Tonight I discovered an upsetting news article that anyone with an appreciation for alternative rock in the Twin Cities will care to hear about. On my way home from work today my favorite station, Drive 105, was suddenly broadcasting the signal from hard rock station 93x. At one point I thought I had switched the station, but that was not the case because I was still tuned to 105.1. I then figured there was probably a crossed signal and the mistake would be fixed. Anyone that listens to Drive knows they have a bad signal (which is why they broadcast on 3 frequencies).
Turns out that one of the only true alternative rock stations sold out without giving up a fight and is now changing formats. Starting tomorrow 105.1, 105.3 and 105.7 will now broadcast a station called "Love 105" which will play songs from the 60's through 80's. Sounds like a bull shit move to me. There is a station called Jack FM for that and we definitely don't need two. There is really only one station left for any hope in the alt-rock scene and that is 89.3 the Current. Unfortunately, their format faces a genre identity crisis and is extremely inconsistent.
As a loyal listener to Drive it feels like a slap in the face that without warning my favorite station is gone. I guess it's a reality of life and as someone that works in media planning/advertising I know all to well why this is happening: low listener ratings = low ad sales = Love 105. My career just bit me in the ass.
This article sums up what's been said above:
Star Tribune- Drive 105 is looking for some radio Love
1 comment:
In no way will the Love 105 format last. The Current will never refine to strictly alt-rock and Cities 97 is more wuss that KS95 and 93X will add a few of the harder Drive 105 tracks but the 105s will return to alt-rock by the end of the year like they usually do. It's just going to be a very long 7 months.
Post a Comment