First Listen: 89x vs. Alt 98.7 (Sort Of)

The most effective counterprogramming of CIMX (89X) Windsor’s return to Alternative wasn’t from either of Detroit’s existing rock outlets, Alternative WDZH (Alt 98.7) or Active Rock WRIF. It was longtime Alternative outlet WLUM (FM102.1) Milwaukee. Shortly after 89X began teasing an August 28 announcement, the sale of WLUM and sister AC WLDB (B93) to KLOVE was announced, interrupting whatever feelgood radio people might have been experiencing about the return of a heritage Alternative outlet.

One of the earliest major-market Alternative success stories of the early ’90s, Bell Media’s 89X went Country five years ago in a three-way chain reaction that also saw Triple-A CIDR become Top 40 Virgin Radio and Audacy’s Alt 98.7 launched within minutes to fill the void. (To cover it all at the time took two Final Listens and two First Listens in the same article.) In the July Nielsen PPM ratings, WDZH went 3.3-3.0, while WRIF went 5.2-4.9. 

The Bell outlets aren’t in the Detroit ratings, although CIMX is one of the few Bell outlets not geoblocked to the U.S. By the time it flipped to Country, 89X had segued to Active Rock and was closer musically to WRIF, although its focus was Windsor. At its launch, Alt 98.7 was of a piece with the pop/true.alt-leaning Audacy Alternative outlets. Since that time, it’s followed the lead of sister KROQ Los Angeles and others in rocking a little harder, and now imaged as “Detroit’s Alternative Rock.”

Like a lot of Alternative outlets now, it’s mostly gold-driven. The path for other revamped outlets like WNNX (99X) Atlanta and XETRA (91X) San Diego has been to exploit their heritage. Alt 98.7 isn’t billed that way, but it is playing 30 years’ worth of hits. When 89X did arrive this morning, it was also mostly with the format megahits that you would expect to hear in the first hour. But it was also positioned as “Windsor’s Alternative”—“in Windsor, built for Windsor,” in contrast to Amp’s Detroit positioning.

This time around we’re only taking a Fresh/First listen to three stations in the format battle/not format battle. Here’s Alt 98.7 on August 26, just before 3 p.m. with Dallas Osborn (from sister KITS [Live 105] San Francisco, another revamped heritage Alternative outlet):

• Foo Fighters, “Today Song”
• Everlast, “What It’s Like”
• No Doubt, “Just a Girl”
• Gotye, “Someone That I Used to Know” — front-sold as “here’s Gotye, not Doechii”
• Gorillaz, “Feel Good, Inc.”
• Collective Soul, “The World I Know”
• Rise Above, “Saviour” — “Something for my fellow elder emos.”
• Linkin Park, “The Emptiness Machine”
• Alice In Chains, “Man in the Box”
• Green Day, “Wake Me Up Before September Ends”
• Paradox, “Get the Message” — cleverly scheduled so that the front-sell acknowledged their Green Day fandom and the lyrics referenced Blink.
• Blink-182, “What’s My Age Again”
• Goo Goo Dolls, “Slide”
• 311, “Amber”
• Bad Omens, “The Death of Peace of Mind”
• AFI, “Miss Murder”
• Blind Melon, “No Rain”
• Panic! At the Disco, “High Hopes”
• The Bravery, “Believe”

We last wrote about WRIF for its 50th birthday in early 2021. This week, it sounded a little closer to Beasley sister WMMR Philadelphia on the Active Rock to Heritage Rock continuum — which is not that wide to begin with. P.M. driver Meltdown’s FourPlay at 4 was geared to National Lottery Day with number-related songs and bands. 

The station was also giving away Ice Nine Kills/Sevendust tickets as well as Rival Sons and Highly Suspect VIP tickets for the upcoming Arts, Beats & Eats festival. 

Here’s WRIF on August 27 at 3 p.m., leading into FourPlay at 4:

• Queens of the Stone Age, “No One Knows”
• Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Give It Away”
• Papa Roach, “Last Resort”
• Collective Soul, “Shine”
• Muse, “Uprising”
• Scorpions, “No One Like You”
• Sleep Theory, “Static”
• Alice In Chains, “I Stay Away”
• Danzig, “Mother”
• Offspring, “Self Esteem”
• System of a Down, “Ariels”
• 3 Doors Down, “Here Without You” — the first song of FourPlay at 4 
• Iron Maiden, “The Number of the Beast” — Meltdown played audio from a recent edition of his Talkin’ Rock podcast with Bruce Dickinson.
• Five Finger Death Punch, “I Refuse”
• White Zombie, “Thunder Kiss ‘65”

CIMX, as Pure Country 89, began jockless stunting Monday, dropping the syndicated Bobby Bones show and parting ways with staffer Nate Carr and Chris Byrne. The promos, in Spanish, teased a change for 8:08 this morning, August 28. (It would have been funny if the change had heralded not the return of 89X, but the radio feed of ESPN-8, “The Ocho.”) 

The Country format ended with Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” and four of Johnny Cash’s Alternative titles (“Hurt,” “Personal Jesus,” “Rusty Cage,” and “The Man Come Around”). The launch promo saluted not just the history of 89X but Top 40 sister station/predecessor CKLW, heard playing Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild.” Here’s the first hour of the relaunched station.

• Jane’s Addiction, “Stop”
• Eminem, “Lose Yourself”
• Blink-182, “All the Small Things”
• Nirvana, “In Bloom”
• White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”
• Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Give It Away”
• Killers, “Mr. Brightside”
• Fatboy Slim, “Praise You”
• Black Keys, “Lonely Boy”
• Arkells, “Oh, The Boss is Coming”—the first Canadian song of the launch
• Offspring, “Come Out and Play”
• Audioslave, “Doesn’t Remind Me”
• Twenty One Pilots, “Stressed Out”
• Mumford & Sons, “Rushmere”—the first recent title of the launch
• Weezer, “Say It Ain’t So”
• Noah Kahan, “Stick Season”

UPDATE: I went back on September 3 to get a more regular format hour than the launch. Here’s the station, still jockless, at 2 p.m.:

• Foo Fighters, “My Hero”
• Billie Eilish, “Bad Guy”
• Jimmy Eat World, “The Sweetness”
• Lumineers, “Ho Hey”
• Matthew Sweet, “Sick of Myself”–there are some sweepers for older cuts celebrating “89X originals,” but this one just played
• Lorde, “What Was That?”
• Sum 41, “Still Waiting” (CDN)
• My Chemical Romance, “Helena”
• Arkells, “Leather Jacket” (CDN)
• Black Keys, “Gold on the Ceiling”
• Ruby Waters, “Sour Patch” (CDN)
• No Doubt, “It’s My Life”
• Foster the People, “Pumped Up Kicks”
• Offspring, “Gotta Get Away”
• Bedouin Soundclash, “When the Night Feels My Song” (CDN)
• Faith No More, “Epic (What Is It?)”
• Green Day, “Holiday”