Despite the CC assocaition obviously the music is better and that's a good thing. But for the daytime, if I'm gonna listen to music, I'll listen to KXLU. 103.1 plays good music you already know about and probably own, 88.9 plays good music you haven't heard before (most of the time) and good luck even finding some of it!

lemme try and track here..

late 80s to 1991: Pirate Radio. Basically, "buttrock" and floofy glam pop rock, and occasional college radio favorites. "Disco sucks" date rape rock, essentially. Dies.

1991 to 1992: MARS-fm. The polar opposite. Thump Thump Thump. Early rave music, essentially, with occasional nods to industrial. You couldn't go 5 minutes at one point without hearing Thrill Kill Kult's "Sex on Wheelz". Very huge with the gay scene. (Most of the advertising was from gay-friendly retail and entertainment). Dies.

1992 to a few weeks or months later: A format very similar to what you described above, except for the college 1992 set. Adult oriented rock with nods to more edgy rock bands: Tom Petty, Neil Young, Sonic Youth, Sugar, Buffalo Tom, etc. Dies.

1992 or 1993 and on: Latino/Ranchero. At a certain point, Dies.

Who knows what the fuck between 1993 and now: Dies.

2004 to probably a few months from now: "Indie Radio". Expect it to die.

It's basically "alternative classic gold" with some new stuff mixed in - more or less a return back to early-90s KROQ or 120 Minutes format. After a couple hours of listening I couldn't be bothered with it and went back to my iPod.

The LA Weekly has the rundown on the station - it's actually a joint effort between Clear Channel and Spanish-language broadcaster Entravision.

"Indie 103.1"s web site is here and you can listen online.

Yeah, you can blame fucking KUCI in O.C. for that problem. Oh, wait...

They're playing the Faint right now. Why do the Faint exist?

So that prom queens getting their dresses on and off formats in small bathroom stalls can have a perfect soundtrack for it. (genders reassignable, of course)

¡SOLO SMITHS Y MORRISSEY TODO EL TIEMPO, las 24 horas del día!

Yeah, you can blame fucking KUCI in O.C. for that problem. Oh, wait...

uh... KXLU has been broadcasting long before UCI was a twinkle in some orange county supervisor's eye.

It seems to be a decent station, but like somebody mentioned, only if you want to here songs you probably already know and own - but that just don't get played anywhere outside you're CD/MP3 player.

In the meantime, I'll stick with Kevin and Bean and KCRW for my daily "radio" intake (about 30 minutes - if that).

In retrospect I realized that I'm not dependent on radio anymore for new music recommendations. I pick stuff up from here, mailing lists, and slsk and have pretty much abandoned radio.

So 103's no DJ format is, you know, a good thing.

Speaking of XM, I had to make a round trip drive today from South Bend, IN, to Benton Harbor, MI, where I'm sure the likelihood of finding a decent terrestrial station was close to zero. Luckily, my rental car had XM, and although the DJs were obnoxious, the classic-alternative channel produced a couple of nice surprises during the hour-and-a-half listen. If I lived in a rural area and/or away from decent noncommercial radio, I'd probably bite on a subscription.

I would have thought this format would have been nixed already but......

but yeah. i do prefer no djs to the rambling corny fuxxors on kxlu.

"big boi in da morning "

>:-O

I know the roomate of some of the dudes who work there. those guys who are in explogasm or whatever...

my coworkers were either in DNT3L or The B3@chwood Sp@rks but at the time worked at Aron's or No Life.

I remember being surprised the other night to see that they were sponsoring the Raveonettes show down here in Costa Mesa; then again, it's not like KROQ would now.

kroq--there's a blast from the past! I'll probably go the next ten years assuming it's all nu-metal all the time.

I haven't assumed it's anything else! (Though I suppose they play the Killers and Coldplay now.)

Is David Lynch still the Indie morning weather reporter?

http://www.kroq-data.com/music/mostplayed.asp

Yikes! I don't get Indie 103.1 on my car but last time I checked they still needed to knock off the faceless indie rock junk. They got rid of their main voice over guy though, right? He was like Jack FM's snotty collegiate brother. UGH.....

