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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Altrok Radio Showcase 407 Tracklisting, June 21, 2013

Our latest Altrok Radio FM Showcase, featuring classics alongside the new music we'll be adding next week to Altrok 90.5 HD2, looked a lot like this...

Segment 1:
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

New Arctic Monkeys: "Do I Wanna Know?"

Yes. Yes you do, from the moment the drumbeat starts. (And a segue with Nine Inch Nails' "Closer To God" cannot be far behind.)



I, of course, would like to be playing this on Altrok 90.5 HD2...we'll see what we can do about that.

Will Alternative Rock Radio Ever Really Happen In NYC? Spoiler: No.

The subject doesn't say it all, but it says a lot. Alternative Rock Radio will not ever happen in NYC...at least, not the way anyone who likes challenging rock would like it to.

Sure, there are encouraging signs. Each of the big-three broadcasting hegemonies (Clear Channel, CBS and Cumulus) have opened "alternative" outlets in far-flung cities and one of them (the outlet Clear Channel opened in Austin, TX during SXSW) seems to be winning accolades as well it should - with the exception of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, it seems to be playing more or less what I play as "current" at Altrok 90.5 HD2, though with a lot fewer classics.

But New York is Market Number One. And that means that even though it's a market that has fostered more brilliant music than any other city, nobody will ever cut an incoming money supply long enough to dip their toe in waters that have previously proven so advertiser-hostile.

That's the conventional wisdom, anyway. "People who like alternative rock are anti-establishment, anti-consumerist, and anti-selling-out. They hate success, and they view all advertisers with disdain, to a greater degree than those who listen to any other genre."

Which doesn't sound like a bad thing, actually. Except when you're a radio station. When you're a radio station with more income than debts, you tend to like to keep that income coming in. If you've got more debts than income, Alternative's not the thing you think of when you think "what's going to make me money the fastest?" And if you're the lucky purchaser of a station whose owner had to sell short, you're still looking to make money as fast as possible to cover your debt load and your startup costs. In the two recent situations where that happened, the new owners looked to (a.) super-serve with an already-successful iPod-proof format (sports radio on WFAN-FM), and (b.) fill the glaring market hole whose fans have no problem with commerce (country on WNSH.)

The only way Alternative hits in the big city is with an owner who eats, sleeps and breathes Alternative. That owner doesn't exist.

Which leaves non-commercial radio. You might suggest I'm biased in this regard (and you'd be right) but logically, with a commercial band, especially in Market One, run entirely by people whose love for radio and music extends only as far as the money it can make them, the only hope for refuge is the noncommercial band. (This goes doubly for our own local Market 53, which has the same mindset as Market One, but without the management talent. How else can you explain one broadcaster burning bridges and salting the earth when they finally had to pull the plug on their largely inept stewardship of a legacy modern rock station? Yes, they blamed the listeners, publicly, in an open letter. As their shiny new country station loses market share to the aforementioned WNSH, can public castigation of the loyalty of their listeners be far behind?)

So to those whose dearest wish is to see a commercial alternative rock station, I can only ask two things:

1. Does the aphorism, "Be careful what you wish for", mean anything to you?

2. Why treat the rather outstanding non-commercial alternatives like so much chopped liver?

(Full disclosure: the author obviously has rather strong ties to Altrok 90.5 HD2, a non-commercial Modern Rock station that serves the best chopped liver around.)





Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Altrok Top 30, 6/18/2013

Here's the new music we're playing the most at Altrok 90.5 HD2...that is, when we're not playing classic alternative that you may not have heard in a while...


