K-Rock Is "Great Rock. Period."


WXRK (K-Rock)/New York is the latest in a wave of stations to widen its music library to the "best Rock music from the '80s, '90s and today," changing its moniker to "K-Rock. Great Rock. Period."

Krockradio.com touts the station's new playlist as "bigger" and challenges listeners to fill out an online survey about their musical preferences, stating "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Help us help you." The station has also started streaming an online version, dubbed K-Rock 2.

Immediately after Howard Stern was finished with today's program, the new format kicked off with the opening chords of AC/DC "Hell's Bells" before launching into a montage of song clips that carried a statement of "Now, More Rock Than Ever Before." K-Rock will remain jockless for the rest of the week.

Guns 'N Roses "Welcome To The Jungle" was the first song to follow the montage, followed by AC/DC "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)," Quiet Riot "Cum On Feel The Noize," Green Day "American Idiot," Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody," Beastie Boys "Fight For Your Right," Judas Priest "You've Got Another Thing Comin'."

Featured artists on WXRK will include Guns 'N Roses, Nirvana, AC/DC, Green Day, Alice In Chains, Metallica and Audioslave, among many others. Bands from the '70s, including Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, will also have a presence on the station’s playlist.

The K-Rock 2 webstream will be dedicated to playing the latest music offerings from today’s new artists, including bands such as My Chemical Romance, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs, The Mars Volta, Arcade Fire, Taking Back Sunday and Interpol.

The online outlet, dubbed "the evil twin" with a "godless bloodlust for weird new music" will stream 24/7 and can be accessed via the WXRK Web site.

"K-Rock is always looking for opportunities to further connect with our listeners," said K-Rock OM Rob Cross. "Enhancing our playlist, while simultaneously launching a web stream whose sole purpose is to feature breaking music, enables us to serve a wider audience with the music most frequently requested without changing the fabric of the radio station."

Cross added, "K-Rock 2 will be the perfect destination for listeners who want to stay up on the cutting edge of new music."

The "Jack" format is taking over the world. Here in Los Angeles (called "Jack") this format took over our Classic Rock station about a month ago. Now there is no classic rock format in this market.

It’s really, really bad. (edit: the Jack format is what I'm talking about)

The good news in Los Angeles radio is that Indie 103.1 is still on the air and is no longer affiliated with Clear Channel.

you can have one of ours. We've got nothing but classic rock and rap now.

From Howard Stern's website...

FROM ROCK TO ROCK

The big meeting wasn't to fire anyone but to announce that our station in NY, WXRK, was changing formats. Instead of playing new rock, the station is now going to play all rock. In fact, the new slogan at the station is "KROCK. Great Rock, period". Cabbie and Booker were trying to explain to Howard exactly what the format change was but they were having a hard time doing it. Howard said that must have been some meeting since the jocks can't even explain what was gong on. So radio programer Rob Cross, aka Chuck Roast, came on the air to explain. He said they are premiering a new internet radio channel called KROCK 2 which will play a lot of newer rock and alternative music and the actual radio station will play just a broad array of rock, from Led Zeppelin to AC/DC to Pearl Jam. Howard said he didn't really care about any of this though since he was leaving and wished the station luck with their new format change.

I don't really listen to the radio other than Stern and a few college stations.

I stopped listening to radio last year and I think it's allowed me to actually listen to more music without getting pissed off. How many bands and songs has radio collectively destroyed for people?

After Stern, I dont really listen tot he radio anyway either.

Atlanta has 99x which is decent and not owned by Clearcetera. They have really stepped it up in regards to playing some pretty new stuff. Is Jack in LA like Dave FM in Atlanta (plays tons of Coldplay, DMB, Black Crowes)

there's been a new jack in denver for about a year now. meh.

i don't listen to am/fm anymore, except the air america station now'n'then and kexp/kcrw steamcasts. otherwise, my rio & i have a torrid love affair interrupted only by the big mama, my 250gig music hard-drive.

Yeah pretty much but not really those bands, each city is probably a little different. Here they play stuff like RHCP, Guns and Roses, and Eagles. I was out by the pool and someone had it on and was subjected to it for about an hour. Listening to comments like “the Eagles are so good and have never put out a bad song.”

The format resembles a format other stations across the country have switched over to in recent weeks. WRQX-FM in Washington, D.C., KCBS-FM in Los Angeles, KDRQ-FM in Detroit and WMWX-FM in Philadelphia have recently switched over to the format, which is popular in Canada and carries names like "Jack" and "Bob." Q101 in Chicago is also similar but draws exclusively from Modern Rock hits of the last 25 years.

March 23, 2005

When Indie Goes Indie, It Will Stay Indie


As Clear Channel prepares to relinquish sales control of KDLD & KDLE (Indie 103.1)/Los Angeles at the end of the month (March), the early rumors of a format flip appear to be false. The Entravision-owned station is ending its joint sales agreement with Clear Channel as of April 1 due to FCC regulations, and a memo to advertisers from Radio Division President Jeffrey Liberman declares that Indy will soon have its own sales staff in place with no changes in programming.

"We at Entravision Communications Corporation and Clear Channel/Los Angeles would like to thank you for your support of Indie 103.1," the memo says. "Because of the support for Indie 103.1 from our listeners and clients like you, Indie 103.1 will continue on the air as it has been since the end of 2003. The only changes that you will see are a few new faces on the sales end.... We thank you for your continued support of Indie 103.1, and we will be contacting you soon!"

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I never listen to the radio either but every time I have heard Jonesy's Jukebox, it has been a treat. Glad that it is here if I need it and maybe will turn the kids on to new bands.

We have a Disney owned station called KLOS and they will, most likely, pick up the slack for Classic Rock.

Have always been fascinated with commercial radio and should of taken that as my career path.

broad array of rock, from Led Zeppelin to AC/DC to Pearl Jam


Ooooh....that's really broad.


I try to catch Jonesy everyday, but for some reason the stream wasn't working today.

Yawn. I think I'd probably listen to KROQ in NY even less now.

"Godless bloodlust"

"Taking Back Sunday"

"Snow Patrol"

yeah, I'll say...

Pretty much says it all.