Live 105: Kill the Tagline

Warning: SF Bay Area local rant post.

San Francisco's Live 105 is a radio station that has the tagline, "Fighting to Keep Alternative Music Alive in the Bay Area." This irks me to no end.

In the first place, positioning yourself as an scrappy little alternative radio station when you are owned by CBS Radio aka Infinity Broadcasting is a little disingenuous. Secondly, making this your slogan makes the station seem like a loser, like it is on the fast track to becoming a jazz radio station. Wouldn't a more positive or even a neutral tagline such as "San Francisco's Only Alternative Music Station" position it better? By making yourself seem like a loser, you drive away listeners and advertisers. How about "The Bay Area's Best Music?"

Thirdly, even if Live 105 went under (which seems unlikely since it's been around since 1986 when I was a teenager (RIP KQAK The Quake)), alternative music would hardly vanish from the Bay Area, in the same way it hasn't vanished from New York City, where there is no alternative station. Alternative music lives on the edges, on college radio stations, live shows, podcasts, and whathaveyou. There's lots of places to find it now. It doesn't depend on a single radio station, not even LA's influential KROQ.

Look, I like Live 105. I'm glad we still have an alternative radio station here in San Francisco. I listen just about every time I'm in a car. But enough with the martyrdom.

Originally posted at Tuesday, March 21, 2006 | Comments (4) | Trackback (0)