On December 31st 2005, San Jose “alternative” radio station Channel 104.9 held a New Year’s Eve/Listener party. By morning Channel 104.9 was gone, replaced with a spanish language format. On Tuesday at 5 p.m., nearly 14 months after that New Year’s Eve, Channel 104.9 returned.
In an interview with the San Jose Mercury New, program director Justin Wittmayer said “For a year we’ve been hearing that listeners want their station back. We just had to look at it. When something is slapping you in the face, you have to address it.”
This public outrage was due to 104.9 being the second casualty of corporate radio moving to spanish format, long-time Bay Area rock fixture KSJO was the first to go. My outrage was that they took away the only rock station that seemed to play the least amount of commercials, employed DJ’s that would shut up and play music, and had my favorite type of morning show: all music and no talk.
But a lot has changed since 104.9 went off the air. I realized I would rarely be able to hear music I enjoyed over the radio. I also started listening to my iPod during all my drives, no matter the distance. I downloaded an exponential amount of new songs. As a Christmas gift, I received a Bose SoundDock which allows me to listen to music I enjoy when & how I want (This is something all old media, not just radio, fail miserably to understand). And finally, I realized most new music out these days is just crap. I just tuned into 104.9 again for the first time and had to turn it off after 3 songs.
I don’t see how Channel 104.9 and radio in general can compete with my, or anyone else’s iPod. But they will try; “Wittmayer said the new format will include new and older alternative songs, and will draw heavily from listener requests, a way to keep it competitive with iPods and Internet music.” In theory that sounds great, but I already know who is going to be jamming the request channels and what type of bands and music they want to hear. That is something I can’t compete with nor do I want to. It is bad enough that same demographic destroyed music television.
When I first heard of this comeback, I thought it was a victory for the alternative rock format, but now I see it as only a win for the corporation. This wasn’t about the old 104.9 listeners and going back to them. The spanish station’s ratings were poor and the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to improve ratings would be to switch back instead of trying to grow the listener base of the spanish format.
What is the result of all this? Simple, another group of avid listeners are screwed over when their station changes format and are left to find a new way to listen to music they enjoy. Where will they go? To another station only to worry if this happens again or rely on themselves for a better listening experience with the help of technology?
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