Southern California residents were saddened to learn that Indie 103.1, a long-running radio station known for playing the edgy music that "corporate" stations wouldn't touch, is ceasing to broadcast today. Indie 103.1 had came under criticism for watering down its playlists in recent years to compete with rivals like KROQ, and it seems, based on a farewell message at the Indie 103.1 website, that the station's management did not like that direction either.
Former Indie 103.1 host Chris Morris writes on an LA Times blog about why this is a "very sad" day:
For most of its existence, Indie 103.1 advanced a style of radio in its specialty programming that hadn’t been seen in a major radio market for eons. What was heard on the air was a reflection of the individual Radio DJs’ tastes and passions. The amount of liberty I enjoyed was unbelievable. It was a throwback to the free-form style I grew up with, which held sway briefly in pre-“album oriented “radio in the ’70s; the maverick early KROQ flashed the same gunslinging approach.
Indie 103.1: Has Radio Run Its Course? – Risky Business (usnews.com).
