For years, the music radio station KROQ was THE place on the dial where L.A. turned to hear the next big thing in alternative rock. Variety’s Executive Editor of Music, Shirley Halperin puts it like this:
It was a place of discovery. It was a tastemaker station. There are groups in England that knew that in order to make it in the U.S. as an alternative band you had to break through KROQ. It had that much influence and that much power over the music scene in the ‘80s and the ‘90s.
But in March things changed...and quickly. According to Variety, after the long-time program director, Kevin Weatherly, was ousted, a new guy was brought in and put a Post Malone song into “power rotation,” signaling a new direction for the station.
As for the morning show? Everyone was fired.
Halperin says that these “drastic changes to their playlist – and to their personalities – was a real shock to the system, to L.A.”
And it led to a big ratings drop. Now it's unclear whether or not the station will survive.
You can hear more of Shirley Halperin’s conversation with KPCC’s Take Two:
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