Man, I really hope they don’t take 106.1 away from the country format… I like it MUCH better than 94.7 most days (second to XM Radio, of course).

Didn’t a competitive station group buy up all of the 106.1 potential country domains back when they were launching that new format as well? (Hence why they had a ridiculously long website address for some time.) Hmmm…, someone should have filed a icann domain name dispute, or five.

I heard Reynolds and Silva were going to give away a Ferrari when the new WRDU station goes live!

Seriously why can’t the Triangle support a alternative station?

OMG, al. That was exactly what I was saying every other sentence in 1988. I’m not chastising your bur rather supporting your argument. With about 75K college students in the listening market, it is really unfathomable that bands like The Duke Spirit, The Catherine Wheel, and Keane earn strange looks from typical people.

The problem is the FCC. Instead of providing a palate where people can project art among the public, they have created a situation where 2 prime players in every market can thrive, with only the bottom line as their goal.

To be honest, I gave up on listening to music on the radio about 10 years ago. I have a Rhapsody To Go subscription and dearly love it (Zune Pass would be equally as good).

There is this little thing called WKNC that has turned into a pretty fine alternative station in the past 5 or so years. I had previously given up on radio until I started listening at a coffee shop, it’s pretty great.

For those of talking about alternative stations and viability, its really easy to understand why there isn’t one here. And yes, WKNC has become rather amazing of late but it is non-commercial so actual ratings are not monitored and reported, which means it isn’t sold to advertisers. Its “commercials” are “grants”. That distinction is huge. That means commercial radio stations and groups (CC, CMG, et. al) do not even consider them relevant when pitching their own stations to potential advertisers. So…with that said…it effectively removes them from consideration when format is discussed in viability terms because they are not operating as a commercial business, and the discussion here is about commercial stations and the lack of a commercial alternative station.

Here’s the deal: there isn’t any money in it. Plain and simple. There’s a reason why, even after destroying WRDU in the rock station ratings war, that 96rock went to its current format and away from the backpack/alt/active rock sound. Younger people, whom traditionally flock to these types of stations, do not spend as much and are catered to by a smaller demographic of advertisers. By aging the sound of your station (but by staying heavily local, something 96, CMG, and CB are incredible at) you age into demos with more disposable income, which is desired by the largest group of potential advertisers.

Even though 96rock defeated a competitor by doing the opposite of what RDU was doing, it still made business sense to take on their mantle because they could do it better…something they have resoundingly shown, in both sound and monetary gain.

Alternative is a hard sell, and its one that few people are willing to invest the millions it takes to make one work. What many of you may not realize however, is that rock and alternative isn’t dead on commercial FM radio…it’s just waiting. Across the country, ratings reports from listeners are shifting from “diaries” of listening habits to the PPM, which is a live, second-by-second, automated ratings reporting system. Cities that already have this technology are seeing rock listener numbers skyrocket. When this happens in Raleigh, these companies will be given in black and white detail the true viability of alternative rock in this area. And once that happens, you will have more rock, without any shred of doubt. I’ll call it and say late 2010 or early 2011 will bring a direct competitor to 96rock in an alternative format.

It makes no sense and drives me up the wall when people shout that they want alternative rock in the Triangle but don’t get the logistics, costs, and realities that make things like that happen. Be patient. The station is coming. We are capitalists all, whether you agree or not. Until it makes business sense for people to invest, it will not happen. When the PPM hits Raleigh, all hell is gonna break loose and you WILL get alternative.

Hey, I love college radio (I was the general manager of my college radio station a few years ago!), but WKNC isn’t really what a more “traditional” alternative station in a larger market would be.

Most commercial radio stations playing music have a pretty limited playlist — corporate management has decided that the average listener wants a good deal of familiarity with the music they’re hearing on the air. Sadly, they’re probably right. The college radio mentality, on the other hand, is more of an everything goes format, allowing the personality of the DJ to shine through and valuing the unexpected rather than the cliche “hit”.

Herein lies my primary criticism of WKNC (although it is a preset on all my stereos). They do attempt to fill in the alternative gap in the Triangle, although the preference of the daytime rock DJs seems to be a bit less aggressive than a typical alternative station would feature. On the more commercial side, it seems like WKNC tends to emphasize certain songs by certain artists/bands on a regular basis — for awhile it seemed like I was hearing that same damn MGMT song every time I tuned in. At the same time, there seems to be a station-wide mandate or culture to minimize the DJ chatter (and the DJ mic levels are, with few exceptions, consistently too low compared to the music levels). I’ve definitely heard bad DJ chatter on college stations before, but I kinda wish for the bad on KNC so I could get some of the good.

Anyway, both commercial and college radio continues to be less and less relevant, and less and less profitable. On the other hand, (syndicated) talk, is literally cheap, and Clear Channel wouldn’t be flipping if it weren’t more profitable. In markets where there once was a commercial alternative station, they’re the ones which have been flipped (e.g. WHFS in Washington, D.C. which has eventually become a sports talk station, with alternative music relegated to an HD2 channel)!

If I want to listen to music I listen to my IPOD or Pandora where I don’t have some jerk yelling at me to by a car every 10 minutes. Commercial radio is dead like the newspaper business. Talk / News/ Sports radio is the only format that will create profits for stations in the future hence all the recent shakeup in the local market.

If 96rock goes away, how will I get my Molly Hatchett?!?!?!