Demise of Triplearadio.com

Triplearadio.com was one of my go-to sites for tracking what's happening in the AAA industry. The site shut down in October.

Sad to see how poorly AAA is faring over the last decade, with the format appearing mostly on fringe, left side of the dial, HD2 and LP signals outside of a few Western US markets such as Portland and Denver as well as what's left of KFOG in SFO after that heritage station and format was systematically dismantled and is now only a relic of its former great self.

I try to subsist on SiriusXM's The Spectrum but find local AAA stations of yore here in LA (KNX-FM, KSCA, Channel 103.1) as well as present-day KCSN with its marginal signal, provide(d) superior listening experiences.

david said:

Triplearadio.com was one of my go-to sites for tracking what's happening in the AAA industry. The site shut down in October.

Sad to see how poorly AAA is faring over the last decade, with the format appearing mostly on fringe, left side of the dial, HD2 and LP signals outside of a few Western US markets such as Portland and Denver as well as what's left of KFOG in SFO after that heritage station and format was systematically dismantled and is now only a relic of its former great self.

I try to subsist on SiriusXM's The Spectrum but find local AAA stations of yore here in LA (KNX-FM, KSCA, Channel 103.1) as well as present-day KCSN with its marginal signal, provide(d) superior listening experiences.

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The Spectrum is a very safe, tight-playlist AAA, with power tracks played every three or four hours. The problem SiriusXM has is that it has existing channels that cover just about all aspects of AAA -- from Outlaw Country on the Americana side to Sirius XMU on the rock side, and then there's The Loft, which plays just about anything its PD and staff like. I suppose the philosophy is that, with so many channels serving niche audiences, a conservative alternative channel playing mostly familiar cuts and current acts that are getting a big push is necessary. That the channel isn't as interesting as some FM AAAs is not a big problem.

Just more evidence of the accelerating decline of rock. More visceral, purely rhythmic genres have become a legitimate force among listeners who used to prefer rock -- teens and 20s, in particular, but now you're seeing suburban 30-somethings who are sticking with hip-hop as their music of choice well into adulthood. Country, in its current "hot" incarnation, has also eaten away at rock. It may not be long before SiriusXM has to re-evaluate the wisdom of having more channels playing some sort of rock than any other genre.

CTListener said:

The Spectrum is a very safe, tight-playlist AAA, with power tracks played every three or four hours. The problem SiriusXM has is that it has existing channels that cover just about all aspects of AAA -- from Outlaw Country on the Americana side to Sirius XMU on the rock side, and then there's The Loft, which plays just about anything its PD and staff like.

Click to expand...

I agree with this, and what you see at Sirius is a microcosm of the problem AAA is having on broadcast. AAA has always been an older skewing format anyway, and that aging isn't good for broadcast radio. Now it's splintering into Americana various Alternative sub-genres, also skewing over 55. Ultimately a lot of this music is leaving heritage rock stations like KFOG for smaller non-commercial or even LPFM stations mainly because the aging of the audience.

I will miss TripleARadio.com and I still have a triplearadio.com cap they gave me some time ago. I agree with the last two comments as AAA is a format that had been always been focused toward older rock audiences, and that group has been dwindling. I'm glad KINK 102 in Portland is doing fine, but over time AAA will primarily be on Non-comm stations like KCSN and I will support them financially. I have HD Radio at home now and listen to KCRW E24 on 89.9 HD2 and KCSN on my Tivoli radio - with a nice antenna so the signal is ok. I actually have trouble getting KCSN in my area while driving in my car, so in my Toyota I have iHeartRadio thru Entune that allows me to listen to KCSN perfectly (I have unlimited data so that helps too). JG