Do Your Local AM/FM Radio Stations Play Metal?

I've lived in several cities in my life- Born in Saint Mary's, PA, Grew up in East Peoria, IL, Went to college in Normal, IL, then moved to Grand Haven, MI, then Tempe, AZ, and finally back to East Peoria, IL.

In Saint Mary's, where I still go back occasionally to visit relatives, the only decent stations are Megarock, a classic rock station which occaisonally plays Zeppelin and AC/DC, and does a 2 hour show called Rock Hard Saturday Night, and a classic hits station, WQKY 98.9, the River, based in nearby Emporium, which plays Dee Snider's House Of Hair on Thursdays. There was also another station in the 1990s call the Revoltion, an alternative/modern rock station coming out of State College, which occasionally played metal, usually the mallcore variety, until it changed formats sometime around 2005.

In Normal, the main rock station, WIHN plays mostly alternative music(It's a college town), emo, and mallcore, though they do occasionally play some old Metallica or Priest or Maiden in addition to airing House Of Hair on Sunday mornings(when most people who'd listen in are either sleeping off the night before or in church!). The Illinois State University(Where I went to school) station, WZND, though does have a heavy metal show on Thursdays, though it's only available thru cable radio or online. WESN, the college station for Illinois Wesleyan University in next-door Bloomington(Franklin Street, running thru both towns, is the ONLY street in the entire world with a university on both ends), which was available over the open airwaves, did have Death by Volume on Mondays and Saturdays, which included Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Metal Church, Helloween, Mercyful Fate, Megadeth, and Manowar.

In Grand Haven, the best station available was WKLQ in Grand Rapids, which had Out of Control Saturday Night(Which admittedly played a lot of mallcore), Rock Hard Sunday(Featuring 80's hair bands), and New Metal Monday(which SOMEHOW saw fit to include Insane Clown Posse!!). Sadly, WKLQ got rid of those shows and went downhill and finally changed formats. WMMR in nearby Muskegon plays House Of Hair on Sundays.

In Tempe, the best station is KUPD, which every Sunday has Into The Pit, a 2-hour metal show with some pretty raw stuff. Another station, KDKB, plays House Of Hair on Saturday nights.

Back in East Peoria, until 2006 the best local station, WIXO, really doesn't have a metal show, although they do play metal, although most of it's more like mallcore and nu-metal bands like Saliva, Papa Roach, etc. A new station, WDQX 102.3, MAXfm, which is at least not corporate owned, plays some pre-sellout Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Pat Travers, Rainbow, etc.

And last but not least, the local album rock station, WWCT, which I grew up listening to, and was the best local station at the time, and played Sabbath, Priest, Riot, etc., had taken a nose dive from the early 1990's until about 2003 when they switched to an all-request format, playing requests from Suicidal Tendencies, Slayer, Megadeth, to Johnny Cash(!!), and also had House of Hair on Sunday mornings, until it changed formats in October 2006 to adult hits and finally 2 years later to alternative rock.

I should also add that back in the early-mid 80's, I was able to get WLUP from Chicago by running speaker wire from the cable connection on my TV to my stereo. Back then the Loop played Riot, Michael Schenker, the B'zz, Saxon, Motorhead,...In fact the Loop was the first place I ever heard those bands.

Since I never listen to the radio, I'm not sure but I don't think so. Unless you count numetal or classic metal. We really only have 2 radio stations around here that are listenable. KSHE is a "classic rock" format station and KPNT plays alternative and numetal.

I haven't listened to the radio in over 20 years (except occasionally in the car), so I honestly have no idea.

tohostudios wrote:

Since I never listen to the radio, I'm not sure but I don't think so. Unless you count numetal or classic metal. We really only have 2 radio stations around here that are listenable. KSHE is a "classic rock" format station and KPNT plays alternative and numetal.

I'm well familiar with KSHE, since my brother lives in St Louis. It's been rated as one of the top rock stations in the country and still gets good ratings. So it now looks like that not only does St Louis have a better baseball team than Chicago(sorry Cub fans), they now have a better rock station, since the Loop has totally gone downhill and is now pretty much just a classic rock hits station.

