Classic Rock Stations That Have Added 90s Bands

[Takumi]

Two weeks ago, the local classic rock station, WKLR, added bands from the 1990s to its playlist. (It already played songs from the early 1990s from already-established bands, such as U2's "Mysterious Ways" and several songs from Guns & Roses' Use Your Illusion albums.) It rebranded itself as "Rock 96.5, Richmond's Home For Rock", notably dropping the word "classic". Given many of these "new" songs are about 20 years old (and still very much a minority of the songs played), I'm not surprised that the move was made, but how many other classic rock stations have done this?

[Sanctimoniously]

KLIP (105.3 FM) in Monroe, LA did that briefly around 2010. It was roughly the same format as described above, then it began adding more "popular hits" and alternative stuff. However, by the end of 2011, they brought the old format back and branded the station "Back By Popular Demand."

It's not really a classic rock station, but WGNI (102.7 FM) in Wilmington, NC was also known (and well-liked by yours truly) for its 80s hits format and "Totally Eighties Weekends", however it abandoned that format and went with "Hits of the 90s and Today." I also believe that station has somewhat returned to its previous format, whether by popular demand or not.

[english si]

Quite a few early-to-mid- and even some late-90s bands would have songs that fit the scope of "Classic Rock".

[roadman65]

WHTQ used to only play two songs from the 90's at first.  Van Halen Right Now and Ozzy Osbourne On My Way Home (or whatever the proper title of his song was).  Then later started playing Guns N Roses when DIZ went off the air and became Spanish Music.

Now WHTQ is gone along with many Cox Classic Rock Stations in Florida, and it reverted to WDBO (Orlando's News and Talk).  I think now you must subscribe to Sirius to hear Classic Rock.  I did find that old WPLJ and MTV Talent are on Deep Cuts.  WPLJ was one of the best rock stations around until some wiseguy  executive decided to reformat it in 1983 to the current Power 95.  It pissed off many as WPLJ had a large listening audience, but WNEW hired the PLJ staff anyway and helped NEW get even more better until the plug was pulled on them in the 90's.

Now Pat St. John (who sounds better older than he did 20 years ago) Dan Near, Earl Bailey and Alan Hunter have shows on Deep Cuts and I enjoyed listening to old talent when I had my rented car on this past road trip.  I do not listen to my radio enough to buy a Sirius XM radio and pay the $12  a month fee when I am home.  On long distance trips satellite radio is cool cause you do not have to worry about searching for stations every 50 miles as it stays with you everywhere you roam.

[DTComposer]

In L.A., KLOS (home to the recently retired Mark & Brian) has added a fair amount of grunge to its playlist, in addition to songs from the "classic rock" era that I wouldn't have put in that category (this morning I heard Elton John's "Tiny Dancer").

Not a classic rock station, but K-EARTH, which was for years stuck stubbornly to songs prior to around 1970 (sometimes it felt like "My Girl" and "I'm A Believer" were played once an hour), started adding disco a few years back, and now routinely has early '80s songs (the pop stuff: Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, not new wave, etc.).

[Alps]

104.3 in NY has been playing Nirvana and now Green Day from time to time.

[NE2]

I think now you must subscribe to Sirius to hear Classic Rock.

WJRR, Orlando's sole remaining rock station, has added more classic rock to their tracklist since the demise of WHTQ. They've always had some like Pink Floyd to balance out the new shite.

[Takumi]

104.3 in NY has been playing Nirvana and now Green Day from time to time.

I haven't heard Green Day, but I would imagine they'd play at least Basket Case, and I've heard the staple Nirvana songs. I've also heard Pearl Jam (Even Flow, Jeremy, Daughter, and they even played all of Ten as the week's "Killer Classic" the day of the format change), Stone Temple Pilots (Plush, Interstate Love Song), Alice In Chains (Rooster, Man in the Box - not sure if the censored version or not), Collective Soul (Shine and whatever their other "big" song was), RHCP (Give It Away was the first song I heard the day of the change, and I've also heard Scar Tissue and Under the Bridge but nothing from the 80s by them), Bush, and more curious selections from later in the decade like Lenny Kravitz (Fly Away), Kid Rock (Cowboy), and even Three Doors Down (Superman, which was released in 2000). I haven't heard as many in the past couple days as they initially played.

