by Ken Lieck
The
times, they are a-changing. Oh, sure, that line may be the most clich�d opening sentence
in music journalism, but in this case, it’s justified. Everybody knows the
source, the title of the song, and the artist who wrote and sang it, but do you
know of anyone under 40 who was introduced to it through the radio? Except for
those who caught it before the last of the freeform FM stations died out in the
Seventies, most folks heard that song originally through friends, at a party,
or via a cover version.
Bob Dylan, like many recording artists who are considered both seminal and
influential, somehow had no significant representation on the airwaves for
nearly two decades — despite popularity and high record sales. Many others,
whether they were too quiet, like Joan Armatrading, or too loud, like the angry
young Elvis Costello, struggled for years to get heard on the air, until the
late Eighties when somebody somewhere decided that smartening up the
plasticized void that radio had become might not only be interesting but
actually profitable. And so the now seemingly omnipresent word “alternative”
was introduced to the world’s musical vocabulary.
First, there was “Alternative Rock” radio, out to rope in a new generation of
alienated youth who knew there was more vital music in the world than the likes
of Supertramp and Grand Funk Railroad. On the heels of this success came the
“Adult Alternative” format, which brought into homes all the acts that slightly
older, well-educated and, most importantly, wealthier listeners had previously
discovered through public radio, their cutting-edge friends, or at a party — a
party not quite as wild as the one where they had first found out that
“Everybody must get stoned.” Austin, Texas, home of executives with ponytails
and accountants who play a little guitar on the side was, needless to say, one
of the most likely cities in the U.S. to expect an “Adult Alternative” success
story. And so along came KGSR-FM.
Appearing in homes and cars among the usual sea of oldies, country, and
swaggering, once-relevant rockers parading the airwaves, KGSR appeared on
December 1, 1990 at 107.1 on the FM dial. They began by slowly easing names
like John Hiatt, King Crimson, and local acts like Joe Ely and Two Nice Girls
onto a playlist of what was then a sagging, new-age jazz station called Star
107. Soon enough, though, the sappy instrumentals were dropped altogether, and
an emphasis was placed on singer-songwriters and fresh, if not overly loud,
rock-oriented acts like Los Lobos. Some blues and whatnot were tossed in, as
well. “Hits” were ditched in favor of album cuts, and great effort was made to
contrast the increasingly preprogrammed nature of radio with a mood that felt
specifically Austin. The mix clicked, as it began to do in other cities across
the country, and “Triple-A” (Adult Album Alternative) radio became an entity to
be reckoned with.
Five years down the line, Triple A radio has changed a great deal. The
humongous success of “alternative rock” has, for all intents and purposes, made
that music mainstream, and to top that off, the once-clear line between “Rock
Alternative” and “Triple A” has blurred substantially. Supposedly Adult-geared
stations are now programming loud “alternative” rock staples like the Goo Goo
Dolls, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even Pearl Jam between the quieter tunes
of Van Morrison and John Wesley Harding. Industry magazines like
Billboard are reporting more and more excision of singer-songwriters and
roots music from Triple-A playlists. As always seems to happen in the music
world, the unique is being softened and genericized.
Fortunately for the pony-tailed execs and accountants, KGSR has not yet been
swept into that whirlpool. The station is currently celebrating its fifth
anniversary (if you don’t have a ticket yet for tonight’s [Friday, December 1]
exclusive concert at KLRU studios featuring Los Lobos, Shawn Colvin, and Sonny
Landreth, I’d say you’re out of luck) and releasing the third volume of its
annual Broadcasts series, a CD collection of regularly played artists
recorded live at the station. Program Director Jody Denberg takes pride in
still being able to call the station “eclectic.” He says the station has
evolved over the years, mostly in the area of being more focused: “If you tune
in for any given 15-minute period, you get a flavor of what we do.” Any seeming
loss of originality over the station’s first five years reflects as much “a
difference in the [radio] environment as much as in what we do.” Artists like
Sheryl Crow and Counting Crows who once were the exclusive domain of the Triple
A’s are now played “across the board,” and so a visit to the 107.1 frequency no
longer brings the shock of the new that it once did. “When KGSR started,” notes
Denberg, “there was no KNACK, no 101X, no KOOP, no KVRX… and KLBJ was still
playing a slew of Def Leppard.”
Despite good numbers, however, when the station was bought six months ago by
Sinclair Communications (who at the same time introduced the new Rock
Alternative station 101X) there was some trepidation at KGSR that the station
might be turned into one of the “Alterna-lites,” as the new hybrid stations are
being called. After all, the staff “still likes some Buddy Guy along with our
Blues Traveler,” says Denberg. Their fears were assuaged as soon as new owner
Bob Sinclair first visited the station — wearing jeans and smiling. The fact
that Sinclair’s company (which already owned four stations of various formats
outside of Texas) was starting up 101X also helped ease the minds at KGSR; “The
last thing he wants us to do is become a watered-down version of what they’re
doing [at 101X],” Denberg points out. After all, competing with one’s own
enterprise doesn’t make a whole lot of business sense. Sinclair concurs, and
offers that the alternative stations that remain the most successful are those
that are “sort of unique to their markets. There’s no other station like [KGSR]
in the U.S.A.,” he says. “It’s perfect for Austin — and it works for me.”
So where will things go from here? Well, in the world of radio, even when the
playlists are stagnant, the battle for the advertising dollar never is. As 1995
draws to a close, then, enter KAJZ-FM, a new station from the KLBJ empire that
has just taken over the 93.3 FM spot, replacing a Hits of the Seventies
station. Program Director Jeff Carrol admits that the audience which KAJZ is
seeking is largely the same one targeted by KGSR; “25-44 age group, with a
50/50 split of male and female.”
Yet, rather than attempting to go head to head with KGSR playlist-wise, the
new station is hoping to pick up the jazz fans that KGSR left behind with a
relatively new format called “New Adult Contemporary” or “Smooth Jazz,” which
avoids New Age, but doesn’t hit the jumping jive end of the spectrum, either,
concentrating on contemporary jazz acts like Chuck Mangione and Earl Klugh. One
thing the two stations do share is the idea that to be successful, they must
have a uniquely Austin flavor. Carrol points to the fact that there are a “lot
of talented jazz musicians” in Austin whose work the new format plans to
spotlight, and that while the radio market here has certainly blossomed far
beyond the limited choices it offered five years ago, most of the advances have
“focused on the rock side.”
Is Austin ready for Smooth Jazz? Will KGSR be able to remain competitive
without giving in to the Alterna-lite trend? Will Classic Rock stations
eventually go the way of the, er, dinosaur? As always is the case with radio,
the answer is blowing in the wind. n
This article appears in December 1 • 1995 and December 1 • 1995 (Cover).