what’s wrong with vancouver rock radio?
To preface this, I haven’t posted anything in a while, so what could possibly be better to get the ball rolling than a rant? :)
So, I was minding my own business this morning, getting ready for work. I turn on the radio in the bathroom as I’m about to step into the shower — this is my usual routine, as I tend to listen to the radio first thing in the morning and on the drive into work, but usually switch to MP3s once I hit the office and after I get home — and I hear CFOX playing Mötley Crüe.
Okay, now this itself isn’t unusual… CFOX is well-known across Canada as Vancouver’s biggest rock radio station, and they do cater to an audience that includes late-30s mullet-wearing headbangers who still haven’t left the ’80s.
Anyhow, I get into the shower, get ready, get in the car, and head to the office. All of this lasts about 45-50 minutes. During that span of time, I managed to hear:
- Mötley Crüe
- Nirvana
- Led Zeppelin
- Irritating trivia featuring Aerosmith
- The Beastie Boys
To cap it off, the last song I heard before switching the station was by the Tragically Hip. Now, the Hip alone are fine — but CFOX advertises themselves as a new rock station. Now, how can you sell yourself as a new rock station if nearly half of what you play is over 15 years old? I don’t mind hearing an oldie every once in a while, but five or six songs in the span of 45-50 minutes is overkill.
Who exactly are they trying to cater to? I’m in my late 20s, and I like ’90s grunge rock as much as the next guy, but hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit or Heart-Shaped Box once out of every ten songs has made me hate Nirvana so much I can almost taste it. I switch the station to The Zone in Victoria pretty much every time this happens. The inherent problem with that is that I live in Vancouver and reception for a small Victoria station is the shits in most areas of the city. Not to mention their DJs are significantly worse than the guys on CFOX. I’ve even tried listening to The End out of Seattle, but the reception for that station in Vancouver is even worse.
What I’ve found myself doing recently is listening to The Beat (!) and Z95.3 (god forbid.) Sadly, both of these stations play a mix of mainstream/Top 40 music including pop, dance, hip-hop, R&B, rock, and some alternative stuff (like Metric, Panic at the Disco, or City & Colour.) What’s worse is that the ratio of new rock and alternative that they play is almost on par with what CFOX is pumping out.
I’ve been a CFOX listener for well over a decade. I noticed that they changed formats a couple of years back to include more oldies, but I think this is getting vaguely ridiculous. Vancouver listeners really don’t have a lot of selection when it comes to rock radio — and stereotyping us all as white-trash ex-grunge rockers living in the bible belt of BC is not a step in the right direction.
I remember listening to UBC’s alternative station CiTR when I was back in school, and they had a decent mix going on, but I really can’t think of much else. If anyone has any alternative suggestions for rock radio in Vancouver, I’m open to anything…
Does CFOX actually advertise themselves are “new rock”? I’m not sure if they do anymore… I see the “fox rocks” tagline all over their website… but very little verbiage highlighting a “new rock” focus.
The crap thing about commercial radio is that their business model is dependent on selling advertising to a large stable audience, thus, their content usually caters to the lowest common denominator. Instead of pushing boundaries or buttons, they’ll play a high percentage of safe, wide appealing music… so less alexisonfire and more Nirvana.
For the sake of your sanity… I’d suggest rocking the mp3’s or a station like KEXP or WOXY’s web feed. But that’s just me…
You’re probably right. I flip stations back and forth like crazy. It’s driving me nuts. I’m stuck with a car that didn’t have a factory stereo with a built-in MP3 player (damn Nissan for not equipping all their models with the same damned stereo that’s in the Xterra!) so I end up plugging my iPod nano in there most of the time.
CFOX has a lot of “new rock” focused materials on their site if you dig around a bit. They definitely used to push themselves as more of a new rock station, but you’re right, they’ve stopped doing that as much recently. They still have the Subway fresh track in the morning, the new rock news, 6 o’clock rock report, etc. I do think they’re alienating a lot of listeners by insisting on playing oldies.. I mean, we already have freakin’ JACK FM in this city, do we really need another rock/oldies station??
I gotta disagree with CFOX playing older music. I can only take so much red hot chili peppers and audioslave in one hour before grinding my teeth. I hate CFOX’s lack of variety.
On the other hand, when one CFOX DJ decides to play and older song, they ALL decide it’s the oldie du jour. Drives me nuts.
the Zone has a much better mix. They just played Placebo, A Perfect Circle, new Hip and new Three days grace.
I listen to the Jeff O’Neil show on the Fox in the morning and turn change to the Zone as soon as they’re done.
I’m in an Australian band called LORDS OF WONG,our new songs called,YOU CAN’T KEEP A GOOD
DRUG DOWN”. What’s your mailing address???
I think Vancouver rock radio’s fine, but you definately need, LORDS OF WONG from Australia’s, “YOU CAN’T KEEP A GOOD DRUG DOWN”, to make it just a tad better.
Were on high rotation in Toronto, so why the hell not Vancouver. I fuckin love Vancouver.
Send me an address and contact i can send it to.
Thanks Jimmy