A lot of these threads about these rock/alternative stations - be it KROQ, KEGL, WNYL, etc - are a great example of the reason rock is in the state it’s in on terrestrial radio.
There is very little consensus or agreement among the audience. How can the stations program to that? You don’t see that with country. You don’t see it with hip hop. You do something that may please one listener, you piss off the other. I’d hate to be a rock or alternative PD.
The challenges with rock these days are many (demographic changes, listener taste changes, a down cycle of music to name a few).
In 1982, 99.5 KISS here in San Antonio was a very popular AOR station; they were also
the de facto Classic Rock station, New Wave or Alternative station and to a degree the oldies station. Back then with fewer FM’s, and18-34 male demographic that was rock geared, they could cobble a wide range of rock and be successful.
Over time the format fragmented and the genres became quite different. The overlap in the late 90’s and early 2000’s of Alternative and Active eventually led (in most markets) to one of the stations going away and the winner choosing the Alternative route or Active Route.
Alternative shifted gears to a more pop friendly approach which alienated the listeners who favored harder rock; so with a few exceptions, the Alternative stations began deemphasizing the rock sound and even the word rock.
Classic Rock has maintained because of the quality of the music and the era that the music was so much a part of.
While (personal opinion interjected here) the Active Rock product has been better in the last year, it has regardless become a niche format as opposed to a mass appeal format. Alternative and Active can coexist, but one has to tread carefully (KPNT is a great example).
Trying to program a fragment of a fragment and please a declining audience is tough.