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Does anybody remember when Alternative went off the air right across North America?

BilboBaggins

BilboBaggins

Addicted Member
I remember this so well, and I'm surprised it didn't stir up any reaction. Over night, Alternative disappeared almost completely across the North American airwaves. I remember this so well, because I was flying out to San Francisco for a training course in San Jose. The morning I left, I driove to the airport parking lot. My favourite radio station wasn't there. There was country playing instead. When I arrived in San Francisco, I couldn't find any of the great alternative stations I was used to listening to when I was out there.

Personally, I think the industry decided they werte no longer going to support the altnative industry, and decided to see if they could change that. What really surprised me wa how few people were talking about it.

Do you remember that time? Interestingly, that alternative radio station I used to listen to that disappeared is back, but these are never the same, especially after so much time.
 
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we had a good one in daytona in the early 90s..the crow(wkro) and a good one in orlando , (wjrr)

wdiz was THE rock station at the time. it was a kick ass hard rock station.

the crow was never a big station and they couldn't compete with wjrr so they switched to classic rock and the hog was born

then wdiz was bought out and did a dual broadcast over wjrr's freq. eventually wdiz became wshe and wjrr turned to a horrible mix of top 40 type rock/hard rock/ alt.

3 kick ass stations straight into the toilet in just a couple of years time.
 
Sgt Shultz said:
Live in the FM wasteland known as the Florida Treasure Coast.

On a good night back in the 70's we used to be able to get this great station out of Ft Lauderdale with the call letters WSHE, known as SHE FM. They would often play whole album sides uninterrupted.
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Wshe in ft lauderdale sold the call letters in the 90s to a Station in orlando.
 
painttoad said:
we had a good one in daytona in the early 90s..the crow(wkro) and a good one in orlando , (wjrr)

wdiz was THE rock station at the time. it was a kick ass hard rock station.

the crow was never a big station and they couldn't compete with wjrr so they switched to classic rock and the hog was born

then wdiz was bought out and did a dual broadcast over wjrr's freq. eventually wdiz became wshe and wjrr turned to a horrible mix of top 40 type rock/hard rock/ alt.

3 kick ass stations straight into the toilet in just a couple of years time.
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"WKRO, where the new rock....hit last week. Where the hell were you?"

The problem is JRR got going in the late 90s and stayed there. Now, it's Dad Rock. Pat Lynch and Taco Bob are pale imitations of their former years. There's a lot of stations that do this. EBN in Cincinnati is one. KTG in Madisonville, KY is another. Nashville's Rock at 105.9 is another, I forget their call sign.

On the other hand, classic rock stations, which also suck because how many times do you need to hear the same 3 songs each from the same 30 bands, are starting to bring in 90s music, too. We don't need any stations playing 90s rock; it was awful the first time around and it hasn't gotten any better since; and some cities have the dad rock station playing it AND the classic rock station playing it.
 
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Yeah. I remember a college station near me being Alternative from at least 2007 to like, 2014 or so. Then, they became Alternative Rock, and you don't hear the weird **** anymore. I think they went corporate.
 
Kodaline said:
"WKRO, where the new rock....hit last week. Where the hell were you?"

The problem is JRR got going in the late 90s and stayed there. Now, it's Dad Rock. Pat Lynch and Taco Bob are pale imitations of their former years. There's a lot of stations that do this. EBN in Cincinnati is one. KTG in Madisonville, KY is another. Nashville's Rock at 105.9 is another, I forget their call sign.

On the other hand, classic rock stations, which also suck because how many times do you need to hear the same 3 songs each from the same 30 bands, are starting to bring in 90s music, too. We don't need any stations playing 90s rock; it was awful the first time around and it hasn't gotten any better since; and some cities have the dad rock station playing it AND the classic rock station playing it.

On the other hand, you can't expect anything run by fat fifties white guys to be cutting edge at anything; that **** was 20 years ago for them.
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were you in the daytona area in the early mid 90s?

there was a bar on beach st. called " the spot" every tues night was "society grunge night"

quarter drafts and grunge/metal videos on all the tvs and a jammin system . they were not shy with the volume if you asked....

i had asked about the station and it was some satellite station out of seattle.

