Update: In addition to KISW, the new “Metal Channel” is airing on HD subchannels of 92.3 KGON Portland, 94.9 WPTE Norfolk, 95.7 WKBU New Orleans, 98.9 KQRC Kansas City, and 99.5 KQMT Denver. The station will be rolled out to other markets shortly.
Entercom Rock 99.9 KISW Seattle is joining the small group of stations placing an added emphasis on their HD2 subchannel.
KISW-HD2 has dropped its previous “Live Rock” programming for “The Metal Channel“. Promoting itself as “All-Metal All The Time”, KISW-HD2 is running commercial-free with a playlist it describes as “from the early years of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, through Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer to new music from Lamb of God and Slipknot.”
semoochie 
WeNeverKnew 
Joseph_Gallant 
saladressing 
Nathan Obral 
KGON-HD2 Portland has done the same thing. They’re both Entercom stations.
Trees falling…
I suspect “The Metal Channel” will very soon launch on a HD subchannel of WAAF-107.3/WKAF-97.7 in the Worcester and Boston areas, respectively, likely in time for the huge student migration back to Boston around Labor Day.
With so many new vehicles coming equipped with HD, it is nice to see these moves and similar ones such as the new “Indie 105” on Live 105’s subchannel in the Bay Area.
Microformats like this are the exception to the rule. iHeart runs nationalized formats on their HD2 subchannels so that 1) they can skirt around paying royalty rates for their national streams and 2) to feed 250-watt FM translators programming content.
And given iHeart’s overall reach and influence, it makes these experimental formats really hard to come by.
This obviously isn’t the first time that an all-metal format has been attempted. Remember Z-Rock 28 years ago?
“Turn it on and rip the knob off!”