Loading ...Big Business Kills Rock in Philly
February 25th, 2005 by SteveOk, so music in and of itself has already been beaten to a bloody pulp by the recording labels and big media corporations, but it seems they’re not content with that. Today, WPLY 100.3, the beloved alternative rock station Y100, was taken off the air and replaced with The Beat 100 (or something like that). Why does this suck, even for non-rock fans?
This marks the continued dilution of options in radio listening options. Yesterday, Philadelphia received (from Philly-, NJ-, and Delaware-based stations) 5 predominately rap/R&B stations, 1 classic rock station, 1 oldies station, 3 pop/mix stations, 1 country station, 2 regular rock stations (more “grunge” and “mainstream”), and 1 alternative rock station. That’s a decent mixing, even if it is heavy on the rap/R&B stations. However, there are now SIX rap/R&B stations, and only 2 modern rock stations, neither of which are alternative rock. Hell, there’s almost as many country stations in Philly now as rock stations, and frankly, country is very, very small here.
You get the idea: I’m mad as hell. Beyond that, this is a stupid business move. The rap/R&B section is already saturated with content and stations. What’s the point of having more? You’re not likely to steal off many of 98.9’s, 103.9’s, 102.1’s, 96.5’s, or 97.5’s listeners. Alternative Rock, on the other hand, is a genre almost non-existent in this area. Y100 had hundreds of thousands of loyal listeners, and hundreds of thousands more who tuned in sporadically (like me). So 100.3 is probably going to have less listeners as a rap station than an alternative station. So wtf is the company thinking?
Anyway, even if you don’t care, do me a big favor and go sign the petition and check out the link to Y100 online; yeah, the producers/dj’s decided “fuck this” and created an online radio station. It only allows a certain amount of free users, but if you have the cash you can get prefered membership and listen in.
“The home of Philadelphia’s new rock: Y100!” http://www.y100rocks.com/
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