And that KROQ playlist still looks pretty angsty (even with 38% less nu-metal!)

Is David Lynch still the Indie morning weather reporter?

Still is

Indie 103.1 makes another turn on the death spiral...

The good news: L.A.'s low-rated but much-acclaimed radio outlet Indie 103.1 (KDLD-FM) continues on broadcast, and is about to celebrate its fifth anniversary. That's a longer lifespan than anything else that has been programmed on the frequency over the past decade and a half (Mars FM, Jazz FM, CD 103.1, Groove Radio, Groove 103.1, Channel 103.1, Super Estrella, KDL 103.1) -- and longer than anyone had predicted.

Now, the bad news: Indie's listenership sucks. Arbitron's new personal people meter measurement makes it even more clear: Despite all of the buzz, national attention and influential sounds coming out of Indie, few people are listening.

The Indie management are trying to do something about that, but their changes threaten to strip the station of, well, its indie cred. The station's specialty shows are disappearing, especially in the evening. Gone are Danny Masterson's "Feel My Heat," the "Camp Freddy Radio" show and Chris Morris' Americana-themed "Watusi Rodeo."

Earlier, morning host Joe Escalante was dropped (although he continues to host the weekly show "Barely Legal Radio," in which he gives free entertainment legal advice).

Morris writes on his MySpace blog:

Indie 103.1 is now being styled as KROQ Jr. Get used to it.

What's happening over at Indie is downright sad, but I'll save further thoughts about that for another time.

The specialty shows are what made Indie special -- that's why I went after "Watusi Rodeo" after Michael "Doc Holiday" Whited, the original host, moved to Tennessee in 2005. Indie's original PD Michael Steele had enough faith in me to let me take a weekly shift after 30 years off the pro airwaves. It was a pleasure to experience the kind of programming freedom I had in free-form FM radio during the '70s, and I had a hell of a lot of fun for 148 broadcasts and almost three years. Many thanks to all my wonderful guests and my devoted listeners.

i listened to steve jones because he had some great guests, everything else was meh

i was wondering what was happening, hope the station stays around. however, i'm really liking the Sound on 100.3.

;_; i miss MARS-FM

I love the implication in the title of this thread that "indie radio" is in any way incompatible with Corporate Capitalism.

Gone are Danny Masterson's "Feel My Heat,"

This was actually a fun show! I agree that the specialty shows were usually at least interesting (esp. compared to everything else on the radio). Wasn't there a shoegaze show on at night?

How much better this station would be if it removed all the bands they've played that seemed to take something from the Strokes. Even something as recent as a 2004 playlist probably would sound dated as hell because of all those bands aping them.

I read that as "Heal My Feet"

is DONE, after five years. nothing on the web yet but they are no longer, just heard the farewell.

As with all these kinds of stations in LA, they just never last. But this one tried harder than most.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/01/indie-1031-is-o.html

The L.A. Times music blog

Local rock station Indie 103.1 is going off the air. The Times was informed that the station was to play its last over-the-air song at sometime after 10 a.m. this morning. Soon after, the station posted a message on its website stating it will take an "alternative course," and broadcast online.

The station, which recently dropped some of its specialty shows from the air, is still playing music and now mixing in the below statement. Pop & Hiss and The Times will bring you more on Indie 103 as we have it. For now, this is an excerpt of what was posted on the site:

This is an important message for the Indie 103.1 Radio Audience.

Indie 103.1 will cease broadcasting over this frequency effective immediately. Because of changes in the radio industry and the way radio audiences are measured, stations in this market are being forced to play too much Britney, Puffy and alternative music that is neither new nor cutting edge. Due to these challenges, Indie 103.1 was recently faced with only one option --- to play the corporate radio game.

We have decided not to play that game any longer. Rather than changing the sound, spirit, and soul of what has made Indie 103.1 great, Indie 103.1 will bid farewell to the terrestrial airwaves and take an alternative course.

This could only be done on the Internet, a place where rules do not apply and where new music thrives; be it grunge, punk, or alternative -- simply put, only the best music.

-- Todd Martens

As has been said over in the comments at Idolator...invoking 'Puffy' = you are not helping your case.

