In February of this year, Philadelphia lost their only modern rock/alternative radio station, Y100. This station was switched from its alternative format to hip-hop, much to the fury of the former Y100 listeners. In fact, the fans and some of the DJs took Y100 underground at y100rocks.com, which can be heard through iTunes Radio or through their website.
This past week, WYSP switched their format from rock to talk, which leaves Philly with only one rock station, WMMR. According to what I’ve been hearing and reading, they say that many of the Infinity stations will be switching formats because Howard Stern is going to satellite radio. The main area affected by this decision is the New York City metropolitan area, where KROCK will be switching to a full talk format from their rock format on the day Howard Stern leaves, January 3rd. As a result, New York will be without a rock ‘n roll station of any kind.
These events raise many questions. Is traditional radio feeling the effects of the iPod and satellite radio stations on the music market? Is rock ‘n roll slowly transitioning out of pop culture, like what occurred with other styles of music? Or is this just media corporations trying to increase profits by swarming a hot genre of music to the abandonment of other, possibly less competitive genres?
Personally, I’ve listened less and less to radio ever since Y100 went off the air. My iPod quickly filled its place in my listening habits. Two of my good friends now subscribe to Sirius Radio. I know many others who listen to music via the internet. Can radio compete with this?
I don’t think rock is dead when you have great music being released by Audioslave, Foo Fighters, Green Day, and U2.