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Isidoro Aguinaga, general manager at 107.9, says alternative market labels aren't selling well right now. The big groups in the genre, like R.E.M., basically died about five years ago, he says, and haven't been replaced. "I think if the artists themselves start putting out better products, it's going to come back," he says. "There's not a lot of new products out there right now that are selling. Different formats go through different cycles of life." Howie Greene, a former WENZ DJ, disagrees with Aguinaga's assessment of the market, citing new releases from Oasis, No Doubt, Bush and the Smashing Pumpkins. Whatever caused it, the dip in the alternative genre has combined with a surge in urban format music. When urban radio specialist Radio One purchased 107.9 and did market studies, it found the Cleveland market was missing that format, Aguinaga says. At 5 p.m. on May 12, 1999, WENZ concluded another loop of the R.E.M. song. This time, it was the end of alternative music in Cleveland, as fans' campaigns to save the station were futile. "When I found out the format was going to be changed, I was completely outraged," Suzelis says. "The End was something that we were so used to, and it was being taken away from us totally by surprise." Under the new format, Z-1079 more than doubled in size in eight months, Aguinaga says, which moved it from the 14th-ranked station in the market to Cleveland's No. 6 station. No station moved to take the former End's place. Akron Public School's 91.3 WAPS continued to carry some alternative programming in its eclectic mix, which ranges from jazz to polka. Greene started up his own Web site, www.howieradio.com. "I started it up for a couple reasons," Greene says. " I know that Internet radio is the next great thing, and I wanted to be in on that. And it was a need for alternative music in Cleveland. None of the radio stations were going to do it."  By early 1999, metal had gone off the deep end. The music was being linked to violence and the shootings at Columbine High School. "I think the worst thing about it was we had to deal with the fact that people were going to discriminate against all of us because of what we listened to - because of the music we liked," says Music Director Liam Lowery, a senior at Streetsboro High School. "People were going to hear that and say, 'Well, automatically you're a bad kid because you listen to Rammstein or Metallica or some other bands.'" 
Long says he could see pressure building to change formats, so he called another breakfast meeting. He and his senior staffers decided to change voluntarily in the summer. With 107.9's change in formats, they recognized a large audience searching for alternative music. They kept the change a secret until July 10, when V-Rock went off the air. "We knew the end was coming July 10," Long says. "We had to live with that for a couple of weeks, and it was tough. But none of us squealed." The station signed back on as The AlterNation in late August, adding a Web site in September. "Overnight we basically went from having a very big library of music to having absolutely nothing, and we had to get all new phone numbers, all new contacts and just totally start from scratch," Lowery says. "We had to get just enough CDs to start a radio station within a month." The WSTB play list has moved from groups like Acid Bath and Rammstein to Nirvana, R.E.M. and Live. Some, like Nirvana, were controversial acts in the early V-Rock days but appear tame by today's standards, Long says. There are still limitations in the station's play list. The automation system, which started with the alternative format, sometimes doesn't rotate songs properly, so the same 10 songs play over and over again. But WSTB has found an audience in people who have moved from the other end of the dial. Amanda Woletz, a Kent State freshman biology major, says it's nice to be at school and be able to listen to a station that plays alternative music. "They don't play as good of a variety as 107.9," Woletz says. "But they do play older stuff, which I forget about and then get re-excited about." While Suzelis doesn't like the limitations of The AlterNation's still-developing play list, she says it's the only station that plays the kind of music that she likes. "I think that overall 88.9 is pretty cool and came just at the right time," she says. "And it has a lot of potential to become pretty great."  Between howieradio.com, 91.3 and 88.9, there are options out there for alternative music in the Cleveland area. But many fans are still looking for an End-sized station - missing in particular The End's promotion of local bands and drawing power for national concerts. Dan Kemer, in charge of advertising and marketing at Belkin Productions in Chagrin Falls, says national acts like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine are skipping Cleveland. "There's a lot of acts out there that aren't getting their dues, aren't getting their spins, that are selling a lot of tickets," Kemer says. While the current alternative radio outlets are helping, Kemer says things are "pretty rough right now."
Edmund A. Rossman, a former End business manager, is using his Web site, www. 1079.corn, to promote and spread the word about alternative acts. "Most major alternative acts are bypassing Cleveland, and newer national acts are having an extremely bad time building a base here," Rossman says. "Word about them filters out through the Internet, but it's way hard for them to get exposure. They can have all the paper publicity they want, but unless they have a member who was originally with a big band that people can relate to, people won't know what to expect from their music. And unless they take a political stance people will identify with, or have some other hook, they'll have a tough time of it." Aguinaga calls it a catch-22. The market is in a down cycle right now and needs new national acts to bring it back, but local bands can't get the air play necessary to join the national ranks without stations like The End. Rossman says it would be possible for a band to break out of the Cleveland area if it uses the Internet, has an honest talent and a smart business plan. At 88.9, which broke bands like Mushroomhead during its V-Rock days, students say they try to help. "I like giving local bands their start because it's not like we're a huge station," Fredmonsky says. "We're not very small, but we're not very big either, so it just kind of sticks within our roots as well. I like to help people out as much as I can through the station because I feel it's helping us get a start in a career, we might as well help other people out, too." Aguinaga says it's unfortunate The AlterNation doesn't have a signal that can reach the market and says he's a little bit sad no one picked up The End's format. For college students, he says, there are not a lot of choices on the radio dial unless you like urban music. This is one of the reasons why Rossman says he's been active with his Web site. "I'm not going to watch kids I see in middle school and high school having to grow up with only canned gangsta or pop role models," Rossman says. "Molded consumers make bad fellow citizens, in my humble opinion. Having these kids never hearing views or satire expressed in songs like Lust for Life, by lggy Pop, would make me very bummed." Because much of Cleveland radio is currently involved in mergers and other changes, a new alternative may not be in the immediate future. But Greene, the former 107.9 DJ, says an End-sized alternative station will eventually return to the area. "I think the fact that we have 8,000 to 10,000 hits a week on an Internet radio station that isn't being advertised anywhere shows that there is a need for alternative music in Cleveland," Greene says. "Somebody's missing the boat."<B> |
