This is all from the prospective of a radio listener and not an industry pro, so correct me if I'm wrong!
Format's origins-
In 1994, alternative radio was experiencing rapid growth. New stations were entering the Alternative format every week. On top of that, heritage alt rock stations dating back to the 80's were starting to dial back on 80's-era alt-rock gold, or in some cases, even current artists that were more Adult-orientated. Artists such as the Sundays, 10,000 Maniacs, Erasure and Echo and the Bunneymen were slowly being phased out, while harder-rock such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and even Metallica were starting to take over at Alt Rock radio. The upper end of alt-radio's target demographic, as well as many female listeners, were not keen on Alt-Rock radios increasing reliance on hard rock, as well as aversion to playing music by female artists. This left, in some markets, a demographic that was being undeserved, which was listeners between the ages of 25 and 34 how grew up 80's new wave and alternative music. These listeners still wanted new music, but just didn't care for hard-rock, cheesy Huey Lewis songs, Ace of Base and other plastic pop-artists.
Thus, new stations started popping up to cater to this demo. In 1993, a station called 92.5 the Flash launched in San Diego. The Flash called itself a Pop-Alternative station, providing a more adult-orientated mix of Alternative music. While 92.5 the Flash wasn't a Modern AC station, in fact it still reported to R&R and Billboard as an Alternative station (New Rock was another term used by R&R prior to 1994), the music mix was very reminiscent of what Modern Adult stations would sound like later on. For instance, the Flash would play a lot of older music that used to be played on heritage alt-rocker 91x, such as the English Beat, Soft Cell, the Smiths and New Order. While The Flash still played some grunge, most of the new music that got played would be from more adult-friendly alt rock artists such as: Tori Amos, 10,000 Maniacs, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Cranberries and so on, as opposed to the harder alt-rock artists, which was mostly marketed to teenage boys. Alice 106 in Denver, as well as KYSR in Los Angeles would launch a year or two later, generating an interest in a female-friendly alternative format aimed at working adults.
Peak of Format
The Modern AC format seemed to work for a little while. By 1997, most major markets had some variant of the format. The first Lilith Fair all-women's music fest launched that summer, becoming the highest grossing concert event of the year. The biggest artists headlining Lilith Fair were artists, that up until that point, mostly played on Modern Adult, as well as Alternative radio. 1997 was also the year that third-wave Ska music, as well as electronic music started to dominate the mainstream. These two genres were more or less continuations of the 80's alternative scene. White Town, No Doubt, Sneaker Pimps and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones all had big records that year. While all four acts got heavy airplay on alternative, the modern adult stations were still playing a lot of the 80's music that influenced said acts. True Alternative stations, on the other hand, hardly played anything from the 80's by that point. Thus, Modern Adult stations did a better job showcasing the the evolution of both genres.
My Opinion of why Modern AC died off?
1. By cherry picking the best songs off of the Modern Rock chart. While in 1996, cherry-picking songs from pure Alternative stations was a plus, as a savvy programmer could choose the songs they wanted for their station, while ignoring the ones felt unsuitable for said audience. This meant that new music from artists such as Alanis Morrisette, Jewel, Garbage, Pearl Jam and Gin Blossoms could be added to playlist, while White Zombie, RATM and AIC songs could stay at Alternative. By 1999, the Modern Rock format was largely dominated by nu-metal and harder post-grunge music, therefore limiting the amount of music Modern AC programmers could pull from Alternative.
2. Lazy-programming- Instead of finding other ways to discover new music after the nu-metal hijacked Alt radio, Modern AC radio started actually playing the more radio-friendly nu-metal and post-grunge singles. How is "Blurry" by Puddle of Mudd, or anything by Nickleback for that matter, any different that the Def Leppard hair-band nonsense that most college and alternative radio listeners actively shunned back in the 80's. Do you really see a diehard Siouxsie Sioux fan buying a Puddle of Mudd CD?