Reposting what I had to say over there when the news broke:

---

Thing is, this isn't the first time a station like this has born, lived and died in LA and it won't be the last, and I've had enough of a long view now to both see the pattern and know the cycle. Way oversimplifying but:

* General sense among just enough people complaining 'what about the music *we* like,' matched with research into a sliding demographic scale that says 'hey there seem to be a reasonable number of well-off ex-rocker/ex-college radio/ex-goth/ex-indie/ex-whatever people around that will pay for the products advertised on a putative station.'

* Station launches in blaze of glory, rapidly develops cachet among vocal subset of folks and/or gets a 'well it's better than anything *else* on the radio' reaction, has enough random sessions and characters on it to thrive for a while.

* The demographic identified at the time and place proves to be not as interested in paying for the products advertised on the station for any number of reasons while the station never entirely develops its own identity. Attempts to 'refocus' result in the sharper edges disappearing or isolated, turning off younger listeners who go back to college radio (or these days college radio streams or last.fm streams or...)

* Station dies and its frequency goes to a station aiming at actually pulling in enough listeners to make it viable, leading to the shattering discovery among a lot of people out here who should know better that Spanish language radio is in general far more viable than English language radio (exceptions being the news/sports blowhard hell).

* Cultural amnesia sets again and the cycle begins anew.

Again, WAY oversimplifying, but this is how it is. Indie Radio did last a lot longer than some, though, and different circumstances might have produced a longer run but I suspect its fate was sealed anyway.

in the meantime have you guys heard that new freeformish/indieish station i think in the 90's on the dial? i happened upon it last week, sounded kind of like jack format done really well, album cuts and such

Album cuts would be a nice enough change on their own.

oh somebody brought it up on that idolator page - KSWD (100.3 The Sound) http://www.thesoundla.com/?nid=12&sid=275

playing steely dan right now. ilx adopt-a-station?

losing this station while there is still kxlu is like losing the clippers while the lakers are still around

I remember this station only very dimly -- I don't even recall the name or call letters -- but in 1989 or so there was a sort-of proto-all-over-the-place station that thrived for a year or two in LA
- ned

was it maybe kkgo? 99.1 iirc. i loved that station

i think i'm thinking of kggi which was half 'urban' half other stuff at some point

I still remembering hearing XTC, The Stone Roses, and...I think it was the Dream Syndicate - all in a row on Indie four years ago and thinking it was mighty cool to have, at the very least, an FM station that could potentially play those bands. They had a few good shows and personalities but its reliance on punk - and specifically the trinity of Sex Pistols, Clash, Ramones - was a bit boring.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/01/ex-indie-1031-h.html

Local rock station Indie 103.1 is going off the air. Upon hearing the news, Pop & Hiss gave a shout-out to journalist/DJ Chris Morris, who, until a few weeks ago, hosted roots/Americana specialty show Watusi Radio on the station. He recently wrote about the cancellation of his show in City Beat, and below is his reaction to this morning's news that Indie 103.1 is going online only.

I tuned in the station just before 10 this morning to find its cast of announcers and regulars -- T.K., Mr. Shovel, Darren Revell, Party Girl Stacey, Surf Junkie Jeff, Full Metal Jackie -- saying farewell.

Then, after airing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” the station began cycling a prerecorded announcement, between rotating attitude-packed tracks by X, the Clash, Buzzcocks, Black Flag, and the Sex Pistols (“Anarchy in the U.K.” and Sid Vicious’ “My Way”). Indie, L.A.’s much-beloved independent rock station, was leaving the terrestrial airwaves, effective immediately, and migrating to the Internet.

Indie’s on-air adieu blamed “the way radio audiences are measured” -- i.e., last fall’s institution by Arbitron of the controversial portable people meters, or PPMs, which replaced diaries as ratings devices in the Los Angeles market and measured an even smaller percentage of the station’s tiny but loyal audience. In what amounted to a bleakly amusing mea culpa on the part of chain owner Entravision, it admitted that the station had been forced “to play the corporate radio game,” and that the retooled station of recent months -- shorn of several specialty shows (including mine) and pumped up with KROQ-style ’90s hits -- was little more than a “version of Indie 103.1 that we are now removing from the broadcast airwaves.”

