ITS THE NEW 92.3 ALT-ROCK STATION ACTUALLY ALT-ROCK?

For six years there has been no alternative rock on the New York City airwaves. The pop channel 92.3 NOW, which has been competing with Z100 for years threw in the towel and changed their station to alternative rock on November 17th, 2017. It is New York’s first alternative station after six years since 101.9 RXP changed their format to the news.

To celebrate ALT 92.3 played 10,000 songs in a row without commercial interruptions. Their top songs were Foo Fighters’ “My Hero,” followed by 30 Seconds to Mars’ “Walk on Water,” MGMT’s “Kids,” Vance Joy’s “Lay It On Me” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Pat Paxton, Entercom’s President of Programming stated:

“In a city where alternative music is a way of life, we are thrilled to finally fill the void in radio in New York City. With the launch of ALT 92.3, we will cater to the passionate / core audience who have helped define the genre for decades — and we couldn’t be more excited to turn up the volume.”

They started off strong and I was really excited about this new ALT rock station. I thought it was great to have a station that played my favorite genre of music. I was expecting them to play more relevant alt-rock since that is the point but a few months later it seems like they are moving away from their original goal.

Fast forward a few months later, they play a variety of music but it is more pop leaning. They play “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons which is a lot more pop than alt. They play “Colors” by Beck which I would categorize as more of alt-pop. “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood which is a very old song- and also alt-indie. “My Favorite Color is Blue” by Robert DeLong which is pop. “River” by Bishop Briggs which is a lot more indie pop.

They also play Smashing Pumpkins, The Offspring, The Killers, Fall Out Boy and Nirvana over and over again. These are great songs and musicians but they are constantly being played when there are so many other alt-rock songs that are recent.

Overall 92.3 created an alt-rock station to play alt-rock but they seem to be moving away from this sound to put songs that are primary indie pop or alt-rock songs that have a pop influence. It seems like they are not doing too great and want to appeal to the masses so that the majority will still listen, but that isn’t the point of an alt-rock station. I think there has to be another alt-rock station to compete that actually stays true to their original message. It is also the first few months of their release so I hope they fix the kinks to be a great collective station.

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