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real alternative stations

C

critic319

There are so few real alternative stations left. Hats off to a few of the good ones.

FM949 San Diego
WEQX Manchester
Indie 1031 LA
91X San Diego(CC must not know they own this one)
WFNX Boston
CD101 Columbus

Its really disgusting what big corporations have done to radio. Thats my 2 cents.
 
> There are so few real alternative stations left. Hats off to
> a few of the good ones.
>
> FM949 San Diego
> WEQX Manchester
> Indie 1031 LA
> 91X San Diego(CC must not know they own this one)
> WFNX Boston
> CD101 Columbus
>
> Its really disgusting what big corporations have done to
> radio. Thats my 2 cents.
>
Define your opinion of real alternative. Do you mean Harder Active leaning stations are good, or do you prefer the more eclectic Alternative stations, like WOXY 97X, or do you prefer the OLD Electronica Friendly (EX) stations, like (THE 90s sound of KTCL 93.3 DENVER) and of course, the old WLIR. Or do you mean the RETRO friendly Alternatives, that still play artists like Elvis Costello, Inxs, and Depeche Mode............ I prefer BBC Radio ONE for the British Modern Rock bands, that I like.
 
> There are so few real alternative stations left. Hats off to
> a few of the good ones.
>
> FM949 San Diego
> WEQX Manchester
> Indie 1031 LA
> 91X San Diego(CC must not know they own this one)
> WFNX Boston
> CD101 Columbus
>
> Its really disgusting what big corporations have done to
> radio. Thats my 2 cents.
>


Some of the ones we lost in the Mid Atlantic/Northeast over the past few years:

106.7 WDOX (Cape May)
102.7 WJSE (Atlantic City) *Now Active*
103.5 WJNE (Delmarva)
92.7 WLIR (Nassau/NYC)
107.1 WLIR (Eastern Long Island)
100.3 WPLY (Philly)
92.3 WXRK (NYC) *Now Active/Classic*
104.1 WMRQ (Hartford)
99.1 WHFS (DC/Balitmore)
93.7 WBSX (Wilkes-Barre) *Now Active on 97.9*
103.7 WWRX (Providence) *Simulcasted WFNX*

Here are some of the remaining stations:

106.3 WHTG/98.5 WBBO (Jersey Shore)
88.9 WMCX (Monmouth University)
92.7 WRRV/96.9 WRRB (Hudson Valley)
103.1 WHRL (Albany)
102.7 WEQX (Manchester)
101.7 WFNX (Boston)
95.5 WBRU (Providence)<P ID="signature">______________
V

NOT NEW YORK....
NOT PHILADELPHIA....
PROUD TO BE NEW JERSEY....</P>
 
> 102.7 WJSE (Atlantic City) *Now Active*


Take away the occasional plays for Guns N' Roses and AC/DC (really the only classic rock bands that they play), and they're the closest thing to a true commercial Alternative station in New Jersey. They still play Beck, Hot Hot Heat, Stellastarr and other bands you're not likely to hear on an Active Rock station. They also play a far better selection of new rock than any other station in all of NYC, New Jersey and Philly.</P>
 
> > There are so few real alternative stations left. Hats off
> to
> > a few of the good ones.
> >
> > FM949 San Diego
> > WEQX Manchester
> > Indie 1031 LA
> > 91X San Diego(CC must not know they own this one)
> > WFNX Boston
> > CD101 Columbus
> >
> > Its really disgusting what big corporations have done to
> > radio. Thats my 2 cents.
> >
> Define your opinion of real alternative. Do you mean Harder
> Active leaning stations are good, or do you prefer the more
> eclectic Alternative stations, like WOXY 97X, or do you
> prefer the OLD Electronica Friendly (EX) stations, like (THE
> 90s sound of KTCL 93.3 DENVER) and of course, the old WLIR.
> Or do you mean the RETRO friendly Alternatives, that still
> play artists like Elvis Costello, Inxs, and Depeche
> Mode............ I prefer BBC Radio ONE for the British
> Modern Rock bands, that I like.


The reason these stations are left is because they were always alternative and were never in it for the #s. The death of the Northeast/Mid Atlantic Alternative was because most of them (WPLY especially) was never in it for the alternative music but the numbers. The day Y100 played Metallica was the day alternative died in Philadelphia. It took two more years though for Y100 to leave the airwaves. Alternative music as we all know is inherently an underground format. The typical listener (and advertiser) will not get Sufjan Stevens or Arcade Fire
 
I've always maintained that Alternative died about nine years ago, when grunge petered out and Alt stations had to rely on active rock bands such as Metallica, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Disturbed and the like for currents. Up until recently, there has been no discernable difference between Active Rock and Alternative in most markets. Both are designed to attract younger males. Sure, some stations play more gold than others and Alt stations are slower to add active rock singles and vice versa. But eventually, the same hits impact both formats and at the end of the day, the top ten tracks at each format are fairly similar.

