Classic alternative

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Classic alternative is a radio format focusing on alternative music from the late 1970s to early 1990s, with particular focus on the early days of MTV. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Typical genres

Background

Some stations with an "all-'80s" format have added elements of the 1980s and '90s classic alternative format to their regular playlist. Cox's KHPT in Houston and WPOI in Tampa are prime examples of all-'80s stations that heavily relied on artists such as Peter Schilling, The Cranberries and New Order. KHPT flipped to a classic alternative format after its run as an all-'80s station. The same goes for KJAQ in Seattle, one of the first stations in the country to try this format.

Digital cable music service Music Choice (originally DMX) provided a station labelled New Wave for several years. The station was later renamed "Retro-Active", and later Classic Alternative, all of which played seventies to eighties new wave, post-punk, synthpop, etc. After several years, the station filtered in 1990s (and even sometimes post-millennium) artists. However, an artist like David Bowie can often fit in classic alternative because he meets the criteria. [12] [13]

SiriusXM offers a classic alternative station, 1st Wave, which was launched in 2008 following the merger between Sirius and XM and replaced similar stations on both services. [14] [15]

The format began to see wider adoption in late-2022 and 2023, particularly among stations and brands that have had a legacy in modern and active rock formats in their respective market. In December 2022, WNNX in Atlanta relaunched the heritage "99X" brand of sister station WWWQ as a classic alternative station, [16] while KITS in San Francisco—which dropped modern rock for adult hits after having its local programming discontinued in 2020 due to networking [17] [18] —relaunched its heritage Live 105 branding in June 2023 with a classic alternative-leaning format. [19] [20] [21] In July 2024, Corus Entertainment extended its Edge brand—long associated with its heritage station CFNY-FM in Toronto—to Calgary's CFGQ-FM using a classic alternative format. [22] Then in October 2024, Corous rebranded CJKR-FM in Winnepeg to classic alternative. [23]

Related Research Articles

Alternative rock is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States, and the Britpop and shoegaze subgenres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock, hard rock, and glam metal acts from the 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative music.

College rock is rock music played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream rock played on commercial radio stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WNNX</span> Classic alternative station in College Park, Georgia

WNNX is a commercial radio station licensed to College Park, Georgia, featuring a classic alternative format as "99X". Owned by Cumulus Media, the station serves the Atlanta metropolitan area. WNNX's studios are located in Sandy Springs, while the transmitter resides atop the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Downtown Atlanta. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WNNX is available online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWWQ</span> Contemporary hit radio station in Atlanta

WWWQ is a commercial radio station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia, United States, carrying a contemporary hit radio format known as "Q99.7". Owned by Cumulus Media, WWWQ serves the Atlanta metropolitan area as the regional affiliate for The Daly Download with Carson Daly and is the flagship station of The Bert Show and Elliott & Nina. WWWQ's studios are located in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs, while the station transmitter resides in Atlanta's Druid Hills neighborhood. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WWWQ broadcasts over three HD Radio channels with the second and third subchannels simulcast over low-power FM translators and is available online.

Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music.

Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980s and the nostalgia behind it is a major driver to the format. It is considered the successor to the oldies format, a collection of top 40 songs from the late 1950s through the late 1970s that was once extremely popular in the United States and Canada. The term is sometimes incorrectly used as a synonym for the adult hits format, which uses a slightly newer music library stretching from all decades to the present with a major focus on 1990s and 2000s pop, rock and alternative songs. In addition, adult hits stations tend to have larger playlists, playing a given song only a few times per week, compared to the tighter libraries on classic hits stations. For example, KRTH, a classic hits station in Los Angeles, and KSPF, a classic hits station in Dallas, both play power songs up to 30 times a week or more, which is another differentiator compared to other formats that share songs with classic hits libraries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KITS</span> Alternative rock radio station in San Francisco

KITS is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock radio format known as "Live 105". The studios and offices are co-located with formerly co-owned KPIX-TV on Battery Street in the North Beach district of San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WINS-FM</span> All-news radio station in New York City

WINS-FM is a radio station licensed to New York, New York, and owned by Audacy, Inc. WINS-FM simulcasts all-news radio station WINS (AM), with the station referred to on air as "1010 WINS at 92.3 FM". The station's studios are located in the Hudson Square neighborhood in Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WXB 102</span> Internet radio station

WXB 102 is a former Metro Manila FM radio station and current Internet radio station that plays new wave, punk rock, gothic rock, synthpop, electronic music, dance-punk, post-punk, classic alternative rock and more from the UK, US, Philippines and the rest of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KUDL</span> Radio station in California, United States

KUDL is a radio station in Sacramento, California. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts a Top 40 (CHR) format branded as 106-5 The End. Its studios are located in Foothill Farms and its transmitter is in Folsom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KXTE</span> Radio station in Pahrump, Nevada

KXTE is a commercial radio station licensed to Pahrump, Nevada, and serving the Las Vegas metropolitan area. It is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts an alternative rock format. KXTE is the flagship station of the nationally syndicated weekday program Dave and Mahoney. KXTE's studios are on South Durango Drive in Las Vegas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWBX</span> Boston radio station

