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98.7 Alternative!

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron and SW Ontario
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48125er
Posts: 345
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 5:50 pm

Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by 48125er »

Itll flop around like 106.7 did when they were alternative, Too bad I actually thought AC was a good format for 98.7
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RingtailedFox
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by RingtailedFox »

I think the main reason that 89X and 93.9 The River stopped advertising to Detroit was from how they got in trouble with the CRTC and FCC for trying to turn their Southfield sales office into a remote studio for direct cross-border operations (which is a mega no-no to both regulators)... so the CRTC most likely slapped on a condition of license that they had to shun any and all advertising from Detroit and pretend that the American side of the listening area doesn't exist now.

After 89X lost Dave and Chuck the Freak... yeah. that was the beginning of the end, and it was just painful to see the station die a death by a thousand cuts...

as for 93.9 The River... well... ever since the station took to the air in the late 1940s, it *never* pulled in much of an audience in Detroit (usually hovering around a 1.2 share) but did decently in Windsor, occasionally rising to the top.... but once 89X came aboard, it usually placed second in Windsor for Canadian stations... though right around the time Dave and Chuck the Freak left, 89X started to fade and 93.9 actually managed to out-perform it on both sides of the River a few times. When your FLANKER is outperforming your main cash cow... you know you messed up royally. :P

Plus, the whole mixing of musical formats from about 2008 onwards didn't really help.... remember how I said that 93.9 The River was starting to cannibalize 89X because Alt-rock and Adult Album Alternative were converting and the stations began playing the same artists? I that played a factor in both's demise, too.

Rock and Roll is sadly on life support at this point. Indie artists sound pretty creative and interesting (as they tend to do), but they don't really get much attention. Alt-rock never appealed *much* to me (I'm more of a classic rock/prog rock/hair metal kind of guy), aside from really big crossover acts like Green Day and Soundgarden that could appeal to nearly everyone, mostly because by the time I started tuning in to the genre (late 1990s), it was already starting to become whiney emo snowflake music (Nickelback was beginning their career of auditory assault), though it would take until around 2011 for the music genre to fully morph into that. Alt-rock is basically a dead-end that started with The Velvet Underground and kinda... was killed by Nickleback.

Whoever said "Alt Rock is the most popular type of Rock these days... so what the hell is it the alternative to?" is correct. I'd say "it's the alternative to GOOD music at this point...

Also, yeah. why the hell is everyone switching to country music when the format saw a meteoric rise in popularity starting with Garth Brooks at the tail end of the 1980s, through the 1990s, and started to mellow out about 8 years ago and is settling back down. Like... who aside from Bell Media would decide to wait until AFTER a fad is already quieting down before joining in? ONLY Bell would be that stupid, but this is a braindead move, even for them. I thought Toledo's oversaturation of country music was bad... but now we have our own version of that to experience, yay... :roll:

Look, I like country music too... even some of the country/pop and country/rock crossover hits like stuff from Big and Rich or anything by Garth Brooks and Keith Urban... but this is just too much and seems like grasping at straws for any good ideas at this point.

Virgin Radio on 93.9 though... ehh, I'll give 'em that one as a kinda-good move. they probably wanna try to repatriate Windsor-area listeners from Channel 95.5 or maybe they smell blood in the water and wanna take a bite out of Mix 96.7 in Leamington...
~ The Legendary Raccoon-Fox has spoken!
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MotorCityRadioFreak
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by MotorCityRadioFreak »

Have you listened to 93.9 since the flip? It's not good, even for hit music.

By the way, 88.7 is only playing the newest country. I knew Florida/Georgia Line, and that was about it. I like some older country, but 98.7 quickly replaced 88.7 on my dial.

It's just so weird to not have 88.7 on my dial. As someone who is 37, I don't know FM radio without it. With 93.9 and 96.3, it feels like they were just tweaked gradually. Never had my 2 favorite stations removed on the same day. I didn't like it when 97.1 got tweaked to sports talk, but nothing has been nearly as dramatic ad these two flips for me.
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fuzzpower
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by fuzzpower »

There’s a daytimer in upstate New York that targets Toronto, to the point of broadcasting from there. Why the FCC and CRTC allows that but frowns upon Windsor stations targeting Detroit is a mystery.
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scifi and horror
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by scifi and horror »

