Which Company Rolls Out The Best Alternative - Between The Four C's

[acheron1982]

Which of the 4 C's (Cumulus, Clear Channel, CBS, COX) put out the best alternative stations? We must all realize most stations fall under one of these companies so lets keep the discussion to stations that would be owned by one of the four c's.

What defines a good alternative station?

1- Plays alternative music. Not active rock
2- Plays cutting edge alternative first.
3- Plays with some indie.
4- Companies that allow the PD's of each individual station have control.

Which will it be guys/gals? The purpose for my question is that the Atlanta market is rumored to be getting an alternative station soon and I'm wondering which of the above companies would be best to pull that off. We have a Lincoln Financial station and I know that would be the best (FM949) but the current Hot AC format is doing very well.

 

[chrocket87]

I'm gonna go with CBS, as their stations do not follow the same cookie cutter formula, unlike the others. Sadly, CBS has been doing away with their rock stations, in their pursuit to reinforce their CHR and Sports brands. If you are looking for stations that fit your criteria, I'd say Entercom is the best company. The playlists are different from market to market and they tend to jump on new music.

 

[John MacCormack]

I listen to alot of Alternative Rock stations on iheart, I usually go with the Cumulus and Clear Channel stations, although some Clear Channel stations simulcast The Alternative Project, so out of all of them, i listen to the Cumulus alternative rock stations (and sometimes Clear Channel). I haven't listened to CBS or COX yet.

 

[xyz]

I can't think of any Cumulus or Cox that even play Alt.

CBS waited how many minutes to blow up the newly resurrected WRXP? The very same WRXP that tied CHR 92.3 WNOW (former Alt WXRK that CBS blew up twice) in just three Books???

CC takes this one by default. At least CC is TRYING to run Alt on some of their HD2/translators. CC really did drop the Alternative ball in Boston big time - however - when they flushed the 30 year Alt 101.7 right into Boston Harbor... Nothing like sending "mixed signals" in radio...

 

[John MacCormack]

I can't think of any Cumulus or Cox that even play Alt.

CBS waited how many minutes to blow up the newly resurrected WRXP? The very same WRXP that tied CHR 92.3 WNOW (former Alt WXRK that CBS blew up twice) in just three Books???

CC takes this one by default. At least CC is TRYING to run Alt on some of their HD2/translators. CC really did drop the Alternative ball in Boston big time - however - when they flushed the 30 year Alt 101.7 right into Boston Harbor... Nothing like sending "mixed signals" in radio...

Theirs one station owned by Cumulus that I listen to on iheart that plays Alt. Rock Music, It's KENZ 101.9 The End from Salt Lake City, Utah. That station plays great Alternative Rock music, but thats the only one I can think of at this moment.

 

[Radical348]

I can't think of any Cumulus or Cox that even play Alt.

CBS waited how many minutes to blow up the newly resurrected WRXP? The very same WRXP that tied CHR 92.3 WNOW (former Alt WXRK that CBS blew up twice) in just three Books???

CC takes this one by default. At least CC is TRYING to run Alt on some of their HD2/translators. CC really did drop the Alternative ball in Boston big time - however - when they flushed the 30 year Alt 101.7 right into Boston Harbor... Nothing like sending "mixed signals" in radio...

Yeah, I'll second this. It's the lessest of the evils. CC does have a few respectable alt. stations (WRFF/Philly, KDGE/Dallas.) The only one I know of that Cumulus owns also is The End in Utah, while a great station, is a recent acquisition of theirs and is not really a good indicator. I do not know of any Cox stations.

CBS = NO. Live 105 still has their moments, but seeing what CBS did to it is pretty sad. Not nearly as sad as what they did to KROQ. And neither of them are anything close to as sad as what they did to WBCN.

Lincoln Financial's FM94.9 is pretty bad now, too. It's too bad; they used to be a great station.

 

[chrocket87]

Cumulus also owns 100.7 the Zone in Toledo and WRRV in the Hudson River Valley (NY). Both play a little more Active Rock than the other companies, but nowhere near as much as they did 5-10 years ago. Their stations also rely on overdoses on the tired 90s tracks (Santeria and Smells Like Teen Spirit can be heard at least once in my eight hour workday).

Cox owns a few stations, X98.5 Greenville (SC), X102.9 Jacksonville, and 97X Tampa. 97X plays a fair share of Active Rock and that is the only difference between it and the other very boring Cox Alternatives.

CC does well with Radio 104.5 and 100.7/106.3 The Project in Cincy, the rest of them are too safe for my tastes.

Honestly, I love the job Merlin has done with Q87.7/Chicago and did with WRXP 2.0, but it seems that ship is sailing as soon as Merlin can find a buyer in Chicago or 2015 comes around.

 

[acheron1982]

Now I like FM949. Why do I see so many people disliking this station. Am I missing something?