Hasn't St. Louis ALWAYS had a better baseball team than Chicago?

I rarely listen to the radio anymore unless someone else happens to have it on. I live in the sticks and most of the radio stations are country, gospel or talk radio.

My local classic rock station will play the obligatory three songs from Sabbath's entire career (hint: they're all from Paranoid). Maybe they'll play "Rainbow in the Dark" occasionally or some Scorpions. If you're really lucky you might get a popular Iron Maiden or Judas Priest song. Plus there's the usual AC/DC, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Rush, etc. Eh, it's better than nothing I suppose. The local modern rock station plays the usual hits from Metallica (black album - on), Guns 'n' Roses and Ozzy when they're feeling "retro," and that's about it; most of the programming seems centered on late '90s / early '00s alt-rock or nu-metal.

When I was growing up in the '90s we used to pick up a radio station from Tennessee and they would play some harder rock and metal. Stuff like Pantera, Alice in Chains, Megadeth, maybe even some '80s Metallica. They would broadcast Metal Shop every weekend late night / early morning and I used to stay up and record it on cassette. The reception was crap so I had to spend an hour before hand dragging my stereo all across the house trying to find "that spot" where it would pick up. Eventually I found out that the bathroom had the best reception. Which was great, except my mom wanted to know what the hell I was doing in the bathroom all that time ("Mom, I'm just listening to Slayer, I'll be out in a moment! ..."). Anyway I can't remember what all they played on Metal Shop during that time but it was a mix of '90s hard rock and some metal, I remember hearing bands like Entombed, Overkill, and Slayer for the first time then, so I guess it was worth locking myself in the bathroom for two hours every Sunday after all. They eventually stopped carrying the program and I think the radio station closed down or was bought out or whatever so that was the end of that.

Not last time I checked (which was about 2 years ago). If only the mighty Z-Rock had never left this town .

I live in the middle of Montana, so my answer is obvious.

I haven't listened to radio in well over ten years. Too narrow of playlists, annoying personalities, and the endless commercials. Once I got a car with a decent set-up I kissed radio goodbye for good. It's interesting to think how much I loved radio back in the day. Where else was I going to hear some of that stuff. The times they do change - thanks internet!

I was lucky growing up in Maryland. We had DC101 and 98 Rock which in those days were pretty good. Also had a local station 97.7 that was pretty free form and also played all the syndicated stuff at night (Metalshop, Pirate Radio USA).

The high point was when 103.1 The Underground came into existence. They were an all metal station until about 1994. It was must listen radio.

Not metal but we have WMGK here in Philly which is great for Classic Rock.

The heaviest station here is 98 Rock who will delve into old Metallica. Seek and Destroy, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Battery can be heard occasionally. Zeppelin heard almost daily, sometimes Sabbath. Nothing much in the way of modern metal, 95% alternative rock/post-grunge. Once a year I'll hear Maiden and Motorhead. Heaviest modern song I've heard to date was something by Volbeat - I turned it up because it sounded like power metal.

jstate wrote:

I haven't listened to radio in well over ten years. Too narrow of playlists, annoying personalities, and the endless commercials. Once I got a car with a decent set-up I kissed radio goodbye for good. It's interesting to think how much I loved radio back in the day. Where else was I going to hear some of that stuff. The times they do change - thanks internet!

I was lucky growing up in Maryland. We had DC101 and 98 Rock which in those days were pretty good. Also had a local station 97.7 that was pretty free form and also played all the syndicated stuff at night (Metalshop, Pirate Radio USA).

The high point was when 103.1 The Underground came into existence. They were an all metal station until about 1994. It was must listen radio.

98 Rock always seemed to play more Metal than DC 101, at least when I was in High School. Do you remember when Stern used to be on DC 101?

Now - I have no idea, I don't listen to the radio outside of the WTOP (all news station) when I am in the car

No. Pittsburgh radio sucks. All we really have is classic rock (which plays about 3 Sabbath songs-all from Paranoid,some GNR,some Scorps and Ozzy),country, and the modern rock crap. Not worth my time to listen.

