My fear would be that any Alternative station playing that many songs is going to be an Alernative to what anyone wants to listen to.
The saddest part is where the station evidently acknowledged to the Chicago Sun-Times that it had been playing a mere 200 songs which isn’t a lot to you and me, but to the audience it’s NOTHING.
Unfortunately, this is another example of a station attempting to alter its DNA without changing its brand package first.
In the world of the consumer’s mind, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be the same old station and yet entirely new at the same time.
Ever heard of “New Coke“?
Then again, this change will occur on April Fool’s Day, so you know what that means.
And I have another question…
If what the audience to Q101 wants is to hear 1,000 songs, then why have they been playing a mere 200 all this time? Have they deliberately under-satisfied their fans? Or are they simply reacting in anticipation and fear of what might be to come?