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Globe (with loss of FNX) What happened to Boston rock radio?

Fybush: “One of the reasons ’FNX probably didn’t do better than it did is because of the number of college stations that take a similar approach to radio,” he says, mentioning Emerson College’s WERS, MIT’s WMBR, and Boston University’s WBUR. “They have the ability to be even more out there in their selections and less constrained by commercial necessities.”

Huh??? WBUR "similar" to WFNX??? In what universe?
 
CTListener said:
Fybush: “One of the reasons ’FNX probably didn’t do better than it did is because of the number of college stations that take a similar approach to radio,” he says, mentioning Emerson College’s WERS, MIT’s WMBR, and Boston University’s WBUR. “They have the ability to be even more out there in their selections and less constrained by commercial necessities.”

Huh??? WBUR "similar" to WFNX??? In what universe?
Click to expand...

I wonder if they actually meant Brown University's WBRU?
 
Who knows; meanwhile this article says yet again that Mindich still owns the WFNX call letters.
Really? Unless maybe he made a deal with CC to park em somewhere, as CBS did with WBCN
(1660, Charlotte NC. Up next on WBCN...Sean Hannity!)
 
Mr. Fybush, I'm disappointed you didn't include 1000 watt WZBC.. mostly "modern rock" all day all week. WMBR rocks all week in the AM, then "Lost and Found" all week 'till 2, but afternoons fluctuate with block programming. There's also WUMB, similar to WERS, closer to "soft rock" than WFNX. I'm sure WHRB would like to have been included as well, although their programming fluctuates wildly. Not sure if WRBB, WBRS, WMLN, and WMFO have strong enough signals to be a factor. Are there any other college stations inside 128?
 
Signpost said:
Mr. Fybush, I'm disappointed you didn't include 1000 watt WZBC.. mostly "modern rock" all day all week. WMBR rocks all week in the AM, then "Lost and Found" all week 'till 2, but afternoons fluctuate with block programming. There's also WUMB, similar to WERS, closer to "soft rock" than WFNX. I'm sure WHRB would like to have been included as well, although their programming fluctuates wildly. Not sure if WRBB, WBRS, WMLN, and WMFO have strong enough signals to be a factor. Are there any other college stations inside 128?
Click to expand...

Not including carrier-current stations, WMWM Salem State U. is inside 128, though their on-air signal is very weak in the Boston metro. It can be heard in spots on a good tuner.
 
Signpost said:
Mr. Fybush, I'm disappointed you didn't include 1000 watt WZBC..
Click to expand...

I think it may have been a mention of "WZBC" that was transposed into "WBUR," come to think of it. (Honestly, I don't recall with any certainty - that was one of four interviews I've given to Globe reporters in the space of a week, believe it or not!)

In any event, the point I was trying to make was that the sheer volume of college stations in the market (also including my own alma mater, WBRS!) changes the game somewhat where a commercial alternative rocker is concerned. The fact that we're all still chiming in with other entries is an indication of just how rich the noncommercial dial in Boston is, compared to many other markets of similar size.
 
With no commercial alternative outlet in Boston, the college stations will be free pick up the slack and start playing bands they might have previously avoided (Foster the People, Silversun Pickups, etc).

The opposite of that at the moment, is WFNX now playing a more adventurous mix than before, since they are no longer concerned about quarter hours, time spent listening, etc.
 
Admittedly I haven't tuned into WBOS lately, but after Mike FM shut down WBOS seemed to pick up a lot of Mike's titles. WBOS *should* go full on rock now, with live DJ's.
 
WBOS is not alternative, they are a hybrid of alternative/active/modern AC with a drowning dose of limited 90s gold. Mass appeal last-20-years-of-rock.
 
promixcuous said:
WBOS is not alternative, they are a hybrid of alternative/active/modern AC with a drowning dose of limited 90s gold. Mass appeal last-20-years-of-rock.
Click to expand...

That's why I said "technically". Their currents are based on the alternative/modern chart and they report to and are monitored as alternative/modern.
 
rockcaptain said:
promixcuous said:
WBOS is not alternative, they are a hybrid of alternative/active/modern AC with a drowning dose of limited 90s gold. Mass appeal last-20-years-of-rock.
Click to expand...

That's why I said "technically". Their currents are based on the alternative/modern chart and they report to and are monitored as alternative/modern.
Click to expand...

Ok, I see.
 
And remember that WERS and WUMB are popular enough to generally tie, if not beat, WFNX in the Arbitrons.

While neither format is strictly alt, they both program some alt tracks in an appealing commercial-free presentation mixed with material which may be (for the most part) appealing to a person who also likes alternative rock.

Plus around the edges you've got the programming on WBOS and WXRV which may buttons on the car radio, too.

This is not counting WZBC, WMBR, the post 10PM daily stuff on WHRB, WBRS, WMLN, WZLY and other outlying college stations in an area with more colleges (and more college stations) than just about anywhere on earth.
 
Well , said HHH.
HHH, is ZLX still using the 8 track computer music file? Will CBS have any HD-4s? Will CBS increase digital power to any FM HDs in town?
 
The quotation marks around "alternative" with respect to the WBOS playlist points out another phenomenon that boxed in WFNX - the co-opting of alternative by mainstream radio in the 90s. Kiss 108 was playing some pretty "out there" titles around the time of the first Lilith Fair, and Mix 104 played plenty of crossover titles and featured like-minded artists at Mix Fest.
 
newsbot said:
The quotation marks around "alternative" with respect to the WBOS playlist points out another phenomenon that boxed in WFNX - the co-opting of alternative by mainstream radio in the 90s.
Click to expand...

Which is why it's unlikely that you'll see another commercial station attempt to replace WFNX. The real story here is not that radio has changed, but that rock music and its audience has changed. And rock music fans have become far more Balkinized than they were in the "rock era," so to speak. Back then rock music was a lot broader than it is now. That allowed a station to cume a larger audience built around a wider variety of music, from pop to metal to blues to progressive. Today, radio stations have to walk a fine line in the music they play so as not to alienate their listeners. The tolerance level is a lot lower than it ever was. The format has been niched to the point where a station can't cume enough people to make money. So alternative HAS to go underground in order to retain its fan base because the fans won't accept music that becomes too mainstream. It's one of those things like falling in love with a small neighborhood restaurant because the food is good and it's never crowded. That leads to word-of-mouth promotion, and the next time you go, there's a line, and the food doesn't taste as good as it once did. And this isn't only a problem in Boston, but also in Houston, Washington DC, and New York. The markets where it works are places like Pittsburgh or Minneapolis, where one owner can spread the format over several stations to get a combined audience that's big enough to sell. That's where a single station owner like The Phoenix can't compete.
 
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