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Music from 1996 on Classic Rock station

MarcB

MarcB

I couldn't believe my ears this morning when I was scanning the FM band this morning just before 5:30AM and I heard "What I Got" by Sublime released in 1996 on my local Classic Rock station 102.9 The Whale WDRC-FM out of Hartford, CT. I had to double check the radio twice to make sure I wasn't tuned to the ALT station Modern Rock Radio 104.1 WMRQ. I'm not a regular listener to Radio 104.1, but I still hear that song played on that station from time to time.

I guess 1996 is now considered Classic Rock. It didn't bother me when last week I heard "Enter Sandman" by Metallica and other songs from 1991 on The Whale, but them playing a song from 1996 sure did. September 96 I began my Freshman year in high school. And I remember Modern Rock Radio 104 playing "What I Got" when it was first released.

Side Note: Hartford is a weird market. Modern Rock Radio 104 originally signed on in late 1994 replacing Hot AC Star 104.1 WYSR. It was corporate owned by a company that eventually merged into Clear Channel (now i-Heart Radio). In 03 they flipped to Hip-hop Power 104.1 WPHH. The station eventually wound up in the Aloha Trust and in 07 CC flipped it to automated Alt rock "fm 104.1" WURH. In 09 local ownership bought the station and renamed it back to Radio 104.1 WMRQ. And thats where we stand today in 2023. Oh and in 2018 the local owner of Radio 104.1 would buy 102.9 The Whale.
 
News flash-- 1996 was almost 30 years ago. Many Classic Rock stations have been trying to move the goalposts for a while. The 60s music is almost all gone from Radio playlists. Adding 90s bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc. is the attempt to keep the demos viable a while longer...
 
In 1996 I used my landline and a modem to connect to what little there was of the internet... at 33.6 Kbps. I preferred Netscape, and Infoseek was my search engine of choice. On the upside, I had indoor plumbing and a good assortment of grunge CDs.

The first iPhone didn't arrive until 2007!
 
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107.1 WWZY "The Boss" has what they call a "Classic Rock Hits" format and they play '90s groups and artists like Third Eye Blind, Green Day, No Doubt, the Goo Goo Dolls, Duncan Sheik, etc. They even played Walk the Moon's "Shut Up and Dance" from 2014!
 
100.7 The Bay in Baltimore does an amazing job mixing classic alternative (including artists largely ignored by commercial radio in many markets despite receiving widespread airplay in the 90s) with traditional classic rock. The station also spikes in some tracks from the 2000s on occasion.
 
1996 was a rough year for rock as mentioned in this Spin article: https://www.spin.com/2021/09/1996-alternative-bubble-burst/

It's often seen as the beginning of the commercial decline for rock music with the end of grunge in popularity. Since the Classic Rock format features the biggest bands and songs of all time it may somewhat challenging going beyond that year with some exceptions. But then again rock is now commonly seen as a genre that follows it's legends. I believe Queen is still one of the most listened to rock bands today. Even on Spotify these classic bands often overshadow anything recent or from the last 25 years. People now seem to care less about the age of their favorite songs so I guess don't try to fix what isn't broken.
 
I remember 20 years ago, a song from 1976 in 2004 would have been considered classic rock or played on my local classic rock station. If we consider the same amount of time between 1996 and now, some rock from that era could definitely be considered classic now. 10 years ago same thing, classic rock stations started playing Bon Jovi and hair metal bands from the 80’s.

In San Antonio we have two rock stations 106.7 The Eagle which mainly plays 70’s-80’s rock and then 99.5 Kiss which is an alternative rock station that hasn’t changed its playlist since 2004. They only play 90’s and very early 2000’s rock, nothing modern.
 
I'm not sure what year it was but there were people complaining that certain styles of rock weren't on the radio in Greensboro NC.

In the early 1990s when there was grunge, it was only played on one of the Top 40 stations. Then one station that was playing country switched to "alternative".

The classic rock station eventually played grunge, many years later. But neither the alternative station nor the classic rock station played Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who didn't fit either format.

These days I'm not even sure what the difference is between the two rock stations. One is regular classic rock, which may or may not still have grunge because I haven't bothered to listen. The other is "mainstream rock" and I'm told this format has very few new songs but lots of loud music from many years ago.
 
The 90's were really the last decade where broadcast radio for most people was pretty much the only option and therefore it had a captive audience.
So after the 90's where do "Classic" stations go in the future? How new can you get before you reach the demos that grew up with streaming and aren't listening to radio.
 
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So if you were 20 years old when much of the progressive rock was out in 1972? How old are you now? New Wave was coming out when I was in college. Classic Rock is Old Man's music! Sort of as cool as playing Glenn Miller in 2004.
 
Flying Dutchman said:
You wouldn't find me listening to that when I was a teen. It was my dad's music. He actually played in some of the big bands. But now dad is gone and it brings back memories of when I was young. I'm fine with it now.
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I liked Glenn Miller as a teen. Just because he was good.

I still get to hear his orchestra on online radio. Kind of a shame the sound quality isn't that good.
 
Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit" now airs in regular play on Kool 108/Minneapolis, a Classic Hits station. And the beat goes on.

Interesting post above about 100.7 The Bay/Baltimore that features a lot of classic alternative rock alongside classic rock/mainstream rock. This is a unique mix for sure. James "Laid" and Mad Season "River of Deceit" are massive outliers for a classic rock station. Playlist link: 100.7 The Bay

03:32The Wallflowers - 6th Avenue Heartache
03:32100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
03:29Rush - Fly By Night
03:23Guns N' Roses - Patience
03:16100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
03:13Sublime - What I Got
03:08AC/DC - Shoot to Thrill
03:08100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
03:03Metallica - Until It Sleeps
03:00The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up
02:59100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
02:55David Bowie - Let's Dance
02:46Spin Doctors - Two Princes
02:45100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
02:41Led Zeppelin - Black Dog
02:37U2 - I Will Follow
02:32Mad Season - River Of Deceit
02:29Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down
02:24Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
02:18100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
02:14School of Fish - 3 Strange Days
02:10Van Halen - Beautiful Girls
02:10100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
02:04Stone Temple Pilots - Creep
02:00The Offspring - Self Esteem
01:59100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
01:55Boston - More Than a Feeling
01:51Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
01:45100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
01:42Green Day - American Idiot
01:40Queen - Killer Queen
01:39100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
01:36R.E.M. - It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
01:33James - Laid
01:33100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
01:29The Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Wind Cries Mary
01:25Def Leppard, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Robert Ziegler & Ian Maclay - Animal (feat. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)
01:19100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
01:14Dave Matthews Band - Satellite
01:10Journey - Wheel In the Sky
01:05Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow (Hey Oh)
01:05100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
01:00Heart - Magic Man
00:48The Goo Goo Dolls - Name
00:48100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
00:42The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (2018 Remaster)
00:38Talking Heads - And She Was
00:34Foo Fighters - Times Like These
00:28Black Sabbath - Iron Man
00:23Bush - Comedown (2014 Remastered)
00:13Gin Blossoms - Til I Hear It From You
00:13100.7 The Bay - Baltimore's Classic Rock
00:09Aerosmith - Rag Doll
00:02Alice In Chains - Rooster (2022 Remaster)
 
Here in Seattleland, we had a new Rock station, "Rock 98.9" that was Classic Rock, but 80's-00's leaning. Very little, if any 70's stuff, unless it was Led Zep or Black Sabbath. Linkin Park, RHCP, Rage, Motley Crue, Korn, Metallica, Danzig, GNR, the usual Grunge greats, and a few others were the core artists I recall hearing the most. The station lasted just shy of a year and a half, starting in 2016.

So, having late 90's music on Classic Rock has been done for a while. Maybe the acceptability of it depends on regional music preferences.
 
The classic rock format largely began in the early 1980s and was primarily AOR gold from the 1970s (Pink Floyd, Foreigner, AC/DC, Heart, Aerosmith, Boston, etc.). Most songs were on average a decade old. So, the fact that most classic rock stations in 2024 are spinning mostly songs that are 25-50 years old now is quite a bit different from what it used to be. Of course, the same is true of classic hits. In the 80s, most of them started the decade with 50s-60s-early 70s oldies, i.e. songs that were 10-25 years old. If that were the same pattern today, the equivalent time period for a classic hits station today would be 1999-2014 hits.
 
I think most Classic Rock stations these days plays "Seven Nation Army" by White Stripes. It was released in 2003. But it sounds like it could be decades older.

I've heard it on a few iHeart-owned Classic Rock outlets.
 
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