I am pretty sure that the tightly controlled Alt playlist will become stale in a about a month. Then as rating decline they will tighten the playlist more and more. It is sad that music radio has been in a coma and on life support since the late nineties, when the national corporate take over of the airwaves. It will probably remain that way until someone does something to really shake things up, and I highly doubt that will happen in the Detroit market, instead it will happen elsewhere and then start being copied everywhere else.
armchair pd
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by armchair pd »

93.9 sounds closer to WDVD than Channel to me.
Lots of the Kane Brown/Kelsea Ballerina/Gabby Barrett country pop product that 96.3 plays and not much of the Yo Yo thumping stuff Channel Plays.
hmtb44
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by hmtb44 »

Step one to get me to change the dial...
Play how to save a life. The Fray can stay away.

Not too bad so far for my listening tastes.

I have heard 7 nation army twice (2 times too many)

On the plus side have heard the Pixies twice.
But both times it was where is my mind.
non-anon bob
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by non-anon bob »

In a few days, THIS will be Beau Daniels on air simultaneously in afternoon drive at 104.3 and ALT 98.7...cutting costs! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CejsPBbl1RE
...and NOW, Ladies & Gentlemen...The Next Poster!
...CKLW, the Motor City...
stopnswop2
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by stopnswop2 »

1alexalway wrote: Thu Nov 19, 2020 11:45 pm
stopnswop2 wrote: Thu Nov 19, 2020 11:10 pm Maybe they wanted a station where they have to spend as little as possible and do the least amount work.
With an AC station, you gotta do the whole shebang, which they clearly did not want to with the Breeze.
Alternative is driven by just the music and can be voice tracked, or automated, blabla.
The alternative demographic doesn't want to hear local jocks chit chat/gossip all morning or fun jingles, and have prize winning days, etc.

The one thing that helped make 89X popular in the 2000s-2017 when they closed down American operations was the DJ rotation. Cal Cagno Jay Hudson etc. Giveaways for concert tickets are usually popular and were on 89X. As far as the morning, Dave and Chuck were extremely popular in both countries. When they left it created a significant hole in their lineup by having to move everyone around.
Yeah, everyone loves concert tickets. I was referring to things like restaurant coupons and gift cards to bed bath beyond
Music is my life.
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MotorCityRadioFreak
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by MotorCityRadioFreak »

hmtb44 wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 11:06 am Step one to get me to change the dial...
Play how to save a life. The Fray can stay away.

Not too bad so far for my listening tastes.

I have heard 7 nation army twice (2 times too many)

On the plus side have heard the Pixies twice.
But both times it was where is my mind.
Have heard the Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" 3 times. Love the song but wow....Rotate!
They/them, non-binary and proud.

Remember that “2000 Mules” was concocted by a circus of elephants.
The right needs to stop worry about what’s between people’s legs. Instead, they should focus on what’s between their ears.
Audacity sucks.
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RayQix
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by RayQix »

Has anyone actually checked with what the audience may want with any of this?

Did someone go visit Ouelette and say “this is what the people will give you money if you do it”....?

If they did.... I’d be amazed.

89x should have been left alone. Now they’re down on the low-end of the dial.... and no good reason to have a preset given to them.

They could have given 89x the “virgin radio” moniker and put country BACK on 93.9, but to do it the way they did.... nah... no reason to go down that far anymore.

Yep... just channel presets.... but I think we had enough country here already .... and now it’s just too much.


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Mega Hertz
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Re: 98.7 Alternative!

Unread post by Mega Hertz »

Idk, Mark. They played Brain Stew yesterday in the morning and it sounded good. The bass drum and snare had room and definition. Then again, its a very "roomy" song to begin with. Not very busy. And then to play "Jaded" right after, well, Idk why 106.7 and now 98.7 play it and Riff doesn't, but whatever.

I'm trying really hard to give them a chance. Like I said, it's nice to have a flavor of rock on 98.7 again, but then that CHR/Hot AC product starts and it's like "maybe AMP never really went away".

Here's my thing: when you say "alternative", I have a particular sound and artists in mind. Imagine if "classic rock" was the Stones and Beatles mixed in with current Michael Jackson and Run DMC music. Same rules apply here. When you say alternative, lots of us who grew up with it think "Oh, okay. Smashing Pumpkins. RHCP." Not current hip-hop flavored stuff. Leave that to 96.3 and dust off those 90s and 00s playlists (please, spare the Panic and FOB stuff. If that's alternative, I'm the pope).
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