It's Bittersweet

[evolve991]

WDRE is for sale! Maybe some quick thinking radio god will snatch up the calls and bring back the station that Dares To Be Different. Philly could use a real modern alternative on a main FM signal. Or maybe I'm just being bitter.......have a niiice daaayyyy

 

[nd2023]

I'd love it if WDRE comes to Philly, with its current format.

 

[wprt949]

i was just thinking the same thing last night

 

[SoulCrusher]

If WDRE came back, I would definitely listen. If Philly can support as many rock stations as it does, it's not hard to see 'DRE making a return, taking listeners from the competition and winning support from those who have become disillusioned with radio.

I've tried listening to Radio 104.5 on several occasions. And honestly, you would be hard-pressed to find a safer, more hit-driven "Alternative" station than them. Because they play so many of the same old familiar songs and have so much overlap between them and the mainstream rock and Hot AC stations, it's extremely frustrating to listen to. Not much '80s music (when they do play it, it's the big arena-rock songs from The Clash and U2), a lot of '90s songs that everyone is sick of by now (seriously, haven't we heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Even Flow", "Lightning Crashes" and "Interstate Love Song" enough already?), and a lot of bands that really don't belong on an Alternative station (The Fray, 3 Doors Down, The All American Rejects, Blues Traveler, post-A Boy Named Goo Goo Goo Dolls, etc.). Worst of all, the playlist is extremely small, with perhaps 300-400 songs on it by my estimate ... that's about half the size of the playlist of the late, lamented G Rock 106.3/106.5. For a station that de-emphasizes DJ banter and limits most talk to backselling the songs, having such a tiny playlist doesn't make sense. It may be doing well now, but it won't stay that way if it continues such a safe approach, or if competition emerges.

The rock market is crowded, but every station right now is very safe and predictable. WMMR is pretty much bulletproof, but the other stations are fair game. If WDRE returns and "dares to be different", it will benefit from having stale competition. I believe that radio should offer something that you can't get from other sources, and to that end, WDRE would be smart not to alter its approach ... the listeners will flock to it over a station that sounds like a really safe 1 GB iPod with commercials.

 

[evolve991]

300-400 songs...I had more on my MP3 player before it went bugfuzz. PLUS quite a few stations ID's that had people stopping to gawk at my radio( work on construction sites and hide the player LOL) Yes RFF does do pretty well in an Elevator/Doctors Office Alternative format. With all the new and/or unsigned bands out there I'd say NOT having a huge,ever growing library is just dumb. Radio began to be more freeminded for a while in the 90s but of course the corporate world could not understand, let alone handle, anything not easily mass produced and homogenized. I rarely had the pleasure of listening to DRE due to its signal but when I did it was a productive day at work. Not to sound too corny but it's hard to rock out(drywaller here) to the dirge-like beat of The Fray or Coldplay. And hard not to become too aggravated to work with Limp Bizkit or Metallicker grating at your ears. There is music out there that is actually enjoyable and motivating.....and CBS/CC/etc are dancing right past it all in thier self molesting love affair with thier idea of a clue.MMR should just keep being MMR. Not that I listen much beyond the Raising Arizona/Kill Bill soundtrack clips. Any true music lover could put together an awesome music library( NO not a PLAYLIST a LIBRARY) JUST by browsing the internet and sampling various sites. Y-Rock on XPN is a good station but it isn't on FM. Not everyone can have streaming access or HD2 at work. There is plenty of room for a truly different radio station in Philly simply because none,not even MMR,take risks and break into the vast universe of sounds out there. The exact same thing can be said for the Baltimore and DC markets. Live,Local and Listenable should be the focus but of course that would make it hard to cram 7 Geico commercials between the 14 Brand New 9 month old songs that are even now repeating...

PS I'll replace my MP3 before I'll invest in HD.

 

[epete]

evolve991, I saw your post on the WLIR.FM tribute site. After searching the web for additional details I could only find a similar post from you here. Where did you get this info? On the LIR board, I responded with my guess that this was simply the formal transfer of the two stations from The Morey Org to JVC Broadcasting. WLIR still remaining under TMO. If this is really up for sale, please provide more info.