WWBX is a radio station with a hot adult contemporary format in Boston, Massachusetts. The format started at 98.5 FM on February 9, 1991, and moved to 104.1 FM, replacing WBCN on August 12, 2009, to allow for the launch of WBZ-FM at 98.5 the next day. Its studios are located in Brighton, and its transmitter is on the upper FM mast of the Prudential Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KJAQ</span> Adult hits radio station in Seattle

KJAQ is a commercial radio station in Seattle, Washington. KJAQ airs an adult hits music format branded as "Jack FM". It is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are in the Belltown neighborhood northwest of Downtown Seattle. The station's transmitter is on Tiger Mountain in Issaquah. KJAQ broadcasts in the HD Radio format. The HD-2 subchannel carries an alternative rock format and HD-3 simulcasts conservative talk KPTR, also owned by iHeart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WOCL</span> Radio station in DeLand, Florida

WOCL is a commercial radio station, licensed to DeLand, Florida, and serving Greater Orlando and Central Florida. It is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs a classic hits radio format, focusing on the hits from the 1980s but with some 90s and 2000s titles as well. The station's studios and offices are on Pembrook Drive in Maitland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faction Punk</span> Radio station

Faction Punk is an uncensored punk rock channel on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Airing on channel 314, its focus is specifically modern punk rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KHPT</span> Radio station in Conroe, Texas

KHPT is a classic rock-formatted radio station licensed to Conroe, Texas, which simulcasts KGLK. It is owned by Urban One, and is part of a five station Houston cluster that also includes KGLK, KBXX, KKBQ and KMJQ. It is headquartered in Suite 2300 at 3 Post Oak Central in the Uptown district in Houston, Texas. KHPT's transmitter is located in Splendora, Texas, once shared with KSBJ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Goodman</span> American radio and television personality

Mark Goodman is an American radio host, TV personality and actor. He is best known as one of the original five video jockeys (VJs), along with Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, J. J. Jackson and Martha Quinn, on the music network MTV, from 1981 to 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KROQ-FM</span> Alternative rock radio station in Los Angeles

KROQ-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ".

WMMS-HD2 is a digital subchannel of WMMS, a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and features a classic hip-hop format as "Throwback 99.1" Owned by iHeartMedia, WMMS-HD2 serves Greater Cleveland and surrounding Northeast Ohio. Using the proprietary technology HD Radio for its main digital transmission, WMMS-HD2 is rebroadcast over low-power analog translator W256BT, and streams online via iHeartRadio. WMMS-HD2's studios are located at the Six Six Eight Building in downtown Cleveland's Gateway District, while the WMMS-HD2 and W256BT transmitters reside in Seven Hills and Parma, respectively.

References

  1. ↑ Is Classic Alternative Becoming the New Classic Rock? - Alan Cross' A Journal of Musical Things
  2. ↑ In Utah, people still love 'alternative' music. But what is that, exactly? - The Salt Lake Tribune
  3. ↑ WKKL Returns With Classic Alternative - RadioInsight
  4. ↑ Rock - Music Choice
  5. 1 2 10 Legendary Bands that Wouldn't Be Legendary without College Radio - CollegeRadio.org
  6. ↑ How NPR Killed College Rock|The New Republic
  7. 1 2 Post-Punk 101: What Is Post-Punk?||Observer
  8. ↑ Goth Rock Music Genre Overview|AllMusic
  9. ↑ Microsoft Word - Coleman's Early Peek at Classic Alternative - January 2004–
  10. ↑ Shoegaze Music Genre Overview|AllMusic
  11. ↑ Indie Rock Music Genre Overview|AllMusic
  12. ↑ Bill Virgin, "Radio Beat: It sounds like '90s music could be the next big format on Seattle dials"
  13. ↑ Damien Cave, "Nirvana Bump Bizkit Off Dial - "Classic alternative" radio brings back the golden Nineties"
  14. ↑ Snider, Mike. "As Sirius, XM signals merge, customers are confused". ABC News. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  15. ↑ "1st Wave artists defined 'alternative' by experimenting with new wave & punk music before it was cool". Hear & Now. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  16. ↑ Venta, Lance (5 December 2022). "WNNX Brings Back 99X". RadioInsight. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  17. ↑ "Entercom Sets Programming Plans For Alternative & Country". Radio Insight. September 11, 2020. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Extensive Programming Changes At Entercom Alternative And Country Stations Begin Today". Inside Radio. September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
  19. ↑ "First Listen: Live 105 Returns". RadioInsight. 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  20. ↑ "Live 105 San Francisco Returns". RadioInsight. 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
  21. ↑ Vaziri, Aidin. "Exclusive: Live 105 to bring back show that first played Billie Eilish, Coldplay and the Killers". Datebook. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  22. ↑ Thiessen, Connie (2024-07-31). "Corus launches 107.3 the Edge in Calgary". Broadcast Dialogue. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  23. ↑ Thiessen, Connie (2024-10-08). "Corus rebrands Power 97 as 'Winnipeg's Iconic Alternative'". Broadcast Dialogue. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
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