3. Not innovating- By the time the Lilith Fair scene started winding down, some Modern Adult programmers felt a little bit of a backlash from listeners growing tired of heavy emphasis on female singer-songwriters, thus cutting back on female artists as a whole, vs the more logical approach of playing less Jewel, while discovering other female artists.
4. The Crossover effect- Between 1995 and 1997, artists such as Matchbox 20, Alanis Morrisette, Greenday and Third Eye Blind were exclusively played on Alternative and Modern Adult Radio. By 1999, more conservative Hot AC and even Mainstream AC stations started playing the more popular hits by said artists. This meant if a listener just wanted to hear the new Santana comeback single, featuring the guy from Matchbox 20, said listener had 5 different stations playing that particular song. This was a blow that the more casual listener to said format, as song familiarity is usually the deciding factor as to how long a casual listener will stay tuned.
5. By going more conservative musically? When new music started drying up, some stations starting adding more mainstream pop songs, until one day becoming a regular Hot AC. Others started becoming more gold-based, relying more and more on re-currents from the 80's and 90's. Even the re currents started becoming more conservative in nature. By 2000, most Modern AC's started sharing more power-gold with traditional Hot AC stations, which meant more Madonna and INXS, and less Echo and the Bunnymen and the Smiths.
Questions:
In the mid to late 90's, where there Modern AC stations that for the most part were current-based? KYSR LA, Alice 106 in Denver, WLIR Long Island and other early adopters of the format seemed to be very-80's heavy, playing obscene amounts of 80's synth-pop, new-wave and early alt rock acts. In the case of KYSR and WLIR, both stations were in markets that had a heritage alt rocker. The only station I know that played very little 80's, as compared to other Modern AC's, would be WSSR in Tampa. Then again, this might have been the result of being in the same cluster as a pop-alternative leaning AAA station between 1997 and 1999, then being in the same cluster as a more mainstream Hot AC during the last 4 years of the stations life. Then again, Tampa never actually had a true Alternative station in the 90's, with 97x didn't launch until 2000, well after the format started declining in most cities.
Format's origins-
In 1994, alternative radio was experiencing rapid growth. New stations were entering the Alternative format every week. On top of that, heritage alt rock stations dating back to the 80's were starting to dial back on 80's-era alt-rock gold, or in some cases, even current artists that were more Adult-orientated. Artists such as the Sundays, 10,000 Maniacs, Erasure and Echo and the Bunneymen were slowly being phased out, while harder-rock such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and even Metallica were starting to take over at Alt Rock radio. The upper end of alt-radio's target demographic, as well as many female listeners, were not keen on Alt-Rock radios increasing reliance on hard rock, as well as aversion to playing music by female artists. This left, in some markets, a demographic that was being undeserved, which was listeners between the ages of 25 and 34 how grew up 80's new wave and alternative music. These listeners still wanted new music, but just didn't care for hard-rock, cheesy Huey Lewis songs, Ace of Base and other plastic pop-artists.
Thus, new stations started popping up to cater to this demo. In 1993, a station called 92.5 the Flash launched in San Diego. The Flash called itself a Pop-Alternative station, providing a more adult-orientated mix of Alternative music. While 92.5 the Flash wasn't a Modern AC station, in fact it still reported to R&R and Billboard as an Alternative station (New Rock was another term used by R&R prior to 1994), the music mix was very reminiscent of what Modern Adult stations would sound like later on. For instance, the Flash would play a lot of older music that used to be played on heritage alt-rocker 91x, such as the English Beat, Soft Cell, the Smiths and New Order. While The Flash still played some grunge, most of the new music that got played would be from more adult-friendly alt rock artists such as: Tori Amos, 10,000 Maniacs, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Cranberries and so on, as opposed to the harder alt-rock artists, which was mostly marketed to teenage boys. Alice 106 in Denver, as well as KYSR in Los Angeles would launch a year or two later, generating an interest in a female-friendly alternative format aimed at working adults.
