This is what the top-of-the-hour sweeper on XETRA (91X) San Diego said at 3 p.m., January 17, after the Tijuana-licensed station’s legal ID in Spanish. “Serving humanity since 1983 and broadcasting from an office park in Mira Mesa, and transmitting from a radio tower in T.J. back to you … This is 91X. Local. Independent. Alternative.”
This is what the 4:00 p.m. top-of-the-hour on 91X said on February 22, after 91X retooled its format to emphasize ‘80s and ‘90s Alternative music from the early years of the station’s history: “Celebrating 40 years of serving humanity and broadcasting from an office park in Mira Mesa … Transmitting from a radio tower high above T.J. back to you … This is 91X. Same as it ever was!”
In January, 91X was, like most Alternative outlets, already gold-based. While 60% of its music was from this millennium, the station did go back to the ‘80s for some titles (mostly from acts like Violent Femmes and the Beastie Boys that are less associated with any given era). The newer songs were always front-sold, but in a quick, PPM-compliant way, and most of them were already considered recurrents.
But on February 21, 91X was relaunched after several weeks of an “A-to-XYZ” stunt. The “same as it ever was” ID was indeed followed by the Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime.” Songs from the last 15 years are mostly gone, replaced by more ‘90s and ‘80s, even though Adult Hits sister KFBG (Big 100.7) is successfully in the ‘80s business too. Imaging and publicity for the station has emphasized how “91X is 91X again.”
Last Friday, 91X p.m. driver Zach played “Such Great Heights” and talked about a friend who had been roommates with Ben Gibbard when the Postal Service song was written. He teased his favorite song from the debut Weezer album, and it wasn’t one that you usually hear. There was a similar teaser for the Police, then a bit about the specific synthesizers used on “Spirits in the Material World.”
When Zach played the hour’s only current, Mitski’s “The Only Heartbreaker,” he was careful to emphasize its retro feel, comparing it to a-Ha. When he played the Cure, he mentioned the 35th anniversary of their concert film. Many of the elements of the new 91X were already there a month ago, but now there was a hook, and more enthusiasm.
When PD Garett Michaels last tapped into that legacy, he was across the street because 91X was very much not 91X. In 2002, KBZT, then billed as “FM 94/9,” was a shot across the bow at 91X’s then-owner Clear Channel. KBZT initially attacked Clear Channel by name on-air, perhaps the only station to get any traction doing so. KBZT was also counterprogramming the state of the Alternative format in the early ‘00s — a format that was effectively Active Rock punctuated only by the occasional teen punk record.
KBZT’s inroads spurred a boomlet of gold-based and Classic Alternative stations, beginning with WNNX (99X) Atlanta and two different Seattle stations, including KNDD (The End). When that land rush appeared to be winding down, Clear Channel tried its version successfully on WRFF (Radio 104.5) Philadelphia, also with an emphasis on library, but with a handful of “true.alt” currents as well. More than a decade later, one can see the role of both KBZT and WRFF in steering Alternative away from Active Rock. The most recent gold titles on the new 91X are mostly from KBZT’s era of helping redraw the format.
Having two influential gold-based radio stations also explains to some extent how Alternative became a largely gold- and recurrent-based radio format. The travails of current-based radio formats in the streaming era are well documented, but Alternative’s issues go back a decade to when CHR and Country were still robust. In decades past, the complaint was that Alternative PDs relinquished control of their crossover bands and hits too easily. Now the handful of songs that do cross over to Top 40 — “Feel It Still,” “Broken,” “Monsters,” “Beggin’” — stay in power rotation indefinitely. In many places, the format isn’t satisfyingly new or old.
There are definitely some Ross On Radio readers who would have liked to see KITS San Francisco go back to its “Live 105” identity and ‘80s/’90s Alternative in a similar way, rather than the Adult Hits format it chose, something the station seemed to acknowledge by putting Classic Live 105 on HD2 recently. Many industry people have long felt that KROQ Los Angeles should do the same, but sister KCBS (Jack FM) and KRTH (K-Earth 101) are already drawing on that legacy. For years, so has KROQ’s HD channel. Sister KNRK Portland, Ore., was already offering its own version before KITS.
With KBZT now doing the current mainstream version of the format as Alt 94.9 and still splitting the market franchise two decades later, 91X’s move made sense and created excitement. At the same time, KTCL Denver and WWDC (DC101) Washington are proof that there’s a path forward for legacy stations.
Hearing 91X’s Zach talk about music enthusiastically helped me realize that I haven’t heard Alternative do much of that lately; if you want music advocacy, it’s on Triple-A stations. The easy rejoinder is that few PDs expect listeners to be arguing about their favorite Machine Gun Kelly track in 2062 — and he’s one of the format’s least anonymous current stars.
But the excitement that 91X created in 1992 wasn’t just about the enduring bands, it was as much about Alternative’s galvanizing series of one-off acts and reaction records, even if most people aren’t talking about their favorite Haysi Fantayzee song now either. It’s interesting that the current I’ve probably heard most enthusiastically front-sold at Alternative in the last six months is “Chaise Longue,” and you certainly get the impression that the members of Wet Leg do have a favorite Haysi Fantayzee song.
As one of the few 1982-83 station launches spurred by KROQ to achieve sustained success, 91X has a history to draw upon that includes the ‘80s. We know what 91X being 91X again would sound like. Most other Alternative stations are 10 years younger and have a less-distinct legacy to draw on. For some stations, going back to the time of their greatest success could as easily mean playing Linkin Park again: the thing that many PDs were trying to escape in 2003 when KBZT launched.
Recently, I’ve had occasion to read radio trade-publication stories from 1993, when grunge was ascendent, but when KROQ was still breaking “All That She Wants” by Ace of Base, thus spurring labels to start pure pop records at Alternative, if they could. The “what is Alternative anyway” discussion has been with us always — every bit as fervent as the “what is Country” debate. It will be good news if we’re getting to still have it in 2032.
Here’s what 91X sounded like last month, January 17 at 3 p.m.:
- Fall Out Boy, “Dance Dance” (2005)
- Tame Impala, “Is It True” (2020)
- Foo Fighters, “All My Life” (2002)
- Arctic Monkeys, “R U Mine” (2013)
- Violent Femmes, “Blister in the Sun” (1983)
- Bad Religion, “Infected” (1994)
- Dirty Heads f/Travis Barker, “Rage” (2021)
- Pearl Jam, “Yellow Ledbetter” (1993)
- Muse, “Uprising” (2009)
- Sublime, “Smoke Two Joints” (1992)
- Alt-J, “U&ME” (2021)
- Beastie Boys, “Time to Get Ill” (1986)
- I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, “Leave Me Alone” (2020)
- Third Eye Blind, “Jumper” (1997)
- Ramones, “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” (1977)
Here’s 91X just before 3 p.m. on February 25:
- Echo & the Bunnymen, “People Are Strange” (1987)
- Blink-182, “The Rock Show” (2001)
- Postal Service, “Such Great Heights” (2003)
- U2, “Mysterious Ways” (1997)
- Foo Fighters, “Everlong” (1994)
- Weezer, “Surf Wax America” (1994)
- Talking Heads, “Once in a Lifetime” (1980)
- Sublime, “Jailhouse” (1996)
- Alice In Chains, “Man in the Box” (1991)
- Cure, “The Love Cats” (1984)
- Beastie Boys, “Sure Shot” (1994)
- Mitski, “The Only Heartbreaker” (2022)
- Police, “Spirits in the Material World” (1982)
- Radiohead, “Creep” (1992)
- Pet Shop Boys, “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” (1986)