College rock: The major building block of American alternative rock, and thus artists in that genre are played often. The early works ofR.E.M. (in particular),The Replacements[6] andThey Might Be Giants usually show up on classic alternative stations.[5]
Some stations with an "all-'80s" format have added elements of the 1980s and '90s classic alternative format to their regular playlist. Cox'sKHPT inHouston andWPOI inTampa are prime examples of all-'80s stations that heavily relied on artists such asPeter Schilling,The Cranberries andNew Order. KHPT flipped to a classic alternative format after its run as an all-'80s station. The same goes forKJAQ inSeattle, one of the first stations in the country to try this format.
Digital cable music serviceMusic Choice (originally DMX) provided a station labelled New Wave for several years. The station was later renamed "Retro-Active", and later Classic Alternative, all of which played seventies to eighties new wave, post-punk, synthpop, etc. After several years, the station filtered in 1990s (and even sometimes post-millennium) artists. However, an artist likeDavid Bowie can often fit in classic alternative because he meets the criteria.[12][13]
SiriusXM offers a classic alternative station, 1st Wave, which was launched in 2008 following the merger between Sirius and XM and replaced similar stations on both services.[14][15]
The format began to see wider adoption in late-2022 and 2023, particularly among stations and brands that have had a legacy in modern and active rock formats in their respective market. In December 2022,WNNX in Atlanta relaunched the heritage "99X" brand of sister stationWWWQ as a classic alternative station,[16] while in July 2024,Corus Entertainment extended itsEdge brand—long associated with its heritage modern rock stationCFNY-FM in Toronto—to Calgary'sCFGQ-FM using a classic alternative format.[17] In October, Corus also extended the format toCJKR-FM in Winnipeg, replacing its existing modern rock format.[18]
