As someone in the coveted 18-34 age bracket, I think I can speak on this with some level of credability. Like most in my age range, we don't listen to only one genre of music. Perhaps this is why so much of today's music is difficult to "label."
Having said that, rock was dead for quite some time (or maybe more acurately it would have been ok to to paraphrase a quote about punk: rock's not dead, it just sucks now). So, I can't really say the consultants were wrong to suggest stations drop "alternative"/ "modern" rock (what horrible monikers). But I don't know who thought it was a good idea to drop it from every station.
Of course, the death of rock was due to radio. In the late 90s, early 2000s radio decided that "rap-rock" was the path rock was going to take and the played the hell out of it. The Limp Bizkit's and Korn's of the world essentially killed the genre and radio ignored emerging sub-genres like emo and others. Unfortunately, as radio began to embrace other bands like Franz Ferdinand and The White Stripes around 2004-5, conglomerates decided to drop the format (behind the curve as usual).
At just about the same time, satellite radio and mp3 players began to take off. So too did the ability to market yourself on the internet thanks to social networking sites like myspace. It's my belief that all this lead to the reimergence of rock. It's funny that in a 2005 NY Times article, former Y100 PD (and current PD of Y-Rock on XPN) said:
I think the internet and satellite gave rock that "outsider image" again. And once again, those ahead of the curve were the first to embrace this new rock revolution.
Personally, I think the rock music that is out there is more exciting than it has been in about 15 years, and there is certainly a market for it in Philadelphia. It's amazing that a band like The Arcade Fire can sell out the Tower, yet have virtually no airplay in the region. Perhaps this will change with the flip of 104.5 (and others?), but I doubt it. It's more likely that bands like Nickleback will be the "modern-rock" acts of choice, with the occasional Killers thrown in.
But what do I know.
Having said that, rock was dead for quite some time (or maybe more acurately it would have been ok to to paraphrase a quote about punk: rock's not dead, it just sucks now). So, I can't really say the consultants were wrong to suggest stations drop "alternative"/ "modern" rock (what horrible monikers). But I don't know who thought it was a good idea to drop it from every station.
Of course, the death of rock was due to radio. In the late 90s, early 2000s radio decided that "rap-rock" was the path rock was going to take and the played the hell out of it. The Limp Bizkit's and Korn's of the world essentially killed the genre and radio ignored emerging sub-genres like emo and others. Unfortunately, as radio began to embrace other bands like Franz Ferdinand and The White Stripes around 2004-5, conglomerates decided to drop the format (behind the curve as usual).
At just about the same time, satellite radio and mp3 players began to take off. So too did the ability to market yourself on the internet thanks to social networking sites like myspace. It's my belief that all this lead to the reimergence of rock. It's funny that in a 2005 NY Times article, former Y100 PD (and current PD of Y-Rock on XPN) said:
I think the internet and satellite gave rock that "outsider image" again. And once again, those ahead of the curve were the first to embrace this new rock revolution.
Personally, I think the rock music that is out there is more exciting than it has been in about 15 years, and there is certainly a market for it in Philadelphia. It's amazing that a band like The Arcade Fire can sell out the Tower, yet have virtually no airplay in the region. Perhaps this will change with the flip of 104.5 (and others?), but I doubt it. It's more likely that bands like Nickleback will be the "modern-rock" acts of choice, with the occasional Killers thrown in.
But what do I know.