Fresh Listen: KROQ, WNYL & KBZT

When Kevin Weatherly returned to Alternative KROQ Los Angeles as Senior VP of Programming in June, it was a story in not just the radio trades, but also the local consumer press and in entertainment industry trades like Variety. Weatherly had gone from KROQ to Spotify. Had he not stayed there for any reason, he could have followed the lead of several rock radio veterans who have made a circuit of the digital audio world. That Weatherly wanted to come back was a vote of confidence for radio.

Ross on Radio readers have been waiting for a Fresh Listen to Weatherly’s KROQ since the hire was announced. Weatherly has been in the building for seven weeks, so I wanted to give the man some time. Also, as we noted when we listened to KROQ and rival KYSR (Alt 98.7) in February, the station was already on the way back to sounding like the KROQ of the mid-‘10s: more guitar-based, more gold-based, no Billie Eilish, and backing well away from the excursion into TikTok pop that so put the industry in a “Mood” two years ago.  

But I heard from another programmer this week, who had recently noticed both the changes at KROQ and that sister WNYL (Alt 92.3) was now using the positioner “New York’s Alternative Rock.” It was also a good opportunity to check in with Audacy sister KBZT (Alt 94.9) San Diego. Rival 91X’s repositioning as gold-based Alternative had gotten them a lot of publicity. But for the last two months, KBZT has been the format leader and they deserved some recognition as well.

When 91X switched, it left Alt 94.9 with an interesting challenge. 91X had set itself up to play gold from 1982-2005 and some cherrypicked currents. KBZT got a monopoly on the last 15 years of Alternative that coincided with the format’s years of post-streaming decline. It’s still playing more of the indie pop and bedroom pop alt that KROQ and WNYL are backing away from and doing fine with it at the moment. 

What I noticed in all my listening was less about the music than what was around it. First, all three stations were talking more about the music. When NYC’s Brady played Simple Plan, he noted that “I’ll Do Anything” was 20 years old and joked about downloading it on Limewire. Both KBZT’s Jeremy and Kevan Kenney were talking about Maneskin’s “Supermodel” going to No. 1 Alternative just as they were nominated for multiple VMA awards. “Their year of hard work and being played on KROQ every hour has finally paid off,” Kenney quipped.

The real KROQ throwback moment though was their current promo: win tickets to see My Chemical Romance in Los Angeles, at Aftershock in Sacramento, and at When We Were Young in Las Vegas by picking up a KROQ sticker at Hot Topic and scanning a QR code. Even with the contemporary twist, there is a lot of swagger in asking your listeners to go to a client for a sticker in 2022 and, given my recent complaints about throwaway contesting, I respect this show of radio’s continued power (as well as an attempt to help a bricks-and-mortar retail partner) immensely.

Here’s KROQ just before 3 p.m. on July 27:

• System of a Down, “Chop Suey!”
• M83, “Midnight City”
• Dramarama, “Anything, Anything:
• Foo Fighters, “Best of You”
• Dayglow, “Can I Call You Tonight?”
• Rage Against the Machine, “Killing in the Name”
• Twenty One Pilots, “Heathens”
• Linkin Park, “Faint”
• Maneskin, “Beggin”
• Smashing Pumpkins, “Today”
• Ataris, “The Boys of Summer”
• Dirty Heads, “Life’s Been Good”
• Stone Temple Pilots, “Interstate Love Song”
• Tame Impala, “The Less I Know the Better”
• Muse, “Time Is Running Out”
• Wet Leg, “Chaise Longue”

Here’s WNYL from the same hour:

• Foo Fighters, “Learn to Fly”
• Simple Plan, “I’d Do Anything”
• Third Eye Blind, “Semi-Charmed Life”
• Candlebox, “Far Behind”
• Kate Bush, “Running Up That Hill”
• Republica, “Ready to Go”
• Linkin Park, “Numb”
• Blink-182, “I Miss You”
• Tame Impala, “The Less I Know the Better”
• All-American Rejects, “Gives You Hell”
• Beastie Boys, “Brass Monkey”
• Fall Out Boy, “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs”
• Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Snow (Hey Oh)
• Hole, “Celebrity Skin”
• Gorillaz, “Clint Eastwood”
• Maneskin, “Beggin’”

Here’s San Diego’s Alt 94.9 from the same stretch:

• Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
• Grouplove, “Tongue Tied”
• Powfu f/Beabadoobee, “Coffee for Your Head”
• Walk the Moon, “Shut Up and Dance”
• Alien Ant Farm, “Smooth Criminal”
• Glass Animals, “Heat Waves”
• Blink-182, “Dammit (Growing Up)”
• Milky Chance, “Synchronize”
• No Doubt, “It’s My Life”
• LovelyTheBand, “Broken”
• Twenty One Pilots, “Ride”
• Maneskin, “Supermodel”
• MGMT, “Kids”
• Oasis, “Wonderwall”
• Of Monsters and Men, “Little Talks”