 

[MarcR]

I'd love it if WDRE comes to Philly, with its current format.

So it can obtain an equally abysmal .7 share that it currently does on Long Island!

 

[MarcR]

If WDRE came back, I would definitely listen. If Philly can support as many rock stations as it does, it's not hard to see 'DRE making a return, taking listeners from the competition and winning support from those who have become disillusioned with radio.

I've tried listening to Radio 104.5 on several occasions. And honestly, you would be hard-pressed to find a safer, more hit-driven "Alternative" station than them. Because they play so many of the same old familiar songs and have so much overlap between them and the mainstream rock and Hot AC stations, it's extremely frustrating to listen to. Not much '80s music (when they do play it, it's the big arena-rock songs from The Clash and U2), a lot of '90s songs that everyone is sick of by now (seriously, haven't we heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Even Flow", "Lightning Crashes" and "Interstate Love Song" enough already?), and a lot of bands that really don't belong on an Alternative station (The Fray, 3 Doors Down, The All American Rejects, Blues Traveler, post-A Boy Named Goo Goo Goo Dolls, etc.). Worst of all, the playlist is extremely small, with perhaps 300-400 songs on it by my estimate ... that's about half the size of the playlist of the late, lamented G Rock 106.3/106.5. For a station that de-emphasizes DJ banter and limits most talk to backselling the songs, having such a tiny playlist doesn't make sense. It may be doing well now, but it won't stay that way if it continues such a safe approach, or if competition emerges.

The rock market is crowded, but every station right now is very safe and predictable. WMMR is pretty much bulletproof, but the other stations are fair game. If WDRE returns and "dares to be different", it will benefit from having stale competition. I believe that radio should offer something that you can't get from other sources, and to that end, WDRE would be smart not to alter its approach ... the listeners will flock to it over a station that sounds like a really safe 1 GB iPod with commercials.

Though I completely and unequivocally agree with your conception of the ideal Alt-Rock formatted station, I think a station like Radio 104.5 (or its clones like WBOS in Boston and Radio 104.1 in Hartford) is the best we can expect on terrestrial radio.

 

[oasisrulz]

For what its worth, I think Philly has the best and most variety of Rock formats of any large metro. The dreck on the dial in most big towns is so anti-rock its pathetic, so in a way the Philly market is lucky, 98 Rock from Baltimore was coming in today, what a horrible excuse for anything Rock, plenty of talk and predictable safe, safe rock. WSTW-HD-2 is a fantastic station, dont know if you can pick them up S.C. out in Ocean county but if you can its worth the catch.....great music, jocks, info and plenty of old and new Alternative. For a 500+ tower they do get out with their HD better than many of the Philly signals, guess the brute power comes in handy with HD, I am in South Philly about 23 miles from their Xmtr as the crow flies and they are receivable in HD.....also RFF-HD-2 and XPN-HD-2 are worth the trouble but XPN has a very weak HD.

 

[ccuphl]

WDRE is for sale!

Well, not really. Morey/Jarad (the company) sold WDRE and WBON to Jarad's president and another guy for $2.7M.

Unreal to think that $1M (WDRE's selling price) would get you a class-A FM on Long Island!

 

[DToTheJ]

I'd love it if WDRE comes to Philly, with its current format.

I'll settle for WIBF.

 

[evolve991]

I dont remember exactly where I saw news of the sale,my coffee was still brewing as I read it and posted. Sorry guys. Oasis I agree with you on Phillys rock variety but I was talking about regular FM,which is what I think of when I think radio, not HD-2 channels. I realize that stations like WMMR and WHFS were pioneers in a newly established yet little recognized technology and the rest of the world turned to FM in order to 'catch up'. Ibiquity is trying to re-create that phenomonon which would be awesome if there weren't so many people that consider Ibiquity's mis-named HD to SUCK.Philly has ALWAYS rocked out better than Baltimore which is the ONLY good thing about me being dragged to Cecil county MD where the Philly signals reach well. Well so much for dddddddddddd rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee