RANDOM RANT: INDIE 103.1

[radiojomo]

I remember the first time signing in on this board that I came to discuss the exit of Indie 103.1 in the market. Since then, I have learned so much about radio from everyone on these boards and since buying an iPhone and streaming a lot of online stations, I haven't checked out the state of the local LA Alternative stations. I flipped it on to KROQ and 98-7 and was extremely disappointed. The stations haven't changed at all since my last tune-in, and in my almost hour and a half of listening, I really only heard less than a handful of currents and I realized how much I missed Indie 103.1 because I knew I could find something refreshing to listen to.

Anyone on the same boat?

I listen to KCRW every once in a while in the late mornings and nights and that's nice, but their NPR News weighs down most of the day

 

[Michael Rivers Kramer]

I listen to KCRW every once in a while in the late mornings and nights and that's nice, but their NPR News weighs down most of the day

and their music "weighs down" most of their ratings.

 

[Dick Skinner]

This horse is so dead even the flies have moved on.

 

[musicfan101]

This horse is so dead even the flies have moved on.

Kind of like your radio career? Or, wait have you even worked in radio? Great stations lives in great minds everyday. Indie was something other stations were not, or what they used to be. I actually think in a few years a station like Indie will be back on commercial radio.

 

[calguy]

Never have so few complained so much about losing a radio station. I used to listen to Jonsey's Jukebox which was quite enjoyable, but honestly, other than the fact that they played music not heard here normally they were a VERY unremarkable station. Indie died because it wasn't mainstream enough to be competitive, and even if it was, it did not have the signal to cover enough area to be competitive either. RIP Indie, you're gone and we'll never get to move on because there will always be one of a handful of people to keep the those mediocre memories alive right here on Radio-Info.

 

[radiofan111]

I think KDL was the bigger loss. What a waste! So much potential. All Blown..

 

[WBIMDJ]

I find KROQ unlistenable. I could probably name you without looking on yes.com what the past 40 songs or so they've played, and be almost 100% correct. Seriously, it's that repetitive.

 

[radiocph]

I remember listening to KROQ in the early 1980s. Then, the station *was* truly playing *alternative* music--songs you could hear nowhere else on the LA radio dial. This included not only 80s synth-pop stuff, but hip-hop rap, some odd foreign songs once in a while, plus (late at night/early morning) uncensored punk rock such as the Dead Kennedys.

In the past 10-15 years, though, "alternative" music (on KROQ or elsewhere) has become much more of a predictable commodity, much the same was as "R&B", "Country," "Adult Contemporary," etc. with certain vocal styles, instrumentation, subject matter expected...

 

[radiobum]

i remember steve jones talking about looking for heroin in his sex pistols days on indie 103.1 five years ago. now that was compelling radio...i'm serious.

 

[davideduardo]

.Great stations lives in great minds everyday. Indie was something other stations were not, or what they used to be. I actually think in a few years a station like Indie will be back on commercial radio.

"Great" carries with it a sense of impact and importance. As in "Alexander the Great."

Alex did not get the "Great" name for successfully administering some backwater crossing of the trails in Mesopotamia... he got it by winning the allegiance of his soldiers and by vanquishing his enemies.

Indie did not "win over" anything. It got bad ratings that got worse as time went on, and then collapesed in PPM. If anyone tries it again, the results in a PPM world will be worse.

 

[Uncle Rob]

I always hear people yapping about the AAA format and I know it's been tried numerous times out here and it's always failed. The way people talk of it you'd think it would catch on but it never has. Is that because there is no audience for it? Or "They just ain't doin' it right"? Does anyone know how the format does on the internet radio? Successful or not?

 

[davideduardo]

I always hear people yapping about the AAA format and I know it's been tried numerous times out here and it's always failed. The way people talk of it you'd think it would catch on but it never has. Is that because there is no audience for it? Or "They just ain't doin' it right"?

The biggest issue is that the LA market has 70% of it's 12+ population in groups where AAA is unappealing or of limited appeal.

42% Hispanic, and mostly first and second generation where AAA would have no appeal.
8% Black, a group where AAA severely underindexes.
12% Asian, another group where the format is of lesser appeal
10% immigrants not included in any of the groups above such as Persians, Russians, etc., who would have no heritage of liking AAA.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

PPM has been a double-edged sword for radio.

The good: It is a much more accurate means of sampling actual radio listening, as opposed to the diary method, which encouraged people to write down their favorite stations or personalities for entire blocks at a time. "Yep, I listened to all 7 hours of Howard on KLSX every day last week. Didn't miss a minute." Sure you didn't.

