Alternative Alternative Chart 9/6

Based upon estimated airplay on handpicked altnernative/rock leaning AAA stations
* Indicates significant rise in airplay

1. The Fixer -- Pearl Jam (1) 688
2. Notion -- Kings of Leon (2) 503*
3. 21 Guns -- Green Day (5) 459*
4. Uprising -- Muse (4) 510*
5. Panic Switch -- Silversun Pickups (3) 411
6. Use Somebody -- Kings of Leon (6) 402
7. (If You're Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To -- Weezer (15) 393*
8. No You Girls -- Franz Ferdinand (7) 388
9. Ignorance -- Paramore (8) 371
10. New Divide -- Linkin Park (9) 370
11. Savior -- Rise Against (11) 369*
12. Check My Brain -- Alice In Chains (16) 303*
13. 1901 -- Phoenix (13) 297*
14. Why I Am -- Dave Matthews Band (19) 289*
15. Fugitive -- David Gray (17) 275*
16. Help, I'm Alive -- Metric (12) 262
17. She's A Genius -- Jet (21) 260*
18. Ain't No Rest for the Wicked -- Cage the Elephant (10) 232
19. You Never Know -- Wilco (14) 221
20. One Day -- Matishyahu (23) 214
21. Feel Good Drag -- Anberlin (20) 213
22. Back Against the Wall -- Cage the Elephant (38) 199*
23. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight -- U2 (22) 197
24. Fireflies -- Owl City (25) 195*
25. Jars -- Chevelle (27T) 176*
26. Kids -- MGMT (18) 170
27. Little Bribes -- Death Cab For Cutie (26) 161
28. Maybe -- Ingrid Michaelson (33) 126*
29. A Whole Lot Better -- Brendan Benson (-) 123*
30T Medicate -- AFI (-) 122*
30T I Will Not Bow -- Breaking Benjamin (37) 122*
32. Got Nuffin -- Spoon (29) 111
33. You're Going Down -- Sick Puppies (30) 109
34. Say Hey (I Love You) -- Michael Franti & Spearhead (-) 109*
35. Wishing Well -- Airborne Toxic Event (29) 108
36. I've Got Friends -- Manchester Orchestra (27T) 104
37. Breaking -- Anberlin (40) 96
38. Two Weeks -- Grizzly Bear (36) 90
39. Sometime After Midnight -- Airborne Toxic Event (32) 85
40. Oscar Wilde -- Company of Thieves (39) 79

Alternative Alternative Airplay Chart week of 8-30

Chart of estimated airplay of selected stations based on chart positions with 1 =20 20=10 and anything over 20 getting nothing



1. The Fixer -- Pearl Jam (1) 770
2. Notion -- Kings of Leon (5) 503
3. Panic Switch -- Silversun Pickups (4) 471
4. Uprising -- Muse (6) 462
5. 21 Guns -- Green Day (2) 454
6. Use Somebody -- Kings of Leon (7) 420
7. No You Girls -- Franz Ferdinand (3) 374
8. Ignorance -- Paramore (11) 359
9. New Divide -- Linkin Park (8) 357
10. Ain't No Rest for the Wicked -- Cage the Elephant (9) 354
11. Savior -- Rise Against (13) 329
12. Help I'm Alive -- Metric (10) 279
13. 1901 -- Phoenix (12) 267
14. You Never Know -- Wilco (15) 262
15. I Want You To -- Weezer (-) 256
16. Check My Brain -- Alice in Chains (39) 249
17. Fugitive -- David Gray (25) 239
18. Kids -- MGMT (20) 236
19. Why I Am -- Dave Matthews Band (16) 234
20. Feel Good Drag -- Anberlin (18) 230
21. She's A Genius -- Jet (22) 220
22. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight -- U2 (17) 205
23. One Day -- Matishyahu (24) 195
24. Got Nuffin -- Spoon (31) 176
25. Fireflies -- Owl City (32) 171
26. Little Bribes -- Death Cab For Cutie (21) 151
27T Jars -- Chevelle (19) 146
I've Got Friends -- Manchester Orchestra (14) 146
29. Wishing Well -- Airborne Toxic Event (23) 143
30. You're Going Down -- Sick Puppies (28) 131
31. Say Please -- Monsters of Folk (-) 110
32. Sometime Around Midnight -- Airborne Toxic Event (26) 99
33. Maybe -- Ingrid Michaelson (-) 97
34. It's Alright -- 311 (29) 95
35. Life In Technicolor -- Coldplay (30) 92
36. Two Weeks -- Grizzly Bear (34) 91
37. I Will Not Bow -- Breaking Benjamin (-) 87
38. Back Against the Wall -- Cage the Elephant (-) 83
39. Oscar Wilde -- Company of Thieves (35) 82
40. Breaking -- Anberlin (-) 79

