Radio
The End (KNDD) is off to a new beginning

By Tina Potterf
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Is it too early for '90s nostalgia?

Last Thursday, The End, the Entercom-owned KNDD (107.7 FM), resurrected the alternative rock format that originally launched the station 12 years ago. The playlist is now based on the '90s rock that helped shape its identity, from Alice In Chains and Soundgarden to the Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer. On the way out are sounds like New Metal (think Limp Bizkit and Korn). Although The End is not abandoning new material, its focus will be on what program director and station manager Phil Manning calls "solid" new music.

"We took a direction shift at the radio station to go back to our roots and focus on the music," Manning said. "A lot of the '90s alternative Seattle bands, stuff that The End has played for 12 years, but there will be more emphasis now ... on the '90s stuff."

The decision to change the format was driven by research and gut instinct, Manning said. The station had conversations and elicited feedback from "thousands and thousands" of listeners who thought a change was needed, he said.

Another significant change at KNDD is the absence of a morning show. After just eight weeks on the air, the Marconi Show was discontinued last week because it didn't fit with the new format, Manning said. In October, the Marconi Show replaced the long-running morning drive-time show hosted by Andy Savage, who left the station after his contract expired.

Music, not radio personalities, will dominate the morning slot.

One day after The End returned to its grunge roots, Seattle radio station The Point (KYPT 96.5) scrapped its mostly '80s format for "classic alternative rock," trading in Blondie and the Go-Go's for Green Day and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

For Manning, another alternative rock station in the Seattle market isn't a concern.

"We are so thrilled with how our listeners have gotten the changes," Manning said. "Twenty-five-to-one it's been positive."

Listeners can weigh in on the station's new format by calling 206-577-2466 or emailing seattlesoriginalalternative@1077theend.com.

Tina Potterf: 206-464-8214 or tpotterf@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company