I thought I had posted this but obviously not. Anyway, I've lived here for 23 years. As much of a creative and artistic hotspot that the area is, we surprisingly don't really have the best radio situation. Most of the stations are all clearchannel/Iheartradio types with the same, boring, generic top 40 of whatever pop/country/rap/talk/ whatever. I do listen to the public radio stations but its mostly news. The local college station, KALX is not reliable and can either play good stuff or really bizarre, almost unbearable content. Its very " College-y"

Well that is about to change. One of the most popular independent radio stations is based out of Seattle called KEXP. At this point I would say most of the people in my inner circle of friends listen to it on our streaming apps. But now they are buying a bankrupt station, KREV 92.7 for 3.7 million dollars. They will at first repeat the same content as they have on the Seattle station but eventually start having local content as well as live performances. They play a fairly broad range of music. I would say the demographics of their listeners is probably in the 30's-50's or thereabouts.

Its going to be interesting having a station music here that isn't cookie-cutter and predictable.

92.7 MHz? I don’t think that’s a frequency I regularly receive anything on here in San Jose. 92.3 has a strong station here and 93.3 has another station, but I don’t recall anything on 92.7. Has the bankrupt station been off the air for many years, or does it simply have no coverage in the South Bay?

Anyway what you describe sounds interesting.

according to FCC 92.7 is its freq

Service Designation: FM 'Full Service' FM station or application
Channel/Class: 224A Frequency: 92.7 MHz Licensed
File No.: BLH-20140110AAC Facility ID number: 36029

I would like to see something such as multiple all-digital HD Radio stations here on the AM band. Since KGO AM 810, as one example, threw itself away completely a while back and turned into some useless sports-betting garbage thing, there is clearly (pun -very- intended!) a good opportunity to try something TRULY "a lot more interesting" here on the AM band. Maybe even -music-, imagine that!

For second/third/fourth-best options (on FM), it would be nice to get back a second real-jazz (as thoroughly opposed to the awful "smooth jazz", yuck!) station, beside KCSM 91.7. We used to have 103.7 for decades, and when HD Radio arrived it had an HD2 channel that was even better, less mainstream jazz than the main HD1/analog channel. Or, lets get a station with 1970s and 1980s music but with a FULL range of what was popular THEN, not just the few "biggest hits" and songs that are brought back in recent movies or whatever such as they play on the current 103.7 station. Or, a "Jack"-type station: 1970s and 1980s but mixed with some recent/current popular music as well. We did have the "Max" station that was similar some years ago; I forgot its frequency already.

You can try out the station via a live streaming link:
https://www.kexp.org/

The following is based on my observations and opinions only.

University radio went through a heyday in the timeframe that started somewhere in the 1980s and ended when commercial radio stations started programming to Generation-X with "Modern Rock" and "Active Rock" formats. In that era, some of the college stations were able to get their act together, and they were an important influence in breaking new artists and in helping to build local music scenes. Once the specialized commercial formats came on board, the college stations saw their listenerships plummet.

The secret behind the "successful" stations was that they intentionally planned out what they did on the air. "Freeform" style programming doesn't work because the listener experience is that too many "excessively experimental" songs get played, and when a "good" song is played, it is likely never heard again. I once visited the studios of a "good" college station, and I was somewhat surprised to learn that they were using a color-coded rotation system, similar to what early top-40 radio stations used. The difference between this station and the commercial modern rock stations that followed it was that the former was willing to broadcast independent label releases that the station's music director believed fit with the station's overall sound. Commercial stations of the era, on the other hand, used trade journals, such as Billboard and MTV's music selections to make programming decisions.

Alfredo, your descriptions and comments are excellent, and indeed you have perfectly described the limitations or challenges of programming a music radio station, in a way that is clear and easy to understand like I have never seen before.

Many people may be "adventurous", to at least some degree, with their music tastes, but the vast majority of us in reality -do- want some familiarity or even predictability in our radio listening. The for-profit radio business has to take those ideas to an extreme to maximize their audiences (and therefore to sell lots of commercials at the highest possible prices). The terrible catch of this is, the people who pay the most attention to music are the ones who are -least- served (and least-satisfied) by for-profit radio.

That most-thoughtful audience, though, is a lot smaller than the majority of people out there. I got in an audience survey for several hours over two nights once, for a station that I really liked at the time. But I looked over at the questionnaires of nearby participants, too. Oh, NO!!! There is a person who wants to hear MORE of Boston and Foreigner, and who thinks they play Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds "too much". Soon after that, the station became truly lousy, playing only one Cat Stevens song ever as an example, but frequently, when they had formerly played -all- of his hits over any given time period.

The most-thoughtful or adventurous group is probably also the ones most likely to constantly change stations, which the owners hate. (Because when do we change the station? When the commercials come on, or course! )

My preference for radio is always a balance between effort and avoiding excessive repetition. The wider a station's playlist is (within my music tastes, but I like a very wide variety), the more often or longer I will listen to that station. I love at least some or even many of the songs on 103.7 here, the "1980s" station, but their playlist is horribly restricted (as all of the studies or industry consultants -say- it should be), so I have completely abandoned it. The chance of hearing Matthew Wilder, or Survivor's "High On You", is not worth the guarantee that I WILL hear Michael Jackson or "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" yet, yet, yet again.

If I want an "ideal station", I could make up my own SD or USB cards and play them endlessly on the shuffle setting. But, that is more effort than I wish to put in, and I would also -never- hear anything new that way.

Thanks, I will look for it (on 92.7) and try it out.

I checked the coverage, and it appears to be a rather weak station that doesn’t reach the South Bay. So that explains why I don’t recall ever having a station on 92.7 MHz here.

Seth, I have been streaming and rebroadcasting KEXP off and on for the last couple of days. They play a nice variety of styles/ formats and being community supported mean zero commercials.
I have added it to the presets on my internet radio.
Thanks for the tip.