Apparently, some new edition of Indie is set to broadcast on the Web at www.indie1031.com. Its frequency will now likely be filled by the Spanish-language programming I’d anticipated last month.

All very sad, and quite predictable.

For most of its existence, Indie 103.1 advanced a style of radio in its specialty programming that hadn’t been seen in a major radio market for eons. What was heard on the air was a reflection of the individual jocks’ tastes and passions. The amount of liberty I enjoyed was unbelievable. It was a throwback to the free-form style I grew up with, which held sway briefly in pre-“album oriented” radio in the ’70s; the maverick early KROQ flashed the same gunslinging approach.

And, until desperation set in during the late going, the station’s regular rotation sported some provocative tracks and off-the-wall features that Indie’s crosstown rivals wouldn’t touch. (The choice of “My Way” as a farewell track recalled the era of Indie’s “Furious Frank at Five” -- a daily afternoon dose of Sinatra.) But, as station management learned the hard way, cool programming alone can’t trump 30 years of listener loyalty, marketing money and a strong signal.

So now Indie hopes to flourish on the Web -- “a place where rules do not apply and where new music thrives,” in the station’s words -- by returning to the style it had sloughed off in pursuit of terrestrial ratings that never arrived. I wish my old colleagues luck in their renewed endeavors. (We’ll be working the same turf: My own post-Indie show “Hillbilly Deluxe” debuts on Scion Radio 17, the Web station operated by Toyota’s Scion car line, in February.)

It remains to be seen what form Indie 2.0 will take, and whether its star jocks like Steve Jones -- who won’t be able to command the same kind of bucks in cyberspace -– will remain on board. But it’s apparent that in the cutthroat world of radio, going to the Internet may be the only way to go for programmers with an edge to them.

-- Chris Morris, Special to Pop & Hiss

Used to listen to Jonesy's Jukebox over teh intraweb daily for many months back in 2004/2005. RIP.

I remember this station only very dimly -- I don't even recall the name or call letters -- but in 1989 or so there was a sort-of proto-all-over-the-place station that thrived for a year or two in LA
- ned

was it maybe kkgo? 99.1 iirc. i loved that station

― don't make me wait come into my house..........give me body (tremendoid), Thursday, January 15, 2009 4:05 PM

It was probably KEDG (101.3)

oh somebody brought it up on that idolator page - KSWD (100.3 The Sound) http://www.thesoundla.com/?nid=12&sid=275

this station is great when it's not playing tom petty once an hour

i have a soft spot for "peace, love, and sunday morning," which is all like joni mitchell/cat stevens mellow-hippie stuff.

MARS FM

PIRATE RADIO

103.1 is the cursed frequency in L.A.

Nothing has ever survived long on 103.1 since I was born.

i'm sad about this loss, some things i have come across about indie 1031 going off the air:

An Interview with Indie 103.1's Music Director Mark Sovel

Any plans for a future Indie 103?
There are people who are making an effort to bring the station back on the air with the same people, but I can’t say specifically.

What can people do who really want to see the station back on the air?
They can start by emailing the people at Entravision who were involved with the decision. Walter Ulloa (wul✧✧✧@entravis✧✧✧.c✧✧), the CEO, and Jeffrey Liberman (jliber✧✧✧@entravis✧✧✧.c✧✧), president of the radio division—who was actually a great guy in a tough situation.

Steve Jones statement:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/play/news/steve-jones-releases-statement/

http://buzzbands.la/2009/01/15/indie-1031-a-postscript-from-mr-shovel/

Mark Sovel, aka Mr. Shovel, just posted the following note on his MySpace page:

I really appreciate ​all of the texts​,​ e-mails,​ phone calls,​ messages etc. today ​from friends and people who are sad/​angry​ and/or confused about​ the loss of Indie 103.1.

It is sad for the city of Los Angel​es and I wish we could​ have preve​nted this from happe​ning.​ It was extremely difficult see Indie come to an end at 103.
1 and are honored to have been a part of the community this past five years.

I just wanted to answe​r a coupl​e of recurring quest​ions,​ and my text thumb​ was getti​ng sore.