I'm sorry, but there is no such thing as "harder rocking alternative." Sure, alternative will occasionally have a hard rocking song, but it's not the nuts and bolts of the format--never has been. I have to laugh at stations like KXTE/Las Vegas and WXTM/Cleveland who play almost all active rock titles but yet they report alternative and say in the trades that "We're 'alternative' for our market." What a pile of crap. They're active rockers! Actually, nearly all active rock and alternative stations from 1996-2004 have been the same format, a current based, younger skewing mainstream rock format. There was nothing "alternative" at all about the alternative format during that period.

Now that Alternative seems to be returning to it's experimental roots, it's no surprise that all of these "alternative" stations are flipping to other formats or adding classic rock titles and going mainstream. The big corporations are chasing the beer money, which means 12-24 is less important than 18-34 and 25-44. These stations have always been mainstream! Now that there is a dearth of heavy rock currents and the ones currently being worked test so poorly, is it any shock that these stations are going away?

It's nice to see that there are a few good alt stations left out there who really get it. Unfortunatly, it looks like Alternative is returning to where it was 20 years ago, where there were only 20 or so stations in the format--including KROQ, WFNX, WBRU and 91X.....

Mike Thomas


> The reason these stations are left is because they were
> always alternative and were never in it for the #s. The
> death of the Northeast/Mid Atlantic Alternative was because
> most of them (WPLY especially) was never in it for the
> alternative music but the numbers. The day Y100 played
> Metallica was the day alternative died in Philadelphia. It
> took two more years though for Y100 to leave the airwaves.
> Alternative music as we all know is inherently an
> underground format. The typical listener (and advertiser)
> will not get Sufjan Stevens or Arcade Fire
>
 
I have to laugh at stations like
> KXTE/Las Vegas and WXTM/Cleveland who play almost all active
> rock titles but yet they report alternative and say in the
> trades that "We're 'alternative' for our market." What a
> pile of crap. They're active rockers!

WXTM is purely active rock. They had one weekend promotion paying homage to WENZ when it was a stellar alternative rock station in the mid to late 90s. Sans for that, you're never going to hear anything more alternative than Green Day.
 
KNSX 93X St. Louis...KPNT used to be a great alternative, but moved towards an Active Rock direction several years ago when they were bought by Emmis.

> There are so few real alternative stations left. Hats off to
> a few of the good ones.
>
> FM949 San Diego
> WEQX Manchester
> Indie 1031 LA
> 91X San Diego(CC must not know they own this one)
> WFNX Boston
> CD101 Columbus
>
> Its really disgusting what big corporations have done to
> radio. Thats my 2 cents.
>
 
> > There are so few real alternative stations left. Hats off
> to
> > a few of the good ones.
> >
> > FM949 San Diego
> > WEQX Manchester
> > Indie 1031 LA
> > 91X San Diego(CC must not know they own this one)
> > WFNX Boston
> > CD101 Columbus
> >
> > Its really disgusting what big corporations have done to
> > radio. Thats my 2 cents.
> >
>
>
> Some of the ones we lost in the Mid Atlantic/Northeast over
> the past few years:
>
> 106.7 WDOX (Cape May)
> 102.7 WJSE (Atlantic City) *Now Active*
> 103.5 WJNE (Delmarva)
> 92.7 WLIR (Nassau/NYC)
> 107.1 WLIR (Eastern Long Island)
> 100.3 WPLY (Philly)
> 92.3 WXRK (NYC) *Now Active/Classic*
> 104.1 WMRQ (Hartford)
> 99.1 WHFS (DC/Balitmore)
> 93.7 WBSX (Wilkes-Barre) *Now Active on 97.9*
> 103.7 WWRX (Providence) *Simulcasted WFNX*
>
> Here are some of the remaining stations:
>
> 106.3 WHTG/98.5 WBBO (Jersey Shore)
> 88.9 WMCX (Monmouth University)
> 92.7 WRRV/96.9 WRRB (Hudson Valley)
> 103.1 WHRL (Albany)
> 102.7 WEQX (Manchester)
> 101.7 WFNX (Boston)
> 95.5 WBRU (Providence)
>

You missed Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Vermont. Check their playlists and see what you think.
 
WFNX is a great station....they play Stellarstar, Sweet Revenge, Death Cab and more. And for us listeners outside the local area, we're lucky enough to have an online stream to blast. The show I'm really digging is Alterego with Paul Driscoll. http://www.fnxradio.com


> I have to laugh at stations like
> > KXTE/Las Vegas and WXTM/Cleveland who play almost all
> active
> > rock titles but yet they report alternative and say in the
>
> > trades that "We're 'alternative' for our market." What a
> > pile of crap. They're active rockers!
>
> WXTM is purely active rock. They had one weekend promotion
> paying homage to WENZ when it was a stellar alternative rock
> station in the mid to late 90s. Sans for that, you're never
> going to hear anything more alternative than Green Day.
>
 
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