99X 1990 vs 99X 2016 is everything demographics.
1- Average hipster is not listening to FM radio. 1990 vs 2016: Huge difference in how people get their music. Alternative attracts younger white men (usually college or just out of college). Tend to be educated (vs active rock) and more tech savy.
2- Atlanta demographics are not what they were in the 90s, today. For starters, the racial make up is different which is why so many Urban stations in this market are all doing pretty good.
With respect to the sound of alternative today, I do agree alternative was too much in the active direction during the early and mid 2ks. However, I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. If we really want to re-live the 90s alternative, you will note a large variety of music from REM to Garbage to Depeche Mode to Ministry to Nine Inch Nails. Alternative in the 80s was a bit different which is what alternative today sorta mimics to a point. In the 80s, alternative, or new wave was immensely popular and you would hear 80% of new wave/alternative bands on your top 40/chr stations. The 90s was different because alternative was so vast (as it should be). Go to SXSW and you will note what I mean when I say vast. Alternative can be as soft as The Shins; As industrial as Orgy; As close to metal as Manson; As folky as Bon Iver and as electronic as Chvrches. That is the beauty of alternative. Listen to a true alternative station (not one of those cookie cutter iheart stations like Radio 104.5) and you will hear a large range. Avoiding certain artist or songs because it "sounds" too active rock is not the way to go. It leads to the cookie-cutter sound we have today on most commercial alternative stations ------ Which actually does better in the rating and sales, unfortunately.
This is why I always despised AAA stations. AAA were nothing but water down hit based Alternative stations without the rock. AAA reminds me of Hot AC stations. Watered down meat and potatoes.
I agree with you about not shying away from stuff that is too hard and it should be a wide range of music. Even back in the 80s, bands like The Cult and Rage Against the Machine were hard, but "alternative."
It was bands like Korn, Papa Roach, Disturbed, Incubus, Shinedown and Slipknot that really took over the alt charts in the early-mid 2000s. And I've heard people argue that they were "alternative". I'm not of that opinion. They're basically harder rock bands (save for a few tracks) that gained traction when the alt output was going through a dip.
Most of today's alternative stations are, as you say, too "cookie-cutter" but it's not even a matter of soft vs. harder rock....it's a TON of indie bands on all aspects of the spectrum that are being ignored in favor of the more pop sounding tracks.
You mentioned Radio 104.5. In the 2000s, the station was far from cookie cutter. It was a lot like the 99X of the 90s breaking many new artists and having a wide ranging playlist. I think that, unfortunately, it has gotten more mainstream, but still not close to the horror that is Radio 105.7 in Atlanta. It's actually shameful that many of the bands Radio 104.5 introduced -- The Postal Service, Temper Trap, Doves, etc. -- are entirely missing from alternative playlists as if they never happened.
Even with the more "pop" sounds, however, I still find today's alternative is closer to what it was in the 80s and 90s than it was when it became more active in the 2000s. It's still fairly wide ranging - 21 Pilots, the Foo Fighters, Nothing But Thieves, Nathaniel Rateliff, Chvrches and Joywave show the range -- pop, rock, honky tonk, electronic and industrial(ish). That range was not there on the vast majority of alt stations in the 2000s. Unfortunately more of the pop type bands are taking over (21 Pilots, Miike Snow, etc. that I am beginning to really wear thin on).... but the range, at least, is still there somewhat for now. Not to the same extent as the earlier years of alt, but much more so than the 2000s.
Still, Internet based alt stations and Spotify playlists are really are the only place aside from college radio to get to real alternative.
to see Disturbed pop up on the charts ....until I realized it was a soft cover of "The Sound of Silence". You will also see bands like Incubus and Korn pop up occasionally on the alt charts, but if you notice, they never make it very high. I think a lot of that is the result of a select few alt stations that are more of an alt/active blend. Definitely agree with you with some of the more Industrial bands, especially Nine Inch Nails, Stabbing Westward and early Filter, belonging on Alt.