1) No it wasn’​t a total​ surprise.

2) None of the staff​ of Indie​ 103.​1 decid​ed to stop broad​casti​ng on the radio​. This decis​ion was not ours to make.​ They are runni​ng old “​Indie​”​ songs​ throu​gh tomor​row,​ and then it will switc​h to anoth​er forma​t.​ (​It’​s stran​ge to hear them playi​ng The Sex Pisto​ls and Black​ Flag on the day they fired​ Steve​ Jones​ and Henry​ Rollins,​ but maybe​ that’​s just me).

3) The web strea​m that is runni​ng is using​ the music​ that we left in their​ syste​m but there​ will be no DJs and the entir​e staff​ was laid off today​ excep​t one perso​n to run their​ web-​strea​m.

We wish our forme​r emplo​yers and colle​agues​ well and are grate​ful for the chanc​e to get to say thank​ you and goodb​ye this morni​ng on the air. Every​one one of us are sad for the city,​ but thank​ful for all the peopl​e we have worke​d with and have met along​ the way. Surel​y you will see the heart​ and soul of Indie​ again​ in anoth​er manif​estat​ion.

Personally, ​ I look forwa​rd to a coupl​e days of rest and then on to the task ahead​.​.​.​.

Thank​ you again​ for your suppo​rt and conce​rn.

I’ll see you aroun​d - Just like alway​s.

Mr Shove​l

tuned in for a few minutes tonight and they were playing buzzcocks, sex pistols, and x in between the pre-recorded parting message/station ID.

I still remembering hearing XTC, The Stone Roses, and...I think it was the Dream Syndicate - all in a row on Indie four years ago and thinking it was mighty cool to have, at the very least, an FM station that could potentially play those bands. They had a few good shows and personalities but its reliance on punk - and specifically the trinity of Sex Pistols, Clash, Ramones - was a bit boring.

― Cunga, Thursday, January 15, 2009 5:08 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

As opposed to cheering on the playing of college-rock bands from 20 and 25 years ago?

I mean, I have a record collection.

http://www.laweekly.com/2009-01-22/columns/the-day-the-music-died/

As opposed to cheering on the playing of college-rock bands from 20 and 25 years ago?

Well, when you factor in that I, along with a lot of other fans, weren't even alive when bands like XTC and the Dream Syndicate were making their best records, it sounded incredible and new - at least to hear that music coming from your car radio as opposed to the internet and record players. We were much closer to the era of Carson Daly than the era of college rock.

It's now El Gato. Heard some good Cumbia and Duranguense this morning.

RIP #5 on my car radio... i guess heaven needed a station intermittently bearable

they played dopesmoker by sleep, that's pretty amazing for a radio station

Kinda miss listening to this station to hear lame, zeitgeist-defining bands that had trickled down from Pitchfork-gave-the-album-a-6.8 buzz.

I've mentioned this here before but Dave Navarro playing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and then wondering who it was, apologizing and saying he'd never play that crap again = A++ radio moment.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/locals-only/steve-jones-kroq/

Best News of the Week!: Steve Jones' "Jonesy's Jukebox" Returns to LA Radio on KROQ

West Coast Sound's Kevin Bronson is reporting through his great Buzzband LA site that Steve Jones (aka "Jonesy," aka "The Sex Pistol Who Said "Fucking Rotter" on the BBC Back When It Was Edgy") will be back on LA's airwaves with his much-missed show Jonesy's Jukebox.

From Buzzbands LA:

Jones, the Sex Pistols guitarist who hosted the popular "Jonesy's Jukebox" radio show on Indie 103.1 from 2004 until the station's demise in early 2009, will take a gig as a DJ at modern rock giant KROQ (FM 106.7) sources say.
Details of his program weren't known, but an announcement of the 55-year-old's return to the airwaves could come as early as today.
Jones' post-Indie 103 job as a show host on an Internet station belonging to IAMROGUE.com ended a few months ago. In an interview in February, he acknowledged missing terrestrial radio.

looks like it is for Sunday only with Rodney on the Roq also still being around on Sunday only:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/10/steve-jones-and-jonesys-jukebox-to-return-to-the-la-airwaves-via-kroq.html