Rank
ARTIST
Track
Release
 
1
PRIMAL SCREAM
It's Alright, It's OK
More Light!

 
2
VICTORY
Bad Man
Victory Is Music

 
3
THE BOXER REBELLION
Diamonds
Promises

 
4
NO JOY
Prodigy
Wait To Pleasure

 
5
AM & SHAWN LEE
Automatic
La Musique Numerique

 
6
SAID THE WHALE
I Love You
I Love You [EP]

 
7
PRETTY & NICE
Mummy Jets
Golden Rules for Golden People

 
8
IMAGINARY CITIES
Bells Of Cologne
Fall Of Romance

 
9
CLAIRY BROWN & THE BANGIN’ RACKETTES
Love Letter
Baby Caught The Bus

 
10
STILL CORNERS
Berlin Lovers
Strange Pleasures

 
11
SMALL BLACK
No Stranger
Limits Of Desire

 
12
GYPSY & THE CAT
Zombie World
The Late Blue

 
13
DECADE IN EXILE
Patti's Town
Decade In Exile [EP]

 
14
DAFT PUNK
Get Lucky
Random Access Memories

 
15
THE PASTELS
Check My Heart
Slow Summits

 
16
NINE INCH NAILS
Came Back Haunted
Came Back Haunted [Single]

 
17
SECRET COLOURS
Blackbird (Only One)
Blackbird (Only One) [Single]

 
18
BEAR MOUNTAIN
Faded
Xo

 
19
THE STRANGLERS
Mercury Rising
Giants

 
20
W-H-I-T-E
I Wasn't Afraid
III

 
21
GRMLN
Teenage Rhythm
Empire

 
22
SNOWDEN
Not Good Enough
No One In Control

 
23
DALE EARNHARDT JR. JR.
If You Didn't See Me (Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor)
Patterns [EP]

 
24
MIKAL CRONIN
Change
MCII

 
25
WAMPIRE
I Can't See Why
Curiosity

 
26
TUNNG
The Village
Turbines

 
27
BRONCHO
Try Me Out Sometime
Can't Get Past the Lips

 
28
THE POLYPHONIC SPREE
You Don't Know Me
You Don't Know Me [Single]

 
29
PORTUGAL. THE MAN
Purple Yellow Red and Blue
Evil Friends

 
30
MAL BLUM
Brooklyn
Tempest In A Teacup

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Altrok Radio Showcase 406 Tracklisting, June 14, 2013

Our latest Altrok Radio FM Showcase, featuring classics alongside the new music we'll be adding next week to Altrok 90.5 HD2, looked a lot like this...

Segment 1:
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:

Labels: ,

Thursday, June 13, 2013

WHTG-FM106.3 Aircheck with Mike Marrone, July 30, 1987

Mike Marrone has opened up a Mixcloud page, and as you might suspect, everything he'll put there is gold. Starting with this entry, the first part of a full aircheck from 1987.

Want to know what FM106.3 sounded like? This is what FM106.3 sounded like.


Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Altrok Top 30, 6/11/2013

Here's the new music we're playing the most at Altrok 90.5 HD2...that is, when we're not playing classic alternative that you may not have heard in a while...


Rank
ARTIST
Track
Release
 
1
DECADE IN EXILE
Patti's Town
"Patti's Town" [Single]
 
2
AM AND SHAWN LEE
Automatic
La Musique Numerique
 
3
STILL CORNERS
Berlin Lovers
Strange Pleasures
 
4
THE NATIONAL
Don't Swalllow The Cap
Trouble Will Find Me
 
5
CLAIRY BROWNE & THE BANGIN’ RACKETTES
Love Letter
Baby Caught The Bus
 
6
NO JOY
Prodigy
Wait To Pleasure
 
7
PRIMAL SCREAM
It's Alright, It's OK
"It's Alright, It's OK" [Single]
 
8
!!!
One Girl One Boy
Thr!!!er
 
9
VICTORY
Bad Man
Victory Is Music
 
10
SAID THE WHALE
I Love You
"I Love You" [Single]
 
11
BOXER REBELLION
Diamonds
Promises
 
12
KOPECKY FAMILY BAND
Hope
Kids Raising Kids
 
13
DAFT PUNK
Get Lucky
Random Access Memories
 
14
PRETTY AND NICE
Mummy Jets
Golden Rules For Golden People
 
15
GYPSY AND THE CAT
Zombie World
The Late Blue
 
16
MAL BLUM
Brooklyn
Tempest In A Teacup
 
17
W-H-I-T-E
I Wasn't Afraid
III
 
18
SMALL BLACK
No Stranger
Limits Of Desire
 
19
BIBIO
A Tout A L'heure
Silver Wilkinson
 
20
IMAGINARY CITIES
Bells Of Cologne
Fall Of Romance
 
21
SECRET COLOURS
Blackbird (Only One)
Peach
 
22
ALPINE
Gasoline
A Is For Alpine
 
23
WAMPIRE
I Can't See Why
Curiosity
 
24
DALE EARNHARDT JR. JR.
If You Didn't See Me (Then You Weren't On The Dance Floor)
Patterns [EP]
 
25
SNOWDEN
Not Good Enough
No One In Control
 
26
DOMINIQUE PRUITT
To Win Your Love
To Win Your Love [EP]
 
27
VAN STEE
Color In The Paper Plan
We Are
 
28
GRMLN
Teenage Rhythm
Empire
 
29
THE STRANGLERS
Mercury Rising
Giants
 
30
THE PASTELS
Check My Heart
Slow Summits
 
Please Look At Our Advertisers (Or The Website Gets It)
Congratulations, you've found the hidden text.
 
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.)