[Brandon]

WJMK, 104.3 FM (aka "K-Hits") in Chicago is doing the same thing.  WLS, 94.7 FM is into the late 1980s as well now.  WERV, 95.9 FM (Aurora) plays from the late 1980s (and may have a few 1990s), as does WRXQ 100.7 FM (Crest Hill).  Then there's WDRV, 97.1 FM which is into the 1980s, but IIRC, they haven't played anything from the 1990s yet.

[Brian556]

In the Dallas area:
The Classic Rock Station, 92.5 did an odd format shift a few years ago. They added some country and other stuff; the song that I noted was interesting was Bonnie Raitt's "Love Sneakin' up on You" (1994). This format shift lasted only a short time, and they went back to the old playlist.

The rock station, 97.1 The Eagle, completely changed formats to something else (I forget what), but changed back.

The oldies station, 98.7 KLUV, has added a limited number of 80's songs.

Hearing 90's songs on CMT's "Vintage" kinda makes me feel old.

[Scott5114]

In the Dallas area:
The Classic Rock Station, 92.5 did an odd format shift a few years ago. They added some country and other stuff; the song that I noted was interesting was Bonnie Raitt's "Love Sneakin' up on You" (1994). This format shift lasted only a short time, and they went back to the old playlist.

This might be a function of being in Texas more than anything else. Oklahoma classic rock stations tend to slip in songs I'd categorize as country on a regular basis.

[Duke87]

There was a station in Connecticut when I was a kid that called itself "Kool 96.7" - it was a pure oldies station of the sort you don't see anymore. Everything they played was from the 50's and 60's, with an occasional spillover into the early 70's ("American Pie", for example)... although their playlist was limited in size and some big names from the era were notoriously absent from it. They never played anything by The Who, or Jimmy Buffet, or Bob Dylan. Lots of Beatles, though. Also lots of Motown.

About 10 years ago, they rebranded themselves as "96.7 The Coast", and became an easy listening station that played 70's-90's stuff. 95.9 and 102.7 were both already doing the same thing in the same market, but the demand for a pure oldies station just wasn't there anymore.

Although all of this is trivia to me since I stopped listening to radio with any regularity years ago.

[roadman65]

There was a station in Connecticut when I was a kid that called itself "Kool 96.7" - it was a pure oldies station of the sort you don't see anymore. Everything they played was from the 50's and 60's, with an occasional spillover into the early 70's ("American Pie", for example)... although their playlist was limited in size and some big names from the era were notoriously absent from it. They never played anything by The Who, or Jimmy Buffet, or Bob Dylan. Lots of Beatles, though. Also lots of Motown.

About 10 years ago, they rebranded themselves as "96.7 The Coast", and became an easy listening station that played 70's-90's stuff. 95.9 and 102.7 were both already doing the same thing in the same market, but the demand for a pure oldies station just wasn't there anymore.

Although all of this is trivia to me since I stopped listening to radio with any regularity years ago.

Is Golden Oldies WCBS FM in NYC still playing 50s, 60s, and the 70s like American Pie and Rasberries etc. leftover 60s stuff extending into the 70s?

[signalman]

Is Golden Oldies WCBS FM in NYC still playing 50s, 60s, and the 70s like American Pie and Rasberries etc. leftover 60s stuff extending into the 70s?

No.  The old WCBS died off and Jack FM replaced it. The format was a 70s-90s pop mix, it only lasted a couple of years.  WCBS is back playing oldies, but it shifted ahead a decade.  No more 50s, it's now 60s-80s.

[NYYPhil777]

In St. Louis, KSHE 95 has played a good amount of 90s music since, I think, 2009. KSHE comes from the fact that when it was originally formed, it played female music.

