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Is there an establised alterna-rock retro format?

A

Angie Coiro

Strikes me that there's a hungry market for alternative oldies - particularly synth-pop and early techno, and the eclectic mix that made the likes of Live105 great in its day.

Check out the comments on YouTube for - oh gosh, take your pick. Desireless' "Voyage", Alphaville, Camouflage, Love and Rockets, Duran Duran, Ultravox, OMD. You'd be surprised how many are from teens and 20-somethings who gobble this stuff up and bewail today's musical dull conformity.

I know we don't have such a format in SF/SJ. Is it present in any markets that you know of?
 
106.9 the Zone in Houston started like that first but now moved into more of a 90's alternative direction.
 
When Channel 104.9 first came on the scene it had a format somewhat like that. I knew a lot of folks who listened, but either it was an experiment and never meant to be a real format or it might have just failed. 93.7 in Sacramento is doing something similar, but not exactly. One thing you have to remember is that the early Live 105 (and the Quake before it) were somewhat unique in the US. Not completely unique by any means, but there weren't a large number of other stations like them. In fact, I was traveling a lot in those days and the only one I distinctly remember was WHFS in Baltimore/Washington. The "alternative" format didn't really take hold nationwide until the grunge era.

Would it work in the Bay Area? Probably. If you don't have to service a great debt load. I could totally see that as a hybrid format mixed in with some more modern dance stuff. Will anyone try it? Probably not.

Dave B.
 
DaveBayArea said:
When Channel 104.9 first came on the scene it had a format somewhat like that. I knew a lot of folks who listened, but either it was an experiment and never meant to be a real format or it might have just failed. 93.7 in Sacramento is doing something similar, but not exactly. One thing you have to remember is that the early Live 105 (and the Quake before it) were somewhat unique in the US. Not completely unique by any means, but there weren't a large number of other stations like them. In fact, I was traveling a lot in those days and the only one I distinctly remember was WHFS in Baltimore/Washington. The "alternative" format didn't really take hold nationwide until the grunge era.

Would it work in the Bay Area? Probably. If you don't have to service a great debt load. I could totally see that as a hybrid format mixed in with some more modern dance stuff. Will anyone try it? Probably not.

Dave B.
Click to expand...

Some early stations that played this type of stuff -

Live 105 SF as you mentioned of course
KROQ LA
91X San Diego
The Buzz Houston
WFNX Boston
WBRU Providence
WDRE Philly
WHFS Washington/B'More
WLBS "New Wave of the 80's" 102.7 Detroit
 
WBIMDJ said:
Some early stations that played this type of stuff -

Live 105 SF as you mentioned of course
KROQ LA
91X San Diego
The Buzz Houston
WFNX Boston
WBRU Providence
WDRE Philly
WHFS Washington/B'More
WLBS "New Wave of the 80's" 102.7 Detroit
Click to expand...

You're right - how could I have forgotten WFNX - "Boston Phoenix Radio" - apparently run by the same company that had/has the weekly entertainment freebie paper. I also remember KROQ and 91X, but (and this is personal taste, of course) to me they didn't have what Live 105 had.

Dave B.
 
travisl5678 said:
105.3 HD-2 plays that kind of music
Click to expand...

Alice used to play a lot of that stuff, not sure how much of it they play now. And KFOG plays a fair amount, esp when it's an '80s year on 10@10. Annalisa loves her some New Wave.
 
wasnt KWOD 106.5 in Sac like that too in the 80s and early 90s.
 
Mike said:
travisl5678 said:
105.3 HD-2 plays that kind of music
Click to expand...

Alice used to play a lot of that stuff, not sure how much of it they play now. And KFOG plays a fair amount, esp when it's an '80s year on 10@10. Annalisa loves her some New Wave.
Click to expand...

Isn't this kind of what the (sadly) now defunct 80s format was?  Most of these stations I remember hearing leaned heavily alternative.

None on Alice anymore, sadly, except for the occasional obligatory conglomerate-approved-for-Hot AC-standards (i.e. "Don't You Forget About Me," "I Melt With You," "Lovesong," etc), and even these don't get much love.  Even Star 101.3 plays slightly more, but not much.  I remember in the early and mid 00's when Alice was going crazy with that type of music...loved it.

Channel 92.3 used to play a good amount of pretty amazing new wave retro tracks before they sold out last summer.  Now, in addition to all the other changes they made for the worse, you're limited to the conglomerate-approved-for-Alternative-standards: Enjoy the Silence, Policy of Truth, Personal Jesus, Friday I'm in Love, Lovesong, Just Like Heaven, Pictures of You, Bizarre Love Triangle, Blue Monday, How Soon is Now, Lips Like Sugar, I Melt With You, & all of U2's greatest hits (if those count).  At least that's still more than Live 105 plays.

Energy used to play alot too before they got bought out.

Yeah, KFOG is probably the best place to hear it these days. 
 
93.1 Jack FM in L.A. is about as close as I've ever heard... with KROQ in the building they seem to go super 80's new-wave.
 
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