"Indie" Alternative In Los Angeles Went Spanish

[EvanJ]

100000watts reports that KDLD/KDLE (both 103.1) changed to Regional Mexican. 100000watts says KDLD/KDLE had been Alternative since December 26, 2003.

[Slinky]

Didn't this station try a Spanish-language format before at some point?

Anyhow, good luck going up against the big Regional Mexican stations in LA with that awful signal.

[tico]

Good luck with any format going up against the powerful signals in Los Angeles. I think it would be better if both stations were split from each other and served their respective areas.

Were they Spanish before? I know they tried dance music. I'm surprised alternative lasted as long as it did.

[domuk]

I think this really sucked i liked that station :(

[CookyMonzta]

Jan 17, 2009 4:07:46 GMT -5 domuk said:

I think this really sucked i liked that station :(

I take it the alt-rock and indie-rock scene are getting the cold shoulder out west, by the PD's (program directors) andf their parent companies. Or am I mistaken and they're doing quite well at other radio stations out there?

[oscillations.]

Alternative died as a format approximately a decade ago. The vestiges of yesteryear carry on via "gold spins" (which comprise more and more airtime) and through hiding behind active rock, but even with these compromises, the format grows less successful every year. It's a terminally ill format near its end.

That said, Indie 103 was a legitimately decent attempt to keep actual alternative music on the air. But though it was "popular", not enough people listened to please advertisers, especially during this tough economic climate. I feel bad because the crap that is replacing it comes a dime a dozen on Californian airwaves. Lame.

[Slinky]

Jan 19, 2009 0:03:09 GMT -5 oscillations. said:

Alternative died as a format approximately a decade ago. The vestiges of yesteryear carry on via "gold spins" (which comprise more and more airtime) and through hiding behind active rock, but even with these compromises, the format grows less successful every year. It's a terminally ill format near its end.

If this were a few years ago I'd agree, but Clear Channel has had some recent success launching stations with their "Radio XXX.X" brand. Alt. was on the downswing for a long time but it seems to have stabilized in the past two years.

Indie isn't really representative of this trend- this was a station on an awful signal that never had many listeners. It only existed because Clear Channel wanted to make sure KROQ was not #1 in LA. Once Clear Channel no longer controlled the station, it was only a matter of time until it ceased to exist.

[Walking Contradiction]

And now another one of the last bastions of real Alternative radio has bitten the dust. G-Rock 106.3/106.5 in New Jersey just flipped to a satellite CHR format. The station was a bit more mainstream than Indie 103.1, but still was quite progressive with new music, had a sizable gold library, and kept the meat-and-potatoes rock to a minimum. Not to mention it was live and local, unlike what's there now.

But oscillations is right, the format has been free-falling for quite some time, and with today's economy, I guess stations like Indie and G-Rock simply can't survive. This is just part of an unfortunate bigger picture of radio conglomerates seeing green and sucking the excitement out of radio. I have a glimmer of hope that we'll see better times and the medium will recover, but in the meantime we might as well embrace college, satellite, and internet stations.

[Slinky]

G-Rock!?!?! That's insane!

I always got the impression that was one of the most successful Alt. stations in the country. I was aware that they had had some ratings trouble recently but i didn't realize it was that bad.

And satellite CHR? Really? Yes, Monmouth-Ocean did need a CHR of their own, but not at the expense of G-Rock and certainly not a satellite-fed one. I think a B98.5 resurrection would have been OK, but I can't imagine satellite CHR being sucessful in Z100's backyard.

[oscillations.]

OH MY FUCKING GOD NO
G-ROCK IS *MY* STATION

[Deleted]

I can't believe G-Rock is gone after all these years.

[beejus]

G-Rock's ratings sadly had been steadily slipping in recent years. I thought they were a great station.

This is from AllAccess:

PRESS COMMUNICATIONS Alternative WHTG-WBBO/EATONTOWN (MONMOUTH-OCEAN) NJ, and simulcast partner WBBO/OCEAN ACRES, NJ have flipped to Top 40 as "Jersey's Hit Music Connection - Hits 106." The stations transmit on 106.3 in MONMOUTH COUNTY, and at 106.5 in OCEAN COUNTY, respectively.

The station's website is dark, but when it was up earlier today the "NOW PLAYING" section of the home page had "REGULATE" by WARREN G listed. PRESS COMMUNICATIONS Dir./Programming MIKE FITZGERALD tells ALL ACCESS that the station has done a "soft launch" using DIAL GLOBAL's "Hits Now" format. PD TERRIE CARR remains on board, but MD/morning host MATT MURRAY has exited. FITZGERALD said that morning co-host ERIN VOGT and afternooner MATT KNIGHT are also in discussions to remain with the station.

WHTG has a long history as an Alternative station, having adopted the format in 1984, and taking a unique, free-form approach to its execution for many years. Current WRXP/NEW YORK morning host and former MTV host MATT PINFIELD previously served as WHTG's PD.

FITZGERALD added that he hopes to augment the DIAL GLOBAL satellite-delivered programming with live morning and afternoon shows in a "few weeks," and he's accepting applications.

[Slinky]

I took a listen to the new satellite CHR programming via the old G-Rock webstream. It's awful. Music selection isn't terrible, but totally generic and safe, not at all like the XM/Sirius CHRs. The positioning, on the other hand, is totally lifeless, and there were no jocks when I listened this afternoon. If this is the best Dial Global (the programmers of Hits Now) can do, they should just throw in the towel now.

[EvanJ]

Among Press Communications stations in Monmouth-Ocean, WHTG/WBBO was tied with sister station WKMK (Country) with less than 2 shares and well behind second place sister station WWZY/WBHX (AC).

[Pipa]

Two great Alternative stations taken down at once?

Why can't they get rid of the ones that play Hollywood Undead and Saving Abel?

[oscillations.]

A friend of mine used to work at Indie 103; read her take on this!
aliontheair.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/this-just-in-indie-1031-goes-dark/

[Houster]

It's really shocking that G-Rock is gone. Now that WRXP has been broadcasting for over a year, I wonder how long it will last. I don't know how their ratings are doing, but the change from Smooth Jazz to whatever format WRXP is, together with the filliping back of JACK-FM to WCBS-FM has saved New York radio for me, for now.

[EvanJ]

WRXP has very bad ratings. The ratings call them a Triple A station.

[John77]

No tengo tiempo para 103.1

[tico]

When I lived in San Diego, I had the privilege of listening to FM 94/9, which came on the air in November 2002. They played a lot of the older standard alternative music and music from today, but they didn't play the nu-metal music that many alternative stations embraced (and which many say was the death of alternative). I even recall not being much of a fan of 91X because the music was too hard, but when 94/9 came out, 91X softened up quite a bit.