The aftershocks of Entercom’s revamping of their Alternative and Country stations last week continue to be felt as at least four of their stations will launch new brands on Monday.
All of the rebrandings will be to the “Alt” identity used by the majority of Entercom’s stations in the format. Making the switch are:
- “96.5 The Buzz” KRBZ Kansas City to “Alt 96.5“.
- “107.7 Alternative Buffalo” WLKK/W284AP Buffalo NY to “Alt 107.7/104.7“
- “XL 102” WRXL Richmond VA to “Alt 102.1“.
- “X107.5” KXTE Las Vegas NV to “Alt 107.5“.
Following these four rebrandings nine of Entercom’s fifteen Alternative stations will utilize the “Alt” branding. The outliers are 106.7 KROQ Los Angeles and 94.7 KNRK Portland (where iHeartMedia has competing stations using the name), “104.3 The Shark” WSFS Miami, “FM 101.9” WQMP Orlando and “107.7 The End” KNDD Seattle (iHeart has the Florida and Washington servicemarks on the “Alt” name), “104.9 HFS” W285EJ Baltimore, and the aforementioned KNDD.
I would be VERY surprised if the “107-7 The End” branding were dropped for “Alt”. That branding has been around since forever. Entercom should know not to mess with two stations in Seattle….KISW and KNDD.
They can’t use the “Alt” brand in Seattle because iHeart has rights to the name.