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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Next Stop: Acceptance

We're talking stages of grief here. Radio companies have a hard time looking past their balance sheet, and we know that, but it still smarts whenever it affects us. (If you look back into our archives, we were just about as busted up over WCBS-FM changing to Jack, so we're at least consistent.)

Long story short: G-Rock Radio's owners did what they did, they're chasing dollar signs, and that's their right as station owners. G-Rock Radio's gone, end of story. Time to move on.

The last time 106.3 jumped the shark, I took matters into my own hands and created Altrok Radio. (After all, being a former FM106.3 jock and all-around pack-rat, I had the library, and it's only gotten bigger.) Here's what's happening at altrokradio.com now.

- Altrok Radio continues its celebration of the kind of radio FM106.3 did before it became G-Rock Radio. From classic U2 to Dramarama to The Rave-Ups to The Smiths to The Cure to The Colorblind James Experience, and keeping up to date with Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Modest Mouse, LCD Soundsystem, Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip and ... um ...Morrissey, U2 and The Cure (funny, that.) Remember to go to AltrokRadio.com to listen anytime to the new eight hour playlist we put up here every day, or tune in to our FM Showcase on the radio, at 90.5 The Night on Friday nights at 10pm.

- Altrok's Daily Retro is two hours of classic tracks from 11:30am to 1:30pm Eastern - if we (and I do mean "we") played it in the 80's, it's on. It's a wide range of the stuff that freaked out the mundanes. (And for those who hung out at the Green Parrot or the Melody Bar, there's a Melody Bar Reunion coming up on February 21 at the New Brunswick Elks. You're gonna want to be there.)

- Still assembling: the Alt GRok. (Yeah, I know. Got a better name? Let me know.) It should start on Saturday at about noon, if everything gets arranged on our hard disk juuuust right. It might be bumpy for a while, and require some tweaking here or there, but we should be able to fulfill the musical experience you're missing (after all, we were generally playing it about six to nine months before you heard it on G-Rock. Eh, it's just the nature of the business, though we *were* the first people in the US to play The Ting Tings...)

So that's all that's happening at altrokradio.com; you can tune in there if you're near a computer, or if you've got a phone running Windows Mobile and an unlimited data plan, we can come along with you, too (and soon, that'll go for your iPhone, too.)

All that said, we're happy to hear that Matt Knight and other staffers at G-Rock seem to be getting picked up to staff the new station - we're not likely to listen much (so, yeah, protest all you want) but in this industry, it's good to just have a job.

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Welcome to Altrok.com, also available at AltrokRadio.com and AltrockRadio.com. Here's where the remaining listeners of several fine radio stations have retreated, regrouped, and built a replacement strong enough to stand on its own. It builds on the independent legacy of New Jersey's FM106.3, New York's WPIX and WLIR, Oklahoma's 105.3 The Spy, the pre-buyout mindset of KROQ, WBCN and WHFS and of every other alternative station that was destroyed at a moment's notice - not because they weren't making money, but because there was bigger money to be found elsewhere.
 
We've stood by as truly independent alternative rock radio died. Sure, something called "alternative" took its place, but we know for sure that anything that "tests well" with soccer moms just ain't alternative. (Even if some of us happen to be soccer moms.) So we've taken matters into our own hands.
 
This really is independent alternative rock radio, visible here at Altrok.com and audible at our web radio station. It has the classic music that fired our passions back in the day - or that we maybe only heard about from our elders - but it's mostly made of the new music that does precisely the same for us now. We're paying attention to scenes all over the world, watching the energy build, and waiting to see what it creates. Wherever it happens, we'll make sure you can hear about it here. We've been slowly building all this since 2001, and now that you've noticed us, we're glad you're here.
 
Of course, it's only here because you want it to be here, and it can only stay if you help it along - especially by checking out our advertisers (they support us) and by listening (the more that listen, the more visible we are.) Please use the "feedback" link above to let us know whether it works for you, and what you want it to be as the future unfolds. (And if you need help hearing it, let us know that, too.)