Townsquare Media doubled down on Alternative launches in Albany NY as Classic Hits “Rewind 105.7” WQSH Malta flipped to “Alt 105.7” at midnight following a weekend stunt as “Shamrock 105.7“.
Promoting 5,000 songs-in-a-row commercial free, the launch of “Alt 105.7” makes WQSH the second station in the Albany market to flip to Alternative with the “Alt” branding after Pamal Broadcasting flipped Sports “Win 104.9” WINU Altamont to “Alt 104.9” on Friday afternoon.
WQSH launched with 311’s “All Mixed Up”, Alice Merton’s “No Roots”, and Gotye “Somebody I Used To Know”.
Original Report 3/16: Pamal Broadcasting flipped Sports “Win 104.9” WINU Altamont/Albany NY to Alternative “Alt 104.9” at 5pm today.
Launching with 10,000 songs commercial-free, the move returns the Alternative format to Albany for the first time since iHeart’s “Channel 103.1” WHRL flipped to a simulcast of News/Talk 810 WGY in 2010. WINU was one of three Sports stations in the Albany market carrying the CBS Sports Radio Network 24/7.
The move appears to have beaten Townsquare Media to the punch as Townsquare had registered Alt1057Albany.com in mid-February for Classic Hits “Rewind 105.7” WQSH. That station is now going to have to look for a Plan B, as at the same moment WINU flipped, WQSH began stunting with Irish bands as “Shamrock 105.7” for St. Patrick’s Day.
Townsquare Media Albany announced today that WQSH 105.7 is now Shamrock 105.7.
Shamrock 105.7 will feature the plenty of Irish music from The Clancy Brothers , Van Morrison, The Cranberries and of course U2. “ We are so excited to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and the incredible body of Irish music.” Shamrock 105.7 Program Director Steve O’Richards said while sipping on a Shamrock shake.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
northernexposure 
Charles Everett 
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Alternative has consistently been in the market since 1985 on WEQX, based in Manchester, VT.
Nice logo, though. /sarc. It amazes me Pamal has managed to run a consistently good station in WXPK The Peak given how poor some of their other stations are.
WEQX doesn’t have a toll-free request line or an Albany sales office, plus there’s the closer-in 103.1 facility to deal with. Alt 104.9 booms in from the Helderberg Mountains where the Albany TV towers are located.
I know you feel the need to correct everyone on this site, Charles but be realistic. 104.9 hasn’t been a major player or success in the Albany market in years. Just because they can hear it doesn’t mean they’re listening.
EQX has presented major concerts and festivals in Albany and will continue to, because they’re the heritage alternative brand and connected to the music community in the region in a way Pamal likely won’t.
Also, if I were going to nitpick (as you always do) I would point out that most people in 2018 aren’t calling a radio station’s request line anyways, and if they do, in the mobile phone era, it’s unlikely they’d think about the paltry few cents it costs to call EQX. More people are emailing them than calling.
No one will ever come close to EQX. Their programming is first rate, and they are local. Several of the dj’s live in Albany and commute the 72 Mile one way trip to work at EQX. They give a damm. The big companies? Not so much. 104.9 is not a player in the Albany market, never has been. Remember their disaster try at Smooth Jazz programming with their 20 song rotation? A mess. Believe me, no one will listen to Pamal’s silly “Alt 104.9”. No one.
you cannot listen on line unless your in the immediate area, never came across that with any other station, what the heck is that all about…
Geoblocking to a T. If you can’t monetize the stream, there’s no point in it.
I have a feeling that is leftover from the CBS Sports Stream/Sports that may have only been streamed locally and not nationally. (We know how the sports leagues can be about streaming of their games.) So that MAY be just the station not unlocking the stream’s geographic limitations for the new format.
Shame that CBS sports radio is gone, really enjoyed listening to some of the CBS hosts. I wonder what this means for Patriots football on the radio?
I can not stream Alt 104.9. But then again iHeart Streams have been very flaky also.
Ah, two competing stations in the same market with the same branding and, apparently, the same exact format. That will go over well…
IKR. I can’t recall a situation like this before but I’m sure it’s happened from time to time.
Not with the same format, but in 1999, Radio One tried to use the “Kiss” brand when they flipped WENZ/Cleveland to mainstream urban as “Kiss 107.9″… then Clear Channel followed suit by flipping a rimshot signal (then-WZLE 104.9 Lorain) to “Kiss 104.9,” asserting rights to the “Kiss” name in the state of Ohio. Radio One blinked after a few weeks, and WENZ became “Z-1079.”
I think the better bet is 104.9 – still commercial free for 10,000 songs. The commercial free for 5,000 songs held true on 105.7 for about a week. Now they have more commercials than ever. Rewind 105.7 always had tons of commercials too. 105.7 said this: Yes we are playing commercials. But, we are featuring some commercial free hours every day at 10am, 1pm, and 4pm.
And keep listening as we will be giving away cash starting on Monday.
Thank you for listening.