The End in Utah was just bought out by Cumulus so while it sounds good now, I'm sure it will suck tomorrow. Clear Channel is interesting because generally, the alternative stations come of the Alternative Project stream they have which is frankly active rock with some alternative hits (and I do stress hits). A few CC stations actually do alternative pretty well but its almost as CC has no part in developing the stations because those stations, like Radio 1045, sounds nothing like any CC station I have ever heard. The imaging does not even mention it being a CC station.

Regarding The Edge, there is a good write up from one of the local papers in Dallas regarding the recent updated playlist for the Edge. The PD comes out and says their purpose was to be a little more liberal with the playlist and less safe.

I'm starting to see Cumulus stations purging alternative/active rock playlists some. The stations still lean active but a cumulus active rock station will play MUSE and Black Keys while CC active rock stations will not touch it.

I can't speak for CBS because I have personally never heard of a Alternative station under CBS but I know CBS does good with AAA formats and I know for a fact CBS gives more flexibility to the local PD vs playing standard playlists. Tampa and Jax COX alternative stations suck but I'm impressed with the one in Greenville, South Carolina. Best alternative stations on radio for me has been The End and CD 101. WKZQ Myrtle Beach is a good one as well. South Carolina folks like alternative!

 

[azfmfan]

Someone mentioned Entecom in an earler thread and even though that's not part of the three c's subject line I wil say I think radio 945 in Sacramento is an Entercom station and I think they are my new favorite. Plenty of new music ahead of other alternatives and they appear to have a very large gold library as I hear a lot of tracks I haven't heard on a while. Second favorite is CC's 987 in LA. Most of the others I have heard on iheart radio either lean too active or too 90's for my taste.

I also agree with most posters about fm 949 in San Diego in that it used to be a great station but not so much these days. Problem for me now with them is lack of currents playing 1-2 an hour. Just a few months ago Pumped up Kicks and Gotye were there top tracks and those songs were almost a year old on alternative radio at the time.

 

[awp69]

Cox owns a few stations, X98.5 Greenville (SC), X102.9 Jacksonville, and 97X Tampa. 97X plays a fair share of Active Rock and that is the only difference between it and the other very boring Cox Alternatives.

I'd have to disagree with you on this. First, if it's Active Rock then it should primarily be on Active Rock stations. I've heard that most Cox Alternative stations aren't "great". But X98.5 in Greenville has been doing really well. And while it throws in some Active Rock here and there, the thing that makes it such a breath of fresh air is that it isn't Active Rock. WTPT, The Planet, called itself a "new rock" station but only plays primarily "active"/harder rock.

X98.5 has done a pretty bang up job of playing almost every new alternative current and seems pretty responsive to input from its listeners, which I was worried it wouldn't do as it is personality-free and run off a translator. Just didn't want Cox to be thrown totally under the bus.

 

[acheron1982]

@awp- I agree that X98.5 sound pretty good for Greenville South Carolina standards but they are far from a cd102 or even Radio 104.5. With that being said, I don't think they would survive being that alternative.

One thing I want to say about X98.5 is I'm impressed with their communication on their facebook page. That really looks good on their part. Even negative comments get responses by the X98.5 team.

I'm not a fan of the COX radio stations in Tampa and Jacksonville Florida but yes, X98.5 is a breath of fresh air.

 

[awp69]

@awp- I agree that X98.5 sound pretty good for Greenville South Carolina standards but they are far from a cd102 or even Radio 104.5. With that being said, I don't think they would survive being that alternative.

One thing I want to say about X98.5 is I'm impressed with their communication on their facebook page. That really looks good on their part. Even negative comments get responses by the X98.5 team.

I'm not a fan of the COX radio stations in Tampa and Jacksonville Florida but yes, X98.5 is a breath of fresh air.

Yeah, I agree that they aren't a Radio 104.5 (which is probably my favorite Alt station -- even though it may be a little on the lighter side than some would like). But X98.5 has exceeded my expectations. At first they were a little more on the active/grunge side (which they still do play some of), but seems like they've really come into their own. I think part of that transition may have been to try to lure fans away from active rock Planet. As sad as it may sound, I never thought I'd hear something like Of Monsters and Men in Greenville, SC, even after a big alt rock hit (they're also playing their new single).

 

[awp69]

Just out of curiousity since I haven't listened to Radio 104.5 much recently, I did for a while and also compared playlists to X98.5. Surprisingly, there's very little difference. X98.5 may put one or two more Active Rock songs in the mix, but I'd say they play a good 90% of the artists being played on Radio 104.5. Major exceptions are female artists like Florence and the Machine and Paramore. But they've started playing Metric recently so perhaps that mold against female-led groups will break down.

But everything else is very similar and regularly played - Mumford & Sons, Muse, Lumineers, Gaslight Anthem, Atlas Genius, Silversun Pickups, Youngbood Hawke, Walk the Moon, Morning Parade, Black Keys, The Killers, Young the Giant, Awolnation, M83 ....I could go on, but you get the idea. I really don't think X98.5 is much different than a lot of "big city" alternative stations. And, frankly, I'm happy Cox took a shot on it here in Greenville.