In Search for a Format that Works-- An alternative alternative chart

It's no secret that Alternative Rock radio is in crisis. Unlike many, I think the crisis is not primarily attributable to the outside competitors -- the I Pod, the internet, satellite radio. All genres face this competition. It's not that alternative rock is inherently uncommercial. Kings of Leon, Green Day, U2, Coldplay, Weezer and Linkin Park, all sell millions and have had hits on Top 40 radio.

The crisis in alternative rock radio has its roots earlier in the decade, when program directors became convinced that the advent of Korn and Limp Biskit made necessary a purge of both female artists and female listeners and the focus narrowed to nu metal and third generation punk and frat boy attitude became standard.

Some good bands came out of this -- Rage Agaisnt the Machine, Incubus, Rancid to name a few -- but soon another format came about to up the ante, namely active rock, further marginalizing the format. Then adult alternative came along attracting the older part of the alternative rock audience. For a while alternative rock stations followed the lead of the active rock stations -- the charts for the two genres were almost indistinguishable as recently as a couple of years ago -- but recently a divergence has occurred, as alternative stations increasingly sought to distinguish themselves, even as many Chicago's WKQZ and St. Louis' KPNT continued their slide toward active rockdom.

The alternative rock airplay charts, however, are still skewed by this drift of nominally alternative stations. While those stations are pulled toward Godsmack, some of the hipper adult alternative stations are equally pulled toward Colby Caillat, and the adult alternative charts don't reflect the artists those stations play. My favorite stations are the ones that manage to straddle that line and resist the pull, so I decided to group those stations together to see what an airplay chart would look like.

I don't have the raw data on airplay, but I have seen a some airplay charts and the number of plays descend very gradually, with the number 20 song usually getting approximately half the airplay of the number 1 song. So I will assign points based upon chart position (based upon most played charts from Yes and Tune Genie)

1. Gets 20 point
2 and 3 gets 19 points
4 and 5 gets 18 points
6 and 7 gets 17 points
and so on until you get to 20 which gets 10 points.

Now for the stations. First is group one -- the most recognized innovative and influential modern rock stations -- these are the core

WWCD, Columbus OH, WFNX, Boston MA, WBRU, Providence RI, KRBZ, Kansas City MO and KNRK Portland OR.

Group 2 are the major players -- the stations that people think of first when they think of modern rock.

KROQ, Los Angeles, CA, XETRA, Tijuana/San Diego, KITS, San Francisco and CIMX, Windsor ON/Detroit MI

WKQZ was intentionally left out.

Group 3 are the commercial AAA stations that are either the most cutting edge or that more loud rock than average for the genre

WRNR -- Annapolis/Baltimore MD
WXRT -- Chicago IL
WRXP -- New York, NY
KENZ -- Salt Lake City UT
WNNX -- Atlanta GA.

The next group is the NPR type public AAA stations, which tends to favor offbeat cerebral bands and the stray singer-songwriter.

WTMD -- Baltimore MD
WXPN -- Philadelphia PA
KCMP -- Minneapolis/St. Paul MN
WYEP -- Pittsburgh, PA
WYMS -- Milwaukee WI

The next bunch is the group of Clear Channel stations that have diverged from the active rock lean of that chain

KCCQ -- Ames, IA
WRFF -- Philadelphia PA
KCNL -- San Jose CA
KTCL -- Denver CO

Nest are the alt rock stations that are somewhat adventerous, but that nobody outside their listening area had heard of.

WEQX -- Manchester VT
KBZT -- San Diego, CA
KEDJ -- Phoenix, AZ
KEGE -- Pocatella ID
KRXP -- Colorado Springs, CO
KRXF -- Bend OR

Next are the college and community stations -- airplay info on this type of station is hard to come by and the playlists so unrepresentative as to be unusable. WRAS, WREK, WRIU and KSCL

WBER -- Rochester, NY
WAPS -- Akron, OH
WBWC -- Cleveland OH
WERS -- Boston MA

We'll finish the rundown and give you the list tommorow