Down at 96.5 FM, another station shifted formats just 29 hours after the End. What was the Point, which specialized in '80s tracks, became K-Rock, a "classic alternative" station that plays bands like, you guessed it, the Clash, Soundgarden, and Nirvana.
No, you haven't time-warped into some weird version of Seattle circa 1993, but you have landed in the middle of a radio battle between Seattle's "original" alternative station, the End, and K-Rock, its new competition. Both are playing a version of the "alternative classics" format, which was pioneered just a few years ago in San Diego. Will Seattle want to hear this much of the music that put the city on the map 10 years ago? It's unclear if a station built mostly on nostalgia is sustainable. It's even less clear if there's room for two.
Both stations' changes have been in the works for months. The End--whose latest ratings put it at number 13 in the Seattle market--says it's been doing everything from formal listener advisory groups and market research to informal conversations with listeners. Manning says he learned that the End's listeners "have more diverse tastes than what we've been offering."
It was also well known that K-Rock--which replaced the number-16-rated Point--was about to launch, which may have hastened a format shift. Spokespeople at Infinity Broadcasting, K-ROCK's owner, did not respond to several calls from The Stranger.
It's hard to tell who scooped whom. Rumor has it that the End out-launched K-Rock, forcing the new station to go on air before it was ready (indeed, K-Rock reportedly hasn't hired a program director yet, and its website is in its early stages). "[The End] kind of sucker-punched [K-Rock] first," says KEXP music director Don Yates. "And they can--they're the heritage station in town. They can do a better job of it."
Manning wouldn't comment on the launch theory, instead saying, "There're many, many reasons we did what we did. You would call bullshit on me if I said playing a little defense on [K-Rock] wasn't one of the reasons, but it was way down on the list." End employees contend that the biggest incentive for the shift was the listeners. "This is what people have been asking for," says DJ Andy Harms, who found out about the change along with his fellow End staffers--during a company meeting December 18 where they listened to Manning go on air and announce the immediate change.
Though K-Rock may have had to play catch-up to the End's relaunch, it has already reportedly picked up two notable End alums--DJs Andy Savage, whose personality-driven morning show left the End in September, and Bill Reid, who left in March.
As for content, the first week and a half on air has already revealed a slight difference between the two stations. While both are playing decade-old Northwest hits and early-'90s alt-rock giants like Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers, the End is also throwing on newer stuff. Death Cab for Cutie is in strong rotation, as are the White Stripes. Manning plans to keep plenty of current music, but "it's been a shift from 70 percent new music to probably about 40 percent." Over at K-Rock, listeners have noticed that there's little new music. Instead, the focus is on "the uniquely Northwest sound" of "core grunge artists," according to a press release from the station.
The End has been almost DJ-free since the relaunch--Harms says he and his fellow on-air staffers have been keeping busy, "changing every facet of our doing." While John Richards has stayed on air Sunday nights with his locally focused The Young and the Restless show, other DJs won't return until January 5. And Manning says the new hosting style will be much more knowledge-based (like Harms' show, which was peppered with music-trivia fodder instead of punch lines). KEXP's had the lock on cerebral rock DJs until now, but Yates isn't too worried about the competition. "We give a lot of airplay to the alternative music of yesteryear, but most of what you hear on KEXP is new music," he says.
The new-old mix could change for either K-Rock or the End, says Marco Collins, former End DJ and current program manager at Sacramento's KWOD. He was in town recently and heard K-Rock and the End's launch/relaunch. "The sound of both stations is going to need some time to grow--I don't think that the way either station sounds now is going to be anything like what they will sound like in six months," Collins says. "They'll both be sussing out where they want to position themselves." K-Rock is already rumored to be considering reverting to "current" alternative music, like what the End was playing a few weeks ago.
In order to survive the competition--and to keep the attention of Seattle listeners who might grow bored of a nostalgia fest--it seems at least one of the stations is going to be forced to break free from the "classic" alternative format, or at least play enough new music to keep things interesting. And since it's hard to one-up each other when it comes to dated material (you can't exactly get new Nirvana tracks before the other guys anymore), the stations may actually improve the Seattle radio scene by competing to play new local music or finding the best on-air talent. (In fact, it seems that race is already on. Both K-Rock and the End reportedly have their eyes on Collins, but neither he nor the stations would comment.) KEXP's Yates thinks at least one of the two giants will survive. "I would be really surprised if both of them lasted over a year doing this," he says. "But it would be nice if one of them could stick around. [The format] serves a good niche here."
