A perception change has taken place at many of iHeartMedia’s Classic Rock stations in recent months as they remove the word “Classic” from their positioning.
Coming as the stations continue to add more music from the late 1990s and early 2000s, the stations are moving to positioning statements more closely identified with stations in other formats. As discussed in Ross On Radio today, “Q104.3” WAXQ New York has shifted from “New York’s Classic Rock” to “New York’s Rock”. Similarly, 102.5 KZOK Seattle is now “Seattle’s Rock”.
“99.7 The Fox” WRFX Charlotte is now going by “Charlotte’s Rock of the 70s, 80s, and 90s”. 101.5 KGB-FM is “San Diego’s 80s, 90s & More”. “Big 105.9” WBGG-FM, which had used “Miami’s Greatest Hits” in early 2025, now is “Miami’s Rock Hits”.
Even markets that have both Classic Rock and a Mainstream Rock station have seen changes. “Lone Star 92.5” KZPS Dallas is now positioning as “Dallas Rocks”, while “97.1 The Eagle” KEGL remains “Dallas/Fort Worth’s Rock Station”. “103.5 The Fox” KRFX Denver is using “Colorado’s Rock Station” as sister 107.9 KBPI continues to “Rock The Rockies”.
Only a few stations are continuing to use Classic Rock in their positioning including 100.7 WZLX Boston, “Big 100” WBIG-FM Washington, and “105.9 The Rock” WNRQ Nashville.
As Ross discussed today, “If stations are more comfortable as just “rock” now, it might be because there’s less need to choose sides. Most Alternative and Active stations aren’t playing a lot of currents. Without meaning to dismiss the music that rock programmers are excited about now, the last major body of hit rock, at least in terms of multi-format support was the pop/punk of the mid-’00s. That’s the only era that Classic Rock hasn’t co-opted yet, and even then, you’ll hear “The Middle” and “All the Small Things” on a few stations.”
