Did anyone see this ad? "Now the Only Alternative is 88.5 WXPN. Y100 may have left the air, but there is still a home for alternative rock fans as passionate as you: member supported 88.5 WXPN" The ad goes on to talk about WXPN's eclectic mix, etc, and listing a bunch of alt artists that WXPN plays - like U2, Keane, Beck, wilco, Dave, Counting Crows, Phish, Tori Amos, Norah Jones, etc. (Norah Jones, alternative? Anyway).

Seeing this ad was tough. I love WXPN sooooo much - I truly think it is one of the best things about Philadelphia - a passionate, community focused, detailed and courageous music station that has grown and succeeded from humble college radio beginnings. It's great, and they play a wide mix of diverse music. I am a member and support the station wholeheartedly. The people are quality people - from PD Bruce Warren to Dan Reed, Michaela, David Dye... and very often I hear music I love on WXPN. But to call it alternative? It IS alternative to the rest of the dial - that's for sure, but it's not alternative rock. I have never heard Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Weezer, the Killers, Green Day or System of a Down on WXPN.

WXPN is terrific at what it does and it should continue to do what it does... but I still get in my car (pretty much the only time I'm not listening to y100rocks.com), and I have a hard time finding something to listen to. I go to WMMR and hear STP into Bon-frickin-Jovi, then go to WYSP and it's Metallica into somethig that sounds like Metallica, then I go to WXPN, and I might hear a great set of stuff like Lucinda Williams into Bob Dylan into Bob Marley into Beck, but then the inevitable non-alternativeness of it will strike, and I'll be bummed and want to trade in the bluegrass cover of Procal Harum for just one little taste of Weezer... so maybe it's just me, and it's DEFINITELY no slap at WXPN - I love the people, love the music, love that they asked me to be on the air with them when we got booted off, and who knows, I may end up working there someday - but if WXPN is the ONLY alternative, than the Philadelphia music scene will still have a huge gaping hole in it... so for now, for me, it's Y100Rocks.com whenever I'm near a computer, and WXPN in the car, with occasional trips to the rock stations till they make me cringe, or Oldies 98 for something easy to swallow... and the anger and sadness comes right back over me...

jim mcguinn