We know why RockTernative radio has different lanes. Eras and genres test differently; Currents and Gold serve different purposes; positioning matters; expectations and tastes vary; and let’s be honest — it gives unknowing advertisers a description of what they’re buying.
So there are labels.
- Active/Mainstream
- Alternative/Modern
- Classic Rock
- Classic Hits
- Variety
- Triple-A
- AOR
- Christian
And inside each of those lanes, we slice, dice, and hyper-segment even thinner by coding songs by sound, tempo, era, type, mood, and several more.
It makes sense. Brands striving to create the perfect segue, QH, or hour. But when the radio pie isn’t growing, does slicing thinner really help? Is optimizing or protecting micro-silos the best growth strategy?
Step outside station walls and think about the internal arguments that take place.
- “Grunge isn’t Classic Rock.”
- “Metallica shouldn’t be on Alternative.”
- “Franz Ferdinand isn’t Rock.”
- “Code Guns N’ Roses like a hair band.”
- “The Foo Fighters aren’t Rock, they’re Alternative.”
- “Never play two long songs in the same hour.”
- “You can’t play Nickelback at all.”
If listeners heard these arguments, most would probably just shrug and say, “It’s all rock music.” They wouldn’t be entirely wrong.
And if Spotify, Amazon, SXM, and Apple didn’t exist, I’m probably not writing this. But they exist and thrive by offering so much niche that it equals width. Radio, on the other hand, can’t survive on niche — the business model is based on being mass and wide.
In other words, the more musically specialized or focused radio becomes, the harder it’s going to get.
While strategic boundaries and expectations matter, at what point do we end up with so much focus or strategic segmentation that it has an adverse effect and stunts growth?
For context, other formats fight outward and wide.
- Country doesn’t fracture into as many sub-lanes as Rock.
- CHR doesn’t apologize for blending genres.
- Hip-Hop evolves monthly and never debates if something is “too new.”
- JACK plays everything.
- Some ACs now dip their toes into Green Day, GNR, Queen, etc.
Rock sometimes treats its borders like moats guarded by gators.
- That’s too Alternative or Rock-sounding.
- Songs buried for scoring a 3.8 instead of 3.9.
- We won’t play anything older than 1990.
- Rules to prevent two songs with similar “coding” from touching.
Here’s a larger rule to consider: instead of Alternative vs. Active vs. Classic, maybe it should be Rock against everything else — within reason.
This doesn’t mean St. Vincent belongs on KUPD or Godsmack fits KTCL. And no one is suggesting there shouldn’t ever be separate Alternative, Active, or Classic formats, but in some markets there doesn’t need to be. Considering the pressure radio is under, is it time for brands to consider being stylistically wider to build more bridges to a larger ocean of Rock?
And let’s not forget a few things:
- Listeners don’t fall in line and self-identify with formats like programmers do.
- All forms of RockTernative are more lifestyle and attitude than formats.
- Rock, Alternative, and Classic focus groups speak similar languages.
Debating if a song from 1990 is too old is undercard stuff. And the listeners aren’t haggling over whether the Chili Peppers should be played on Classic Rock or if GNR would torpedo an Alternative brand like Live 105.
The specialized and niche battles have been decided. For radio, having vision and focus also means fighting to own the biggest venues.
