WILD FLIPWATCH ALERT!!!

[awp69]

Wow. That playlist has almost no gold plays. It's actually remarkably similar to X98.5 as far as newer songs go except they do play a few harder active tracks then for the gold they go grunge and now do some other throwbacks like Garbage, The Breeders or the Dave Matthews Band. I'd probably love that kind of playlist (especially if it's free of active rock and grunge), but still do like some '90s alt mixed in.

Only thing a newer songs I don't see on there that X plays is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Sacrilege" and Vampire Weekend's "Diane Young".

 

[atlantaboy]

Yeah, I think that Cincinnati station might be even closer to where Radio 105.7 is headed...

I think what makes 105.7 really unique, though, is the Hot AC imaging and pitching - it almost sounds like a CHR from the 90s, and I can't find any other CC Alt. station that sounds like that

I think they're basically building a Hot AC station from the currents on the Alternative chart - this is essentially what Click 98.9 in Seattle did during their first couple months on the air - after some time they ended up adding back in pop/HAC tracks, but I think that's because there was already an Alternative station in that market

This could turn out to be a groundbreaking station (I think), if it's successful

 

[XCountry285]

Maybe if it's successful in Atlanta it'll be successful in NYC

 

[Rick Rose 2.0]

Since 105.7 is signal challenged inside 285 and the fact that a lot of potential audience lives intown maybe 92.3 should be used to suppliment coverage

 

[acheron1982]

Atlantaboy- Interesting you bring up 102.1 The Edge. There for a while, they sounded much like the CC LA station and the one in Houston (The Buzz) which leaned active. Later, they decided to get a little more alternative with the format. Read this article about the format tweak that took place last summer. BTW- That PD is gone with the CC cuts back earlier this year.
Station, however, has still maintained the stronger alternative lean vs its original active/alternative hybrid sound (like the buzz in Houston sounds today).

BTW- Have you noticed alt stations are distinguishing themselves as either "Alternative" or "Rock Alternative". I do believe there is more to this. And I personally see Radio 105.7 going in the direction of 104.5 hints the similarity in name and logo. It's just going to take baby steps to get there.

http://www.dfw.com/2012/06/26/643346/kdge-the-edge-1021-dfw-josh-venable.html

 

[awp69]

BTW- Have you noticed alt stations are distinguishing themselves as either "Alternative" or "Rock Alternative". 

There was actually a discussion in a South Carolina thread regarding the misuse of these labels even when there isn't an active lean. Personally, I think true alternative stations, including Radio 105.7 in Atlanta and even X98.5 in Greenville, should be calling themselves "alternative" not just in reporting, but also in branding. Haven't heard the pitching on Radio 105.7, but X uses the "New Rock Alternative". And people were arguing, and I kind of agree, that a lot of bands that they and other alternative stations  play are really not rock -- like Mumford & Sons, for instance, or even arguably something like M83.

So whether they lean active or not, if they're playing songs that don't fall into the rock category, they shouldn't be using the word "rock". Alternative stations all the way back to WHFS in Washington, DC in the late '80s and 99X when it first started always played some music that was not rock (some reggae, some folksier songs, etc.). Doesn't bother me as much as it does others that the term "rock" is used, but I like and believe alternative stations shouldn't be limited to just songs with electric guitars anyway. That's one reason why they're alternative!

 

[atlantaboy]

105.7 actually isn't really using either "Rock Alternative" or "Atlanta's Alternative"

The most common taglines seem to be "It's all about the music", "Finally, you have a choice in Atlanta", and "Finally, you have an alternative in Atlanta" (which IMO probably means an alternative to Star)

 

[acheron1982]

The only place where you and I (speaking to Atlantaboy) cannot agree on is the comparison to Star. I don't see a comparison at all. Yes, they may be taking some listeners from star but I love alternative and before I would listen to Star, I would switch over to Rock 100.5 or even 88.5. Star plays the alternative radio's sloppy seconds! True, Star overlaps with alternative stations but only by a small percentage. I think Star overlaps with Q100 on a much larger bases.

There was something else I was going to say.........

Oh yeah, I for one do but alternative under the rock umbrella. Many alternative bands are played on rock stations. Alternative is how these artist got started and while some (only a few) go the AC direction, MOST go in the rock direction. I.E. - Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Green Day, The Black Keys (can I stop now?).

 

[megahertz]

I agree completely with acheron82. I don't see the comparison to Star either. Based on yes.com, Star only plays 1 or 2 songs per hour that Radio 105.7 also plays. The vast majority of Star's playlist is not duplicated on 105.7.

