what has been repeatedly written in these rock and alternative threads:

At five of these 11 stations, there's a notable share of Black and/or Hispanic listening in the core demo. DC's “DC101” shows Blacks' share of 18-49 listening at 20.6% and Hispanics at 10.8%, compared to the market's population share of each, at 26.8% and 16.5% respectively. Pittsburgh's “The X” has 10.6% of Black listening within the core, vs. a 9.0% population share. And at Austin's “101X,” Houston's “Buzz” and Denver's “Channel 93.3,” the Hispanic share of 18-49 listening is 23.4%, 22.4% and 14.7%, compared to a 31.0%, 36.3% and 21.0% market population share.
Click to expand...
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Some interesting statistics in that article. The male/female audience split is closer than the male audience stereotype often discussed here. There are even stations where females outnumber the male listeners.
Click to expand...

That's not necessarily a positive if those females start to hurt audience at a co-owned Hot AC. The male audience is harder to get because young men especially prefer music with inappropriate topics or lyrics. Those can only be heard via streaming. So if alternative music duplicates or cannibalizes audience, that makes it less attractive in cluster operations.
 
KPNT could be the new KROQ. We've been wondering if KROQ could ever recover their old glory, but maybe the better question is what station could take KROQ's place. It's looking like it could very well be KPNT. They are the station breaking artists right now, and they are crossing Active Rock regulars to Alternative, which is stunning considering that Alternative was allergic to Active Rock mainstays for over a decade. I Prevail, Ghost, and Rival Sons are all beginning to cross to Alternative from Active Rock at this moment, and this would not be happening if KPNT wasn't what they were.

They've hit upon something in St. Louis. They still listen locally and they tailor the music to the market, and now the St. Louis method is taking over Alternative slowly but surely.

What this means for the West Coast and New England, two regions that will most likely be completely alienated by KPNT's style, remains to be seen.
 
The Inside Radio article is outstanding.

People in their late 30s and 40s are most likely to listen to Alternative is the main takeaway for me. The format also skews somewhat male (but not by a huge degree).

This might explain why Mike Kaplan's strategy of pushing currents heavily, deemphasizing foundational artists, deemphasizing guitar based material, and calling some rhythmic pop "alternative" proved to be a flop in most places that formula was tried. I think that approach repelled some of the folks who might've otherwise been P1 or P2 listeners.

Once folks reach their mid 30s or thereabouts, I recall they generally prefer familiar music and artists over new ones.
 
MarkW said:
People in their late 30s and 40s are most likely to listen to Alternative is the main takeaway for me.
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It's the other way around. People who listen to Alternative are most likely to be in their 30s & 40s. But people in that age range also listen to other formats as well.

MarkW said:
This might explain why Mike Kaplan's strategy of pushing currents heavily,
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I don't recall any Audacy stations playing a lot of currents. Maybe 5-6, and maybe 2-3 times a day. But yes, he stayed away from new music by veteran acts. Country (which also appeals to people in their 30s & 40s) also rarely plays new music by artists from the 90s.
 
My favorite alternative station was WIIZ in Lafayette Indiana. Despite the station making decent ratings, it went broke and was silent for many months while being sold.

A funny thing, the station continued to make good ratings even after being silent and gone for half a year. I quit believing in the book so much after that.
 
It's the other way around. People who listen to Alternative are most likely to be in their 30s & 40s. But people in that age range also listen to other formats as well.
Click to expand...

That indeed is the point I was trying to convey. Sloppy phrasing on my part earlier. Sorry about that. I should've said folks in their 30s and 40s are most likely to be the core listeners of an alternative station.
 
TheBigA said:
It's the other way around. People who listen to Alternative are most likely to be in their 30s & 40s. But people in that age range also listen to other formats as well.



I don't recall any Audacy stations playing a lot of currents. Maybe 5-6, and maybe 2-3 times a day. But yes, he stayed away from new music by veteran acts. Country (which also appeals to people in their 30s & 40s) also rarely plays new music by artists from the 90s.
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Playing new music from veteran artists is a tricky proposition. Beyoncé has been in the game since the late 90’s and pop radio is playing her right now, for example. It comes down to, IMO “is my target demographic listening to them or not?”

There is evidence that 18-34 year olds do listen to some veteran Alt artists. Gorillaz, blink-182, The Smashing Pumpkins, Death Cab for Cutie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Deftones, and a number of others have sizable TikTok followers and/or attract young-leaning crowds. And you know what? If the target demo is listening to their new songs and not just their hits, playing their new material is probably a good idea! Ageism is stupid.

What Audacy did was practice ageism, and it was totally unnecessary. I don’t think the stations would have been as bad of a hole if the ageism hadn’t been as prevalent. A good song that young people like is a good song that young people like, even if the artist is 40-50 years old.

Obviously the ideal would be to have a mixture of veteran and fresh artists, but like everything else, balance is key.
 
45DB97FD-6A08-4C52-BAF8-156E6D6A58B9.jpegI’ve been digging the recently relaunched WNNX in Atlanta, which flipped last Monday to Classic Alternative, returning to the iconic 99X branding

99X

Here’s a sample music log…

2:33 - “Bitter Sweet Symphony” - The Verve

2:28 - “People Are Strange” - Echo and the Bunnymen

2:24 - “Desperately Wanting” - Better Than Ezra

2:20 - “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” - Jet

2:17 - “Dissident” - Pearl Jam

2:12 - “Policy of Truth” - Depeche Mode

2:08 - “1979” - The Smashing Pumpkins

2:04 - “The Impression That I Get” - The Mighty Might Bosstones

2:01 - “Saved by Zero” - The Fixx

1:55 - “Ready to Go” - Republica

1:51 - “Dancing with Myself” - Billy Idol

1:47 - “Orange Crush” - R.E.M.

1:43 - “All Apologies” - Nirvana

1:39 - “What You Need” - INXS

1:34 - “I Alone” - Live

1:30 - “Clocks” - Coldplay

1:25 - “Big Empty” - Stone Temple Pilots

1:19 - “Sowing the Seeds of Love” - Tears for Fears

1:15 - “Self Esteem” - The Offspring

1:10 - “My Hero” - Foo Fighters

1:06 - “Don’t Get Me Wrong” - The Pretenders

1:03 - “Slide” - Goo Goo Dolls

1:00 - “All The Small Things” - blink-182

12:55 - “The Way” - Fastball

12:50 - “True Faith” - New Order

12:46 - “Around the World” - Red Hot Chili Peppers

12:38 - “Champagne Supernova” - Oasis

12:33 - “Modern Love” - David Bowie

12:29 - “Spoonman” - Soundgarden
 
Worst alternative stations would be audacy stations. I think they should reboot New Rock 101.9 in New York City. My favorite alternative station is WRRV in Middletown NY.
 
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