• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

When did WTFX's definition of "new rock" start including Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin?

S

sdskees

Frequent Participant
When did WTFX's definition of "new rock" start including Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin?

Maybe I just haven't been listening to WTFX much lately, but I've been listening a little the past few days and I've heard quite a bit of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin... it looks like a lot of older AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, and Guns N Roses have crept into their playlist as well. Has this been going on for long over there? I know that modern rock isn't exactly producing a lot of hits anymore (well, it is, it is just that modern rock is no longer able to be lumped onto one station anymore), but they're starting to sound like the WLRS "Everything That Rocks" format from 2008/2009... and even worse, they're doing it in typical Clear Channel fashion, by playing the same few songs from those same few artists.

And while we're at it, I also heard the Moby song "We Are All Made of Stars" being played on WTFX earlier tonight. That really puts the "WTF" in WTFX, because it really seems out of place there.

So this begs the question, what exactly IS the format for WTFX anymore? They're still calling themselves "Louisville's Only New Rock," but while they may be the only station actually playing new rock, it hardly seems to describe their playlist between Moby, Pink Floyd, and the ton of 90s alternative bands that still seem to continue to dominate their playlist (one of the reasons I actually do listen, even if the songs have been overplayed).
 
WOW. I heard "November Rain" on there Sat night and was surprised. According to their last 10 played, they played "one of these days" by Floyd, "Going to California" by Zep, and "I remember you" by Skid Row in the last set. Ratings must be down over there. QMF played "Devil inside" by Inxs, and "Five to one" by the Doors, so they seem to be switching it up also. I hope QMF doesn't drop the grunge songs.
 
These older songs are slipping in quite a bit... I think we're in the midst of an unannounced format change here. This feels like what was happening over at Gen-X all over again.

Personally I'd be cool with a rock station that plays classic and modern rock if they'd play more than just the usual songs... but it's Clear Channel and I'm not expecting much. Honestly, it's amazing that they have waited as long as they have to try to do something with this station. It's never been a huge success for them.
 
You could be right regarding a format change. I remember the Fox being successful from 93 until they moved to 93.1. I was never sure why they moved it to such a dead zone. Id like to see QMF go mostly classic with a little bit of new rock from classic artists thrown in, but I'm not holding my breath. I can't understand how QMF can not play the new Tom Petty single.
 
I didn't realize how well they were doing, but here is what I found (just reporting summer ratings to keep it brief) for 2003 to 2009...

Summer 2003: #5 (4.7 share)
Summer 2004: #12 (2.5 share)
Summer 2005: #15 (1.7 share)
Summer 2006 #13 (2.0 share)
Summer 2007 #18 (1.4 share)
Summer 2008 #16 (1.5 share)
Summer 2009 (2.1 share) (the rank was #10, but that isn't quite accurate since this is when the Main Line stations stopped appearing in the ratings on a regular basis)

Obviously, 2003 was a very good year for them... in fact, I didn't realize it was that good. Of course, they were still at 100.5 back then. I'm wondering if that slip in 2004 was what caused Clear Channel to move them over to 93.1. It's sort of funny, though, that The Fox was moved to 93.1 to make room for something "better" at 100.5, yet despite that, The Fox has outlived both Louie at 100.5 and Gen-X radio. I can also see it outliving My 100.5 to be honest... but it sounds like they are drifting into a playlist that isn't just modern rock anymore. I think they're transitioning to a format change at 93.1, but I think that The Fox is here to stay for a while still (of course, it's radio, they could pull out and start playing Katy Perry tomorrow for all we know).
 
Maybe they will play some music from the 90's to today. We just don't have enough stations that do.
 
Dan76 said:
WOW. I heard "November Rain" on there Sat night and was surprised. According to their last 10 played, they played "one of these days" by Floyd, "Going to California" by Zep, and "I remember you" by Skid Row in the last set. Ratings must be down over there. QMF played "Devil inside" by Inxs, and "Five to one" by the Doors, so they seem to be switching it up also. I hope QMF doesn't drop the grunge songs.
Click to expand...

QMF didn't actually play those songs. For some reason from around 1 am to Bob and Tom, the IHEART playlist is different than the over-the-air playlist. So if you go on their website and look at the playlist for the week, it shows over 600 different songs. But that includes the IHEART playlist. So it is really deceiving. IMO, the iheart playlist is 100 times better than the regular format. They not only play INXS, but Pretenders, Jackson Browne, "Veronica", and much more variety.
The addition of old hard rock songs to 93.1 (in the last two weeks) makes no sense. WQMF already plays these songs. They should be working for less overlap rather than more. I think they should remove those songs from WQMF playlist and shift it to a wider classic rock format. Not necessarily "hits" format, but start playing more middle of the road rock and alternative songs from the 70's 80's and 90's. WSFR started adding a few of these, but like everything else they do, they add 10 new songs and will only play those for the next 5 years.
 
The classic rock has not been as prominent on there today and yesterday as it was over the weekend... I would estimate that it was being played about once every three or four songs (if not more) over the weekend, whereas they have been going a few hours or more now without any now. But it's still slipping in from time to time. Are they playing the classic rock more on weekends than weekdays, or am I just imagining things?
 
I've been doing a lot of listening and one thing that I've definitely noticed is that the concentration of the classic rock seems to be heavier late at night and on weekends. I've also been occasionally been hearing things that I never hear on the radio, ever. WQMF goes through those phases once in a while too, though, and then quickly manages to revert back to the usual WQMF. Also, I haven't heard the branding "Only New Rock" at all lately... in fact, I'm pretty sure this used to show up on RDS, but it definitely isn't there now.

I was a little skeptical of this at first, but I'm almost liking the mix of music that I'm hearing. It's amazing that ClearChannel has managed to hold onto WTFX as it is for all of these years as a "new rock" station, when "new rock" was producing a small number of new hits and they were mostly being forced to play the same few hits of the past 15 years over and over again. I just wish that they would put more local control on the station instead of making most of just whatever is cheapest for ClearChannel... but it is ClearChannel, and I'm not holding my breathe. And that awful morning show, Rover's Morning Glory, really needs to go.
 
Just a minute ago here are the songs on WQMF and WTFX: Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd and Plush by STP. Most would say neither falls in the category of "New Rock", but certainly not a 35 year old song. QMF played the 20+ year old STP song while The Fox was playing Pink Floyd on the other station. Weird overlapping formats and redundant in many cases. A format like "Everything That Rocks" wouldn't be a huge stretch for either now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom