In what way did KDGE The Edge appeal to younger rock listeners?

They played the kind of alternative and modern rock cuts that mainstream stations wouldn't touch in the mid-90s and early 2000s. Bands like Tool, Radiohead, and Deftones got heavy rotation, and they weren't afraid to go deep into album tracks or break new acts like Linkin Park before those bands hit the Billboard charts hard. It felt like a direct line to what was actually happening in the underground, not just what the record labels were pushing.