Living for the '90s
I guess it was inevitable that someone would go public with our nostalgia for the '90s, although The Onion did warn about the drying up retro gap six years ago.

What struck me was the supposed shock or surprise that one of the retro lunch hour shows was getting more requests for early '90s "obscure" few-hit wonders than for Nirvana or Pearl Jam.

First off, Nirvana and Pearl Jam is still in the regular rotation on the station. You can still hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit" or "Jeremy" on regular basis. Why bother requesting something that you can hear in a few hours. Secondly, this being a "retro" show, it's the perfect time to be nostalgic for stuff that just doesn't get the airplay anymore. Those shows drove '80s music back into public consciousness and even its own stations. It's now doing the same for '90s alt-rock (or in my case, literally "college" rock since I listened to most of this while at college). And thirdly, for a lot of listeners, I think it's just a lot more fun listening to Urge Overkill, Better Than Ezra or Dinosaur Jr. than the continuous assault of Linkin Park, Staind or Limp Bizkit that now comes with the format.