Jon, why are Alternative/New Rock musical formats largely underserved in some markets? I live in Green Bay. They’ve been tried and die out in favor of something like Classic Rock or Adult Hits. It feels like some media companies…would rather compete with two or three others in a different format. Is it that these formats are largely unsupported unless it’s in the larger urban areas?
You hit the main point when you mentioned two or three stations competing in the same format.
Commercial radio operates on a group-by-group basis. Each group is generally trying to take audience away from their competitors’ top-rated stations and protect their own top-rated stations. Groups may adopt a format that closely targets the other group’s big station, or put a “flanker” format on a smaller station to protect one of their own top-rated stations from competition.
In Green Bay, Cumulus ran two variations of Alternative on WZNN and WKRU/106.7 from 2007 to 2017, competing with Woodward’s “Razor 94.7” and WAPL/105.7. But the format didn’t find much of an audience: WKRU was the lowest-rated commercial station in the market in 2017, and Cumulus flipped it back to Classic Rock.
As for the Alternative format itself, researcher and programming consultant Sean Ross has noted that there’s some disagreement on what music belongs on an Alternative playlist, but that hasn’t prevented the format from succeeding in many markets.
In non-commercial radio, Adult Alternative formats have been growing for years. Minnesota Public Radio’s “The Current” has a higher Minneapolis audience share than many commercial stations.
Green Bay is unusual for a city of its size in that it only has two public radio stations. Both are operated by Wisconsin Public Radio, which does not run Alternative programming on any of its stations (except for student programming in cities where universities receive airtime due to operating agreements).
By contrast, Milwaukee, Madison, and Wausau all have other public radio operations that offer some Alternative and Adult Alternative programming.
Do you have a question about broadcasting? Email jonellis@northpine.com and I’ll do my best to find an answer!