X98.5 even played Jack White yesterday.

 

[acheron1982]

Radio 104.5 does a better job at getting out the new stuff before X. One other thing though; Muse had hits a few years back and X seems to only want to play the newest song. Radio 104.5 will play stuff from the early 2k's from Muse and other artist. Radio 104.5 is good for a clear channel station but it has nothing on CD102.5. Personally, I listen to Got Radio's Alternative station from TuneIn. They play the newest music first.

X98.5 also lacks any stuff from MGMT. I've heard the new one from the Shins but as I said before, they forget the hits from alternative artist back in the early and mid 2k's. Its either 90's or the past 2 years only.

I agree on female artist. The Naked and Famous comes to mind. I also note they don't play Phoenix.

 

[awp69]

Radio 104.5 does a better job at getting out the new stuff before X.  One other thing though;  Muse had hits a few years back and X seems to only want to play the newest song.  Radio 104.5 will play stuff from the early 2k's from Muse and other artist. Radio 104.5 is good for a clear channel station but it has nothing on CD102.5.  Personally, I listen to Got Radio's Alternative station from TuneIn.  They play the newest music first. 

X98.5 also lacks any stuff from MGMT.  I've heard the new one from the Shins but as I said before, they forget the hits from alternative artist back in the early and mid 2k's.  Its either 90's or the past 2 years only.

I agree on female artist.  The Naked and Famous comes to mind.  I also note they don't play Phoenix. 

They have on occassion played Phoenix's "1901" as well as "Uprising" by Muse. But agree that they don't play a whole lot of early 2000s. And The Naked & Famous was actually one of the few bands with female singers they are playing. There's a lot of others, though, that are ignored.

X98.5 has been moving a bit more quickly on new singles than they were previously (seemed like it had to be in the Top 20 of the Alt charts before they'd play anything).

Guess just comparing playlists there just didn't seem to be many songs (especially new ones) that X wasn't playing compared to Radio 104.5. I'm just glad to be hearing a lot of recent bands that would have never seen the light of day around here. Even groups like Young the Giant, who I was first exposed to on Radio 104.5 and currently don't have a new single. I can't complain too much with the huge void in GSP since 103X died in the mid-90s.

Going back to the main topic, I primarily just wanted to say that not all Cox alternatives are bad.

 

[acheron1982]

Well the point of this thread is to try to figure out, between the four C's, which company allows the program director to have power over the respected station in the respected city. Too many Cumulus stations all sound the same. The active rock stations put out by cumulus all sound the same, the classic rock stations out by cumulus all sound the same and when cumulus had alternative stations out (exception being the end in salt lake city), they all sound the same.

Of course, you have clear channel which usually has went to premium choice so if CC is going to put up an alternative station (Raleighs new addition is a perfect example), you pretty much know how it will sound (with the exception of radio 104.5).

 

[awp69]

Well the point of this thread is to try to figure out, between the four C's, which company allows the program director to have power over the respected station in the respected city.  Too many Cumulus stations all sound the same.  The active rock stations put out by cumulus all sound the same, the classic rock stations out by cumulus all sound the same and when cumulus had alternative stations out (exception being the end in salt lake city), they all sound the same.

Of course, you have clear channel which usually has went to premium choice so if CC is going to put up an alternative station (Raleighs new addition is a perfect example), you pretty much know how it will sound (with the exception of radio 104.5).

In GSP's case, it seems -- at least -- that someone, whether locally or not, is being given some power over the playlist on X98.5 compared to the other two Cox station's I'm aware of (Jacksonville and Tampa). They may not roll out the "best" alternative, but they've been quite responsive to their listener base as you pointed out via their Facebook page. I asked, for instance, that they change the acoustic ("Green Room") version of "My Body" by Young the Giant to the normal version because it's a great song that loses a lot of it's hook when performed acoustically. And there's a lot of people who hadn't even heard the original single in our area. So, they actually did change the version they were playing. They've also added and removed some of the songs they've played seemingly based on listener input.

That's great and shows, to me, that Cox isn't forcing a cookie cutter station on X98.5 and why it doesn't sound the same as their efforts in Jacksonville and Tampa.

 

[bluestar4]

Cumulus has some good alternative stations (WCYY and KNRQ) come to mind. CBS' alternatives are terrible except for maybe KXTE. Clear Channel has some good alternative stations (KDGE, WEND, KTBZ), but some are just terrible (KUCD, KYSR). I've never heard any Cox alternatives.

 

[chrocket87]

CBS' alternatives are terrible except for maybe KXTE.

I like WHFS/Baltimore. KROQ was also good until they started messing with the playlist and they had a good one going with radio 92.3/Cleveland before they blew it up for Sports.