Indie 103.1 offers relief from corporate stations
By Vasiliki Marras
June 13, 2004 9:00 p.m.
When Indie 103.1 came on the air a few months ago, it was met
with mixed reactions.
One of the more favorable reactions that people had was
delighting in the fact that there would finally be a station that
wouldn’t have Nickelback and Creed in its rotation, in favor
of bands like The Von Bondies and Modest Mouse. But many people
responded skeptically, wondering “Isn’t Indie 103.1 not
so indie? Aren’t they owned by Clear Channel?”
And as students on campus can be heard wondering how an
“independent” radio station can be owned by Clear
Channel, it’s finally time to answer the ongoing question: it
isn’t.
Indie 103.1 is owned by Entravision, a private company. So the
station is not just another money-making creation by the
mega-corporation Clear Channel. Indie 103.1 consists of four
employees running a station where they can play the music they
love.
“Entravision owns us, and we are independently run,”
said DJ P.K. in an on-air interview. “No one comes in here
and says, “˜You have to do this or that.’ There are no
corporate playlists.”
The misconception may have arisen from the fact that Clear
Channel pays for advertisements on the station. So while Clear
Channel does put money into Indie 103.1, they neither own the
station nor have any jurisdiction over how the station is run or
the music that it plays.
Despite the ongoing debate over whether the indie radio station
is really “indie,” many students find Indie 103.1 to be
a relief from the many existing top-40 radio stations.
While there has been some advertising on behalf of the station,
many students have discovered Indie 103.1 through word-of-mouth, or
just by surfing stations.
“I was changing the channels, and I thought there had to
be a modern rock station besides KROQ,” said first-year
master of fine arts theater student Misha Alexeef. “Then I
heard The Clash and I left it on.”
The station is a haven for students like Alexeef, who love
underground and independent music, as opposed to the mainstream
popular music found on stations like KROQ. But Indie 103.1 is not
without its flaws.
“None (of the bands in rotation) are necessarily my
favorite bands, but the station would benefit from playing harder
music, such as hardcore influenced bands like These Arms are
Snakes, instead of just stopping at pop,” Alexeef said.
“I would also like to hear bands like And You Will Know Us By
the Trail of Dead; I would like to hear songs that are a little
more interesting, not just “˜Maps’ (by the Yeah Yeah
Yeahs) over and over.”
The concept of Indie 103.1 is quite a different one from what
many college students have known growing up in an era of
homogenized media controlled by huge corporations that don’t
seem to care what people actually want.
There is no corporate involvement at Indie 103.1, where all
music decisions are made by the DJs and the four employees that run
the place.
Along with playing independent music, there are some seasoned
veterans of the independent music scene that are DJs for the
station, such as Henry Rollins of Black Flag and Steve Jones of the
Sex Pistols. According to DJ P.K., many of the radio show hosts
bring in their own private collections of music to play.
Since its inception, Indie 103.1 has grown fast, building a
larger and larger fan base every day. A source for alternative
music in Los Angeles that doesn’t involve stealth Kazaa
operations or being permanently stationed at Ameoba Records, the
station proves that niche marketing can work even in a city defined
by its pop culture sensibilities.
