Alternative may be the toughest radio format to program. Since catching fire in the early nineties thanks to the Seattle grunge explosion, stations have had to chase the constantly changing musical preferences of a fickle audience. That challenge has created well-known industry stars and chased people away from the medium. In between those extremes, there are some people who have quietly navigated the format’s quirks since the heyday — like Lynn Barstow, Program Director of Waterloo Media Alternative KROX/Austin.
Barstow started programming Alternative radio in the early nineties at the legendary KNNC/Austin, the market’s first commercial Alternative station. The station’s ratings weren’t great, but there was a reason. “If you go back to 1991, (Alternative stations) were the hottest thing ever. We even got ratings on a station that no one could hear. And by ratings, I mean a two share. But seriously, you couldn’t hear it. I don’t know how we got those numbers unless cows were getting diaries.”
After stopping at Alternative stations in Omaha and Tulsa, Barstow returned to Austin. He took over the station known as 101x over twenty years ago. During that time, he’s witnessed the audience change quite a bit. “The audience used to define themselves by the radio station they listened to,” he says. “Now they’re likely to define themselves by fifty other categories before they get to their favorite radio station. We’ve gone from being hot shots to fighting for share of voice or to even be known at all.”
Meanwhile, he’s not sure current Alternative music — or at least what’s coming from the record industry — is helping. He feels many songs come to the format either because the label isn’t sure it will work at pop or because there’s not a format that really supports current rock music. “It feels like, in those cases, they decide it must be alternative. If we just play what they ask us to play and we don’t clearly define ourselves, then our audience can’t know what we are.”
The Value of Talent
Since the music isn’t sending a clear message, Barstow feels the key has shifted. Specifically, he believes defining a station and garnering attention now depends on the hosts. “We’re a long way from John Hughes soundtracks, from Seattle and from 120 minutes being a thing,” he says. “Now I think the best thing that we can do is to have personalities that matter. It may be that listeners don’t know what kind of music 101X plays but hopefully they like (KROX morning hosts) Trevin and Sawyer.”
However, between the shifting media landscape and budgetary constraints, that’s not an easy road. “I’ve identified a couple of young people who have big personalities and great social media presences.” They also really talk to people well in public. When he asked them about being on the air, their response amounted to, “I don’t have time for that.”
Clearly, 101X is currently building a new morning show with The Morning X. This recent launch features Trevin on the Radio and Sawyer Stull. For many years, the station had a dominant morning team with Jason Dick and Deb O’Keefe. Unlike many morning shows on Alternative stations that might be talented, that team was a good fit. “They were an Alternative morning show. They talked about the things that cool people in a cool town talked about and that’s what made it alternative. They reflected the market well.”
Ultimately, the impact of the show stretched beyond their daypart. “They had a bigger than life quality that really elevated the station. All the day parts did better when that show was at its best,” says Barstow. “We’ve had some years since that show’s been gone and the station hasn’t flirted with the success we had when they were here. And even though I probably knew this subconsciously, I didn’t realize how difficult it had been to get to that point and how hard it is to get back there.”
That said, he’s excited about the new show. Additionally, the station is working with them through some early development challenges. “Neither of them has done a personality-driven show before, not in the way we want the 101X show to be.”
Stull was part of the all-talk morning show on sister station KLBJ-FM. Currently, he’s being challenged to keep things more concise. Meanwhile, this is Trevin’s first time in a high-personality daypart. That comes with a few challenges, like not being too cool for the room. “They assume the audience is just like them. But they aren’t because (listeners) have one billion other things to do besides listening to the radio. So, talent have to make their best appeal for attention and then hold it for as long as they can.”
Austin Just Isn’t as Weird
Undoubtedly, an additional hurdle Barstow faces is how Austin has changed. Home of the South by Southwest convention and Austin City Limits, the city used to be incredibly unique. There even used to be a movement predicated on the slogan Keep Austin Weird. But Barstow says things have changed significantly. “There are a lot of newcomers who didn’t grow up with the radio stations in town. And its newcomers of all types: California techies; Houston and Dallas people looking for a somewhat calmer place to live; and a lot of service industry folks.”
Certainly, that diversity is a big departure from the past. The city’s predominant employers used to be the University of Texas and state government. It was a very white-collar city which made it easier to find Alternative fans. “You’d go out and virtually all you would see were government workers, people who worked at the school and college students,” Barstow says. “Now it’s a construction boomtown, and we’ve got a massive automotive fabrication plant here, and a lot of people are doing fabrication jobs for tech companies who don’t need college degrees. They’re not necessarily in the same qualitative profile that alternative rock shot for 20 years ago.”
As for the Keep Austin Weird movement, it’s lost on many newcomers. “That slogan is about thirty years old. I think there are people who don’t know anything about it aside from t-shirts in vintage shops,” he says. “There are a lot of folks who believe that Austin is Anytown USA because they weren’t here before.”
Going Beyond Alternative
Additionally, Barstow does have a long history with the Alternative format. Don’t pigeonhole him as a one-trick pony. Over the years he spent time in pop radio, programmed a Classic Hip Hop station, worked in AAA, and nine months ago he took over legendary Classic Rock KLBJ-FM. The station, which has been playing Rock since 1973, has a lot of latitude with listeners after 53 years. “We can kind of be anything we want to be, which means if we want to try to steal the mantle a little bit from the non-com AAA, we can do that here and there.”
Furthermore, Barstow adds that the station’s roots run deep in Austin’s music history. “We were here with so many important artists dating all the way back to the seventies,” he says. “Those acts were part of the music culture on the station. We’ve got more of a connection to Austin music than 101X could ever have because Stevie Ray Vaughan walked the halls.”
That heritage has amazing power. Additionally, the station finds unique ways to point it out on the air. For example, one produced piece talks about how since 1973 there have been five locations for the legendary bar Antone’s but only one KLBJ. In turn, the audience is responsive to the station that has always been part of their lives. “The KLBJ-FM audience can be mobilized,” Barstow says. “You can get them to do stuff because the station has more of a personal connection. Therefore, if we say you should do this, we can get people off their couches on a Saturday to help at the food bank. So, we take advantage of the fact that the audience is still willing to do that.”
Similarly, like 101X once had, KLBJ-FM has a huge AM drive presence. Thanks to Mornings with Matt and Bob (powered by Chuy), it consistently pulls big ratings. “The station does enjoy top of mind awareness from having that tentpole morning show. It gives us a connection to the audience that just being a music jukebox can’t provide.”
Keys to Programming Success
When asked how he manages to program such a wide range of formats, Barstow shares his philosophy. Essentially, the key is solid fundamentals. “Doing good radio is propping up your talent. It’s making sure that it’s clear what music messages you’re trying to deliver. It’s being able to identify your potential community and appeal directly to them.”
And while he calls it propping up talent, managing people is a big part of success. Any programmer must be good at it. Barstow’s success is evident from his former 101X morning host Jason Dick’s social post. Dick called Barstow “the perfect boss.” He explains that his approach is simple: let talent be talent. “I try to provide them support, because I know that it’s hard to bring your life to the air on a consistent basis. And if (Jason Dick) was saying nice things about me, I think it was because he knew that I respected him.”
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Mike Stern is a Classic Rock columnist and Features writer for Barrett Media. He has been with Jacobs Media consulting stations in the Classic Rock, Rock, Alternative and AAA world for more than a decade. Prior to that he programmed stations in Chicago, Detroit, Denver Las Vegas and other markets. He also worked as News/Talk Editor for Radio and Records, wrote about Top 40 Radio for Billboard Magazine and had his own radio talent coaching business called Talent Mechanic.