The only place where you and I (speaking to Atlantaboy) cannot agree on is the comparison to Star. I don't see a comparison at all. Yes, they may be taking some listeners from star but I love alternative and before I would listen to Star, I would switch over to Rock 100.5 or even 88.5. Star plays the alternative radio's sloppy seconds! True, Star overlaps with alternative stations but only by a small percentage. I think Star overlaps with Q100 on a much larger bases.

 

[awp69]

Oh yeah, I for one do but alternative under the rock umbrella.  Many alternative bands are played on rock stations.  Alternative is how these artist got started and while some (only a few) go the AC direction, MOST go in the rock direction.  I.E. - Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Green Day, The Black Keys (can I stop now?). 

I agree that most alt artists fall under rock. But it's not really just whether an artist goes in the AC direction or even crosses over to CHR, but whether they are really "rock". 99X played things such as reggae with Bob Marley and electronic bands like Erasure when they first started up. Then there's been "alt country" bands like Son Volt and Wilco. And today we've got Mumford & Sons and Of Monsters & Men, who are more of an alternative folk/country band, and a lot of bands that sound more pop (even if maybe too "alternative" to be played on CHR) like 21 Pilots.

As I mentioned, I really have no problem with stations calling themselves "alternative rock", but I've seen people on these forums bash stations for saying that and playing "banjo music" or going as far as calling them CHR2. That's a bit of a stretch as even bands like Fun. definately had an "alternative" sound. They just happened to catch on with Hot AC and CHR. But that's always been a possibility even with the more rock sounding bands.

Anyway, it's all just a matter of semantics. I think a lot of people who think alternative stations are straying too far from rock are those that weren't around when alternative started (even before grunge) to know that it never has and never should be just straight rock bands. Active/Alternative hybrids kind of gave people the impression that it should be. But alternative should not be boxed into only playing harder rock.

 

[Wildstyle K]

yes.com actually still works ???

 

[danman425]

One other slim, but possible route they could take could be a very current leaning-almost top 40 like alternative station with a few old songs thrown in between. Check out CC's Star 101.9 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

[upstate29651]

Oh yeah, I for one do but alternative under the rock umbrella. Many alternative bands are played on rock stations. Alternative is how these artist got started and while some (only a few) go the AC direction, MOST go in the rock direction. I.E. - Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Green Day, The Black Keys (can I stop now?).

I agree that most alt artists fall under rock. But it's not really just whether an artist goes in the AC direction or even crosses over to CHR, but whether they are really "rock". 99X played things such as reggae with Bob Marley and electronic bands like Erasure when they first started up. Then there's been "alt country" bands like Son Volt and Wilco. And today we've got Mumford & Sons and Of Monsters & Men, who are more of an alternative folk/country band, and a lot of bands that sound more pop (even if maybe too "alternative" to be played on CHR) like 21 Pilots.

As I mentioned, I really have no problem with stations calling themselves "alternative rock", but I've seen people on these forums bash stations for saying that and playing "banjo music" or going as far as calling them CHR2. That's a bit of a stretch as even bands like Fun. definately had an "alternative" sound. They just happened to catch on with Hot AC and CHR. But that's always been a possibility even with the more rock sounding bands.

Anyway, it's all just a matter of semantics. I think a lot of people who think alternative stations are straying too far from rock are those that weren't around when alternative started (even before grunge) to know that it never has and never should be just straight rock bands. Active/Alternative hybrids kind of gave people the impression that it should be. But alternative should not be boxed into only playing harder rock.

Fun. is the epitome of what's wrong with alternative today. They do not have an alternative sound. They sound more Hot AC. Mumford does not sound alternative either, hence, CHR2 is quite an accurate description of the format. Personally, I see a war against rock being waged by the entire music industry.

Put on your tin foil hats now......

Why? Because rock caters to WHITE MALES, which is the least cool thing to be right now. From pop culture to the President, there seems to be nothing good coming from the world of caucasia. (I made that word up) While rock as a standalone format continues to wither, CHR & urbans flourish with their sexually charged lyrics, beats, and nonsensical lyrics. The best way to kill off something is...divide & conquer. Since time it killing off classic rock on its own, that leaves active (mainstream) and alternative rock left. If you can "water down" the edge, creativity & other nuances that make alternative what it is, you have a less that desirable product that is easily marketed to the ADHD generation. Also, it costs less to do (and we know the music industry stopped being about music & more about saving money years ago). Which brings me to my final point: Rock is expensive! To pay, promote & put on tour a five to six piece band that plays their own instruments, vs. A singer, a backup band of studio musicians...or better yet, a MacBook, is horribly expensive. So, let's find ways to turn the kids onto music that's cheap to make...which gives rise to Auto Tune, Dubstep, etc.