1/2 dozen pool tables in back. an "L" shaped pool table up front.

hadda be 1994/5 . they didn't last very long. too bad. i loved that place.
 
WRKO-AM (680 maybe?) was a big Top-40 station in the Boston market from 1967 until 1981, when it went to the (horrible) all talk radio it remains today...obviously the call sign must have been sold off!
 
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I was a teenager in Sacramento, so we KWOD the alt station at the time (Shawn Cash and Jeff Jensen). I later went to school in Los Angeles, so had KROQ (still on the air with the same format). KWOD changed format in 2009 -- I don't remember this since I had moved to the Bay Area by then. Never really caught on to LIVE 105 then.

Audacy, Inc seems to own any radio station that has an alt rock format now.
 
as a life-long fan of indie, underground and so-called "alternative" music, this, imo, was the best thing for the actual music. The commoditizing and monetization of the music made it inherently not alternative, it was the new mainstream. That in turn, watered it down and made it all crap.
 
OBMG74 said:
If you are looking for reasons:

Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Clear Channel Radio which became iHeartMedia.

The real day the music died.
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This.

I was 12 years in radio as a Dj, and from '93 to '04, I worked at 5 different stations.

The upheaval during that period led us where we are now.

Yet another plug for the last station of employ for me, the always entertaining D93, Bowling Green's classic rock (and SO much more)

www.wdnsfm.com

They have 3 hours of hardcore blues with Kentucky Headhunters' Greg Martin (a good buddy) on Monday nights.
They have the human rock monster in Tommy Starr during the drive home.
They have an alternative hour on Sunday nights (if memory serves)
They have a Prog-Rock hour at some point during the weekend.

Give them a chance. It's the little 25k watt station I grew up with, worked for, and still enjoy.
 
I used to listen to an alternative rock station in Phoenix in the late 90's but I don't remember the call letters any more. I DO remember mandatory Marley during the afternoon drive.

And I've been listening to: https://www.weqx.com/ for years now.

I even stream that station now after I moved.
 
KPRI 91.3fm Rez Radio in Pala Ca
www.rezradio.fm

REZ RADIO 91.3 FM

Rez Radio 91.3 is a non-commercial FM station owned and operated by the Pala Band of Mission Indians for the benefit of residents of the community of Pala and surrounding area.
www.rezradio.fm www.rezradio.fm

Still broadcast OTA from a deep canyon at the base of Palomar Mtn, in N. San Diego County. So it barely makes it out of the canyons. But, it is as close to good radio as I've heard in a long while. They have a great reggae program on sunday morning that I listen to if I'm rolling through the canyon (hwy. 76).
 
OBMG74 said:
If you are looking for reasons:

Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Clear Channel Radio which became iHeartMedia.

The real day the music died.
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When I first saw this thread this is what I was thinking also. There's no time frame mentioned as to when the OP experienced his observation, but I'd guess it was later in the '90s sometime.
Gigantic said:
as a life-long fan of indie, underground and so-called "alternative" music, this, imo, was the best thing for the actual music. The commoditizing and monetization of the music made it inherently not alternative, it was the new mainstream. That in turn, watered it down and made it all crap.
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I'm in agreement with this as well. I wasn't exposed to as much alternative music in my teens and 20's as many were. There weren't college stations near where I lived so much, and they were the ones for the most part where you'd hear that genre of music. I did love Big Black and a number of other bands that were considered alternative. I also loved the Pixies as well. Still do.

At one time I used to spend time at a hotel bar not far from where I lived in the mid/late '90s. Met lots of people and had great conversations with the various guests that stayed at the hotel. In '93-'94 or so, when I'd meet someone that was familiar with alternative music, I'd write down their recommendations on a napkin. Learned of some great bands that way. I believe I still have a few of the napkins from those conversations.
 
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It was different..."Alternative". Some here called it "Experimental".

Had a relative that put out a couple of CD's that were relatively successful, but only a few at the time got into this unique sound.

It was a very slim sliver offered compared to the "Main Stream" offerings. There seemed no middle ground of appreciation.


Q
 
I never really got "Alternative" as a defining genre.

In the mid 80's my group of friends called some of what we listened to "alternative".
It was not what got the label "alternative" a few years later.

I agree, things under that label got assimilated into the mainstream and became the new normal.
 
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