The bad: Because the feedback is so instantaneous and can be sliced and diced so much more finely than before, it encourages stations to take even LESS chances than they had before. Example: The KROQ of 1979 - 1984 simply could not happen again today. Because they were taking real risks, without a corporate-approved long-term plan, and were not monitored by the minute. They were flying by the seat of their pants while creating a radio legend. But then in the late 80's, the suits got really involved, "professional tastemakers" were brought in with (I'm assuming) the consultants and listener focus groups that came with them. Of course the music got stale. Whenever you ask a critical mass of people what they like, you are galways going to get lowest common denominator. With the original KROQ, they didn't ask their audience if they liked the Sex Pistols, X, The Clash, et al. They just played them, and the audience came to the station. With PPM, only the highest tested, most safe tracks get played, with an emphasis on solid gold tracks. So with the benefit of ratings and research, KROQ does great in PPM, but who thinks as highly of the station now as they did in its golden years? In short PPM stifles creativity.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

I think indie does have lasting repercussions for if it werent for indie there probably would be no 98.7 fm. Didn't indie show there was a need for another alternative station with a more mainstream appeal or do you think star 98.7 would have flipped to alternative on there own?

 

[davideduardo]

I think indie does have lasting repercussions for if it werent for indie there probably would be no 98.7 fm. Didn't indie show there was a need for another alternative station with a more mainstream appeal or do you think star 98.7 would have flipped to alternative on there own?

And Y-107?

Star was, for many years an alternative-leaning AC, targeting women. It evolved into a broader approach, trying to target Hispanics better than KROQ... and they achieved that part quite well, indexing against Hispanics much higher than KROQ.

Indie, with dismal rating, would not have encouraged any station to switch... in fact, when it lost about 75% of its share when the PPM ratings first came out, it discouraged the idea of a broader based station.

 

[The Spy]

Indie was a great station with so much diversity for a commercial station...it was amazing it was able to last the length time on FM it did..

2 years later..indie is alive and well...Jonsey and "Mr. Shovel" are on KROQ (Sunday nights)..Chuck P. and Henry Rollins are on KCRW..and indie is on indie1031.com where many shows remain from the FM days...many new ones have been added..including Liz Warner and Tedd Roman..from the FM days...with a music/talk show midday's..

 

[emailfailed]

The bad: Because the feedback is so instantaneous and can be sliced and diced so much more finely than before, it encourages stations to take even LESS chances than they had before. Example: The KROQ of 1979 - 1984 simply could not happen again today. Because they were taking real risks, without a corporate-approved long-term plan, and were not monitored by the minute. They were flying by the seat of their pants while creating a radio legend. But then in the late 80's, the suits got really involved, "professional tastemakers" were brought in with (I'm assuming) the consultants and listener focus groups that came with them. Of course the music got stale. Whenever you ask a critical mass of people what they like, you are galways going to get lowest common denominator. With the original KROQ, they didn't ask their audience if they liked the Sex Pistols, X, The Clash, et al. They just played them, and the audience came to the station. With PPM, only the highest tested, most safe tracks get played, with an emphasis on solid gold tracks. So with the benefit of ratings and research, KROQ does great in PPM, but who thinks as highly of the station now as they did in its golden years? In short PPM stifles creativity.

Well, I would say the "professional tastemakers" came in much earlier, around 1981-82 when Rick Carroll arrived and managed to turn the strange, unique randomness that was KROQ into alternative top 40 (along with mistakenly adding various AOR titles).

The crowd that was into the alternative/punk/new wave, etc. scene in L.A. at the time picked up on the changes too.

To be fair, Mr. Carroll and company did pull many of the AOR tracks out of the playlist and helped hone KROQ into becoming a wider appealing sounding station.

 

[musicman3355]

Indie 103.1 was better than the "blaring accordion music" they have on right now.

Sorry if I offended anyone, but I couldn't resist ;D

 

[davideduardo]

Indie 103.1 was better than the "blaring accordion music" they have on right now.

Sorry if I offended anyone, but I couldn't resist ;D

Ah, you prefer the blaring guitars...

I also could not resist...

 

[musicman3355]

Indie 103.1 was better than the "blaring accordion music" they have on right now.

Sorry if I offended anyone, but I couldn't resist ;D

Ah, you prefer the blaring guitars...

I also could not resist...

No, I prefer the blaring autotune.