A SPECIAL HERO OF THE DAY!
Name: Black Diamond Broadcasting
Age: 4
Occupation: northern Michigan radio station owner
Last Seen: Rochester Hills, MI
Awarded For: actually knowing how to run a good rock station
-Age: 4
Occupation: northern Michigan radio station owner
Last Seen: Rochester Hills, MI
Awarded For: actually knowing how to run a good rock station
When I started this here blog 20 years ago, I had a dream: to improve the quality of Northern Michigan radio.
Back in 1999, northern Michigan had only three rock stations. There was the classic rock station (The Bear), the quasi-classic rock station (WKLT) and the so-called modern rock station (The Zone) that was really a soccer mom station.
The radio dial up north was a joke. While real rock stations in Detroit, Grand Rapids and other downstate towns were playing KoRn, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Rage Against the Machine and others that helped define rock in the late 90s, we were stuck living in the shittiest, most-corporate-sounding radio market in the state. Not long ago, I was reading messages from a friend's Facebook feed and one of her friends talked about how they had to bring CDs on their up north vacations 20 years ago. Yes, radio was THAT bad.
It's sad knowing that in 1999, any so-called rock station up north didn't mind playing shit that is pretty much considered Adult Contemporary these days. Ya know, Hootie and the Blowfish, Counting Crows, Matchbox 20, Paula Cole, Goo Goo Dolls and pretty much anything that would cause Stewart Stevenson to have an orgasm. And thanks to my parents, I was stuck in radio hell.
Thankfully, at least one station listened. In 2000, The Zone - which suffered from being almost out of the top 10 in the ratings - finally added those embargoed bands and then some. Ultimately, the ratings rose drastically and forced KLT to finally start playing some of the aforementioned bands, too. Of course, KLT is pretty much 99% classic rock these days. As for The Zone, well, ten years ago, it became a new station called Real Rock 105 and 95-5. In 2013, 95.5 out of Traverse City flipped to Easy Listening and 105.1 out of Cheboygan became Rock 105. But thanks to new owners Black Diamond Broadcasting, they knew that radio stations with old listeners simply didn't make money. 95.5 returned to Rock in 2017 and Rock 105 and 95-5 was reborn.
Well, the northern Michigan Arbitrends were released yesterday and normally, I would give somebody Bee-otch of the Day for running a shitty radio station. I should give it to Trish MacDonald-Garber for not subscribing to Nielsen. I should give it to Midwestern for allowing Z93 to exist for so long with piss-poor ratings. I should give it to Northern Broadcast because KLT lost a full share and both The Fox and ESPN have anemic ratings. And yes, Blarney Stone since WLDR has VERY horrific ratings for a 100,000-watt station, and yes, even this, even though allegedly, it's because of the party that technically owns WLDR.
But ya know? I'm quite happy that Rock 105 and 95-5 is doing well. Hell, I like looking at their playlist and it's a healthy mix of current rock and mainly tunes from the 90s and 00s. Hell, I choose Rock 105/95-5 over fucking WGRD here in Grand Rapids, which now plays butt rock from the 70s. Sunday morning, I had the misfortune of listening to the beginning of "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd as I was waking up. Ah, yes, nothing like listening to a song that reminds me of the asshole of an ex-stepdad I had the misfortune of dealing with...
The sad truth is that the Active Rock business is depressing. The four biggest radio markets in America don't even have a regular FM station playing bands like Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch or Disturbed. The biggest radio market that has an Active Rocker is now Dallas with KEGL 97.1, a station that actually left the airwaves in 2004 and returned in 2007. However, their ratings are only meh. The fact that record companies are afraid to promote hard rock and metal artists and corporate radio giants like iHeartMedia and Cumulus simply think that new rock is dead only makes things worse. But here in Michigan, Active Rock is alive and well thanks to stations like Rock 105/95-5, Detroit's WRIF and Q106 in Lansing. IIRC, Rock 105/95-5 *MIGHT* be the sole Active Rocker in Michigan that avoids anything made before I was even born altogether (and BTW, I was born in 1981).
Yes, Rock 105/95-5 has its problems. During the week, they only have one full-time local jock, Dave Doran, who handles afternoons. The other two jocks - Cartman (mornings) and Roxanne Steele (middays) - are voicetracked from Green Bay and Detroit, respectively. However, I prefer Roxanne over the nauseating voice of Terri Ray.
The sad truth is that there's a reason why classic rock stations are outperforming new rock stations here in America: most newer rock fans have long-abandoned terrestrial radio for satellite and the internet. Old folks aren't very tech savvy, period. So why is Rock 105/95-5 doing so well? I think it's because in some spots in northern Michigan, the internet flat-out sucks. Also, the fact that they're not owned by another out-of-town group helps a lot, also. Personally, I listen to Rock 105/95-5 online more than I do GRD simply because I've long rooted for an Active Rocker to do well in the place of my birth.
And yes, that wish came true.
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Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com
Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
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