Peak of Format
The Modern AC format seemed to work for a little while. By 1997, most major markets had some variant of the format. The first Lilith Fair all-women's music fest launched that summer, becoming the highest grossing concert event of the year. The biggest artists headlining Lilith Fair were artists, that up until that point, mostly played on Modern Adult, as well as Alternative radio. 1997 was also the year that third-wave Ska music, as well as electronic music started to dominate the mainstream. These two genres were more or less continuations of the 80's alternative scene. White Town, No Doubt, Sneaker Pimps and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones all had big records that year. While all four acts got heavy airplay on alternative, the modern adult stations were still playing a lot of the 80's music that influenced said acts. True Alternative stations, on the other hand, hardly played anything from the 80's by that point. Thus, Modern Adult stations did a better job showcasing the the evolution of both genres.
My Opinion of why Modern AC died off?
1. By cherry picking the best songs off of the Modern Rock chart. While in 1996, cherry-picking songs from pure Alternative stations was a plus, as a savvy programmer could choose the songs they wanted for their station, while ignoring the ones felt unsuitable for said audience. This meant that new music from artists such as Alanis Morrisette, Jewel, Garbage, Pearl Jam and Gin Blossoms could be added to playlist, while White Zombie, RATM and AIC songs could stay at Alternative. By 1999, the Modern Rock format was largely dominated by nu-metal and harder post-grunge music, therefore limiting the amount of music Modern AC programmers could pull from Alternative.
2. Lazy-programming- Instead of finding other ways to discover new music after the nu-metal hijacked Alt radio, Modern AC radio started actually playing the more radio-friendly nu-metal and post-grunge singles. How is "Blurry" by Puddle of Mudd, or anything by Nickleback for that matter, any different that the Def Leppard hair-band nonsense that most college and alternative radio listeners actively shunned back in the 80's. Do you really see a diehard Siouxsie Sioux fan buying a Puddle of Mudd CD?
3. Not innovating- By the time the Lilith Fair scene started winding down, some Modern Adult programmers felt a little bit of a backlash from listeners growing tired of heavy emphasis on female singer-songwriters, thus cutting back on female artists as a whole, vs the more logical approach of playing less Jewel, while discovering other female artists.
4. The Crossover effect- Between 1995 and 1997, artists such as Matchbox 20, Alanis Morrisette, Greenday and Third Eye Blind were exclusively played on Alternative and Modern Adult Radio. By 1999, more conservative Hot AC and even Mainstream AC stations started playing the more popular hits by said artists. This meant if a listener just wanted to hear the new Santana comeback single, featuring the guy from Matchbox 20, said listener had 5 different stations playing that particular song. This was a blow that the more casual listener to said format, as song familiarity is usually the deciding factor as to how long a casual listener will stay tuned.
5. By going more conservative musically? When new music started drying up, some stations starting adding more mainstream pop songs, until one day becoming a regular Hot AC. Others started becoming more gold-based, relying more and more on re-currents from the 80's and 90's. Even the re currents started becoming more conservative in nature. By 2000, most Modern AC's started sharing more power-gold with traditional Hot AC stations, which meant more Madonna and INXS, and less Echo and the Bunnymen and the Smiths.
Questions:
In the mid to late 90's, where there Modern AC stations that for the most part were current-based? KYSR LA, Alice 106 in Denver, WLIR Long Island and other early adopters of the format seemed to be very-80's heavy, playing obscene amounts of 80's synth-pop, new-wave and early alt rock acts. In the case of KYSR and WLIR, both stations were in markets that had a heritage alt rocker. The only station I know that played very little 80's, as compared to other Modern AC's, would be WSSR in Tampa. Then again, this might have been the result of being in the same cluster as a pop-alternative leaning AAA station between 1997 and 1999, then being in the same cluster as a more mainstream Hot AC during the last 4 years of the stations life. Then again, Tampa never actually had a true Alternative station in the 90's, with 97x didn't launch until 2000, well after the format started declining in most cities.