[Scott5114]

female music

[Desert Man]

female music

I heard of terms like "black music" and "gay music", unless it's a failed attempt for a radio station to draw to a certain demographic by not-so-PC labeling of them as such.

Locally, 99.5FM was once a 1990s-alternative rock station then it became a 1970s-80s era genre and now switched to "old school and R&B" theme to play songs to revive childhood and teenage memories.

The "K-Rock" 97.7 and "K-CLuB" 93.7 used to have 90s rock formats when it was "brand spankin' new", but 97.7 is top 40/dance and 93.7 includes Spanish language songs to their lineup, while it reverts back mostly to classic (1990s!) rock.

I can't wait for the day many years from now when KDES 98.5 and KWXY 1340 airs 90s music when we are (officially) OLD! Prepare for it, because they will be "goodies".

[Scott5114]

Whenever I hear crappy modern pop songs I always bemusedly think of how unfitting they will sound in thirty years when they make it onto the classic rock and oldies stations.

[NYYPhil777]

female music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSHE
Explains what I was trying to say about the radio station. Look in history.
Why did you only quote the words "female music" from my post?

[huskeroadgeek]

When I was growing up in the 80s, "oldies" stations played 50s and 60s music. I doubt there are very many stations today that play 50s music on a regular basis. "Classic rock" was mostly 60s and 70s. Just a few years ago, some adult contemporary stations I know used to say they played music from the "80s, 90s and today". Now on those same stations, the 80s has been dropped from the general promotions and 80s music is usually relegated to being played only on special nights or hours.

[Scott5114]

female music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSHE
Explains what I was trying to say about the radio station. Look in history.
Why did you only quote the words "female music" from my post?

Because those are the only words that I wanted to about.

[formulanone]

Actually, we have a 103.5 WSHE in South Florida: It used to be "She's only Rock and Roll". And it was a damn good radio station, even though in its heyday, I was only a casual listener. Then it was..."we'll, we're sort of alternative, but nothing terribly heavy". A year later, "light, adult contemporary" (because there's at least four other stations playing the same bland stuff). Now, it's hip-hop and R&B...at least it's trying to regain some rebellious roots.

There's one rock station left in the area (Big 105.9FM), and it generally plays classic rock with a little 1990's rock spun in here and there. I don't think there's a "modern rock" station anymore; 103.5 Buzz switched to an adult-contemporary blend a few months ago (from 1990s-today rock), 93.1 became an easy-listening station about a year ago (once they go to 24 Hours of all-Xmas Music around Thanksgiving, your favorite station is effectively dead).

The oldies station (Majic 102.7) has included some light early-80's music recently; it transitioned from 1950-60's to 60's and 70's about a decade ago, so this doesn't surprise me much. Sad that it's about the only place you'd hear anything remotely like rock-and-roll, save the quite-varied programming on 88.5FM WKPX's meek signal...

[Takumi]

The other rock station in Richmond, WRXL (102.1, formerly "XL102", now just "The X"), plays mostly modern rock, 1990s to today. I don't listen to it as much simply because it has a weaker signal in my area than WKLR. Another classic rock station, WAFX (106.9, "The Fox") from Hampton Roads also reaches the area, but I don't know if it plays anything from the 1990s. During my lifetime there have also been two other rock stations in the area, both modern formats: WBZU (106.5, "The Buzz" from 1996-98) and WDYL (101.1, "Y101", now a contemporary pop station on 100.9) from 1999-2010.

[kphoger]

female music

This reminded me of a mix CD my sister made for me one time.  It was a darned good CD.  Hmmmm, I wonder if I could find it now....  Anyway!  She said she got done planning and recording the CD, then realized afterwards that it was "95% angry women" (her words).  I hadn't even noticed, but, looking back over the song list, I saw that she was right.

[TheStranger]

This actually happened very recently (about a few weeks ago) with San Jose-based KUFX (branded as "KFOX") 98.5, which let go of longtime morning host/80s musician Greg Kihn and has started adding stuff like mid-90s No Doubt to their playlist.