When WROX (96X) Norfolk, Va., modified its longtime Modern Rock format earlier this year, I didn’t rush to check it out. By that time, KLCK (Click 98.9) Seattle’s Alternative/Hot AC hybrid had already spawned one similar new station, WCLI (Click 101.5) Dayton, Ohio. So I thought I already knew what to expect.

But there has been continuing excitement about 96X among the Alternative radio and record communities since its launch. For one thing, unlike the Click stations, 96X was already operating as part of the Modern Rock universe. So its 67 spins a week on powers, and exposure of borderline “pop” acts, definitely got noticed. And so I took a Fresh Listen.

And there is a difference. Seattle and Dayton (and the station that predated them, KQKQ Omaha) feel like Alternative stations with a Top 40 motor. Texturally, 96X still feels very much like an Alternative station (Rise Against, Trapt’s “Headstrong,” etc.). It just happens to play an Adele or Onerepublic occasionally, and do Avett Brothers ticket weekends. (The station is also using a piece of the famous Drake-era “more music” Top 40 jingle in one of its stagers.)

Overall, it’s encouraging that stations like 96X are starting to exist again at the Alternative format. Top 40 and Country have been left as the two formats that drive current music. Alternative has been in the trick bag of having to either force currents or emphasize the ’90s (only starting to lose a little of their research oomph now), thus further marginalizing the new music. Stations like 96X were the bellwether of a revived Alternative format in the early ’90s, and one hopes they will be again.

Here’s WROX at 10:40 last Thursday (8):

Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Red Hot Chili Peppers, “The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie”
Kings Of Leon, “Use Somebody”
Rise Against, “Help Is On The Way”
New Radicals, “You Get What You Give”
Blink-182, “Up All Night”
Mumford & Sons, “Roll Away Your Stone”
Sublime, “Wrong Way”
Paramore, “Misery Business”
Smashing Pumpkins, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
Black Keys, “Howlin’ For You”
Everclear, “Father Of Mine”
Foo Fighters, “Rope”