Variety<\/a>. \u201cNot only have we come back from that, but we\u2019re back bigger in terms of ratings success than we\u2019ve been in 15-plus years.\u201d<\/p>\nAnother factor in the rebound is the April return of \u201cKevin and Bean\u201d co-host Kevin Ryder and Doug \u201cSluggo\u201d Roberts, who had been hosting afternoons on KLOS (95.5). \u201cKevin Ryder coming back had the halo effect of really benefiting the radio station,\u201d Weatherly says. \u201cIt gave people permission that were pissed off, that didn\u2019t want anything to do with KROQ, to go, \u2018OK, if he\u2019s coming back, it\u2019s cool for us too.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
KROQ, known as the \u201cWorld Famous KROQ,\u201d initially broke new wave acts such as Depeche Mode, The Clash, and Duran Duran in the 1980s, and later alternative\/grunge artists like Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam. It was named Rolling Stone\u2019s \u201cRadio Station of the Year\u201d in 1992 and 1993 and was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in 2014.<\/p>\n
Since his return, Weatherly has refocused on the alternative acts that defined KROQ\u2019s heyday, targeting longtime listeners who grew up with Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, and Green Day. \u201cDuring COVID, former Brand Manager Mike Kaplan pulled most of those acts from rotation in favor of TikTok-flavor-of-the-moment bands,\u201d Weatherly says. \u201cThat\u2019s not what people expect or want from KROQ. It\u2019s just getting back to what people expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
KROQ now programs roughly 70% gold and 30% new music, a strategy Weatherly says better serves the station\u2019s 25-54 audience. \u201cOur audience grew up with KROQ. We\u2019re not chasing something that we\u2019re not going to probably get any longer. We\u2019re going to satisfy the people that are still here,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
For Ryder and Klein, the return has been energizing. \u201cIt feels like I\u2019m fully back, and I\u2019m getting a \u2018this is fun again\u2019 vibe at KROQ \u2014 which is contrary to the way it has been,\u201d Ryder says. \u201cPeople who were there for the five years I wasn\u2019t said it was difficult; management didn\u2019t know what they were doing. Kevin Weatherly coming back has changed the company dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n
While KROQ\u2019s rebound mirrors trends seen at other major-market alternative stations \u2014 such as Audacy\u2019s KITS San Francisco and Cumulus Media\u2019s WNNX Atlanta \u2014 Weatherly stresses that KROQ isn\u2019t just looking backward. \u201cWe want there to be a thread of continuity to the past, but we\u2019re not living in the past,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re not a classic alternative station; we still look forward. That\u2019s one of the differences from five years ago, when we tried to distance ourselves from anything that happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After years of struggling with ratings, ownership changes, and competition from iHeartMedia\u2019s \u201cAlt 98.7\u201d KYSR, Audacy\u2019s KROQ (106.7)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,7056,216,3],"class_list":{"0":"post-306430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-free","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}