Got off track but the point is, rock is out of favor now, and one way to kill it off is to create, promote & push an inferior product upon the masses.

G

 

[atlantaboy]

The only place where you and I (speaking to Atlantaboy) cannot agree on is the comparison to Star. I don't see a comparison at all.

Have you listened during in the evenings? The imaging is really similar...

 

[atlantaboy]

One other slim, but possible route they could take could be a very current leaning-almost top 40 like alternative station with a few old songs thrown in between. Check out CC's Star 101.9 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

This is where I think they're headed, just a slightly more conservative version of it - and for suburban Atlanta, at this point, I think it's the best idea

 

[atlantaboy]

(Sorry, not sure how to reply to multiple quotes at one time)

I agree completely with acheron82. I don't see the comparison to Star either. Based on yes.com, Star only plays 1 or 2 songs per hour that Radio 105.7 also plays. The vast majority of Star's playlist is not duplicated on 105.7.

That's the whole point, though - most of the currents/recurrents Radio 105.7 plays have charted on the Hot AC chart - it's just that Star either didn't play them at all, or just barely played them

In other words, 105.7 is attacking Star from the other end of the Hot AC spectrum - and if you listen to the imaging, especially at night, it's solidly Hot AC/CHR

 

[awp69]

Fun. is the epitome of what's wrong with alternative today. They do not have an alternative sound. They sound more Hot AC. Mumford does not sound alternative either, hence, CHR2 is quite an accurate description of the format. Personally, I see a war against rock being waged by the entire music industry.

Did you ever even listen to Alternative back when it REALLY started in the 80s on stations like WHFS? They played everything from New Order to Bob Marley to Lyle Lovett to 10,000 Maniacs to The Sex Pistols. The point is that even back then they played things that were far from being considered rock (punk being the main source of what I'd still consider rock at that point).

My issue is that people don't seem to get that alternative does NOT equal rock. Or at least it shouldn't be. I'm sick of Fun. so I'm definately not standing up for them from a fan point of view. But Fun. and Mumford & Sons both sounded different enough from what was being played on CHR and Hot AC and Country at the time to be considered "alternative". I don't think either band would have survived if it wasn't for alternative breaking them first.

Not going to keep arguing this point, but it's people that think alternative should be rock music that don't really understand where alternative came from. There were plenty of folk artists and poppy New Wave tunes being played when it started as well. It's sad that many people equate grunge as the starting point of alternative. It may have gotten bigger then, but that wasn't when it started.

Anyway, I'm not going to argue that stations probably shouldn't use the word "rock" when refering to alternative. But it just angers me when people think that alternative is just rock.

 

[atlantaboy]

I think that for this generation, Mumford and Fun are Alternative, because they grew out of a huge Indie/Folk Alternative movement in the 2000s - Death Cab, MGMT, Cold War Kids, Metric, Postal Service, etc.

IMO what is "Alternative" for one generation isn't necessarily "Alternative" for the next

 

[awp69]

I think that for this generation, Mumford and Fun are Alternative, because they grew out of a huge Indie/Folk Alternative movement in the 2000s - Death Cab, MGMT, Cold War Kids, Metric, Postal Service, etc.

IMO what is "Alternative" for one generation isn't necessarily "Alternative" for the next

I can agree with that, but I just feel like alternative is just that. It is not just rock. Even in he grunge period, there were artists that I wouldn't consider rock being played along side them. I just think a lot of people associate alt with Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and the like since, admittedly, alt stations took off at that point. And more recently, even stations like 99X began to mix more active rock in.

So people just began to associate harder rock with Altenative when I think stations like Radio 104.5 stuck with it and didn't give into the active rock creep.

 

[atlantaboy]

Fun. is the epitome of what's wrong with alternative today. They do not have an alternative sound. They sound more Hot AC.

"Hot AC" isn't a sound, though - it's a format that targets adult women

If a band appeals to 18-34 males, by definition, they can't be "Hot AC", at least not exclusively - hence, the reason why Mumford and Fun fall in the Alternative category, at least for now

I think what confuses people is that right now, a lot of teens listen to mellower "rock" music than their parents did - I'd say the same was true in the late 1980s, when teens were listening to R. E. M., and their parents were listening to Zeppelin