007 wrote:

No. Pittsburgh radio sucks.

So do the Penguins! GO FLYERS!

Over in Zion IL I get 95.1 WILL ROCK, they play a fair amount of metal along with some hard rock, along with WHQG 102.9 The Hog, the latter station sometimes plays some lesser known stuff, I remember they once played Steelheart "She's Gone".

ultmetal wrote:

007 wrote:

No. Pittsburgh radio sucks.

So do the Penguins! GO FLYERS!

exact33 wrote:

ultmetal wrote:

007 wrote:

No. Pittsburgh radio sucks.

So do the Penguins! GO FLYERS!

The local FM rock station WDHA-FM (Cedar Grove, NJ) will play the expected songs by the usual suspects (i.e. "Enter Sandman," "We're Not Gonna Take It," "You've Got Another Thing Comin'," etc.) but that's about it.

Aside from that, radio in this area is a vast wasteland. I keep the local news station tuned in on my car stereo so I can listen to the headlines in the morning on my way to work, then I switch over to CDs.

Ive pretty much given up on terrestrial radio. I mostly use satelite radio. There IS a good classic rock station i can pick up from Lousiana (i live in MS) that plays a somewhat more diverse mix of stuff and deep cuts. I listen to that one on the internet though for the most part.

Well I live in the Red River Valley of MN/ND so most of the rock stations are in Fargo. Back in the 70's and 80's we had Q98 and they played alot of hard rock all the time but as the years progressed they got worse. from the 90's to the present they play alot of nu-metal crap and alot of harder alt bands so basically they suck now.

Now for classic rock we had 2 stations 107.9 The Fox & Rock 102. The Fox from day 1 plays all the same stuff daily they never change. So Rock 102 also played some of the same material but they also added in alot of 80's hard rock and metal. But about 3 weeks with no warning they dumped they classic rock format and went to talk radio. I was pissed that was the only stationed I listened to I like the morning show all the DJ's were from they are with no syndication the crappy Lex & Terry they're a joke.

But I usually listened to my Ipod on my work radio. About 2 weeks ago I bought a Sirius sat radio for my work radio and now listen to Liquid Metal, The Boneyard, Octane, Hairnation. Radio on the FM dial is so corperate so there is no freedom to play what they want it is a set playlist on what's popular. And that goes with all FM radio cuntry, pop, hip hop or what ever it will never be any good.

Thank god for SiriusXM radio and IPODS.

Wargod

Where I live there is nothing. All the good stations have been bought by Clearchannel, so even the classic rock stations are limited to the usual suspects. When I was growing up in West Central Ohio, we had 104.7 WTUE out of Dayton which played all the good stuff from the 70s and 80s, Floyd, Zeppelin, Maiden, Priest, you name it. The station still exists but has been taken over by the aforementioned Clearchannel.

All we have is country stations (being in the south, there are like 6 of 'em), pop/rap/hip-hop stations, and a coupla classic rock stations. One of the classic rock stations, 95.7 The Ride, plays some good songs, but nothing metal besides the occasional hair metal tune. 99.7 The Fox is okay sometimes, but they play just the usual Zep, Sabbath, and Floyd.

I don't listen to radio much anymore though, so it's of no annoyance to me anyway.

Wurthless wrote:

All we have is country stations (being in the south, there are like 6 of 'em), pop/rap/hip-hop stations, and a coupla classic rock stations. One of the classic rock stations, 95.7 The Ride, plays some good songs, but nothing metal besides the occasional hair metal tune. 99.7 The Fox is okay sometimes, but they play just the usual Zep, Sabbath, and Floyd.

I don't listen to radio much anymore though, so it's of no annoyance to me anyway.

We have a lot of country stations too (in Texas, go figure ) and a butt load of Texano stations. As a matter of fact the great metal station that was Z-Rock was replaced by a Texano station. Pissed me off because of that. We already had several of those stations and they had to replace the only station that played real metal with one .

Sometimes. They play Metallica and some hard rock from time to time.