Kill your radio

[shamustwin]

Like Paul, I stopped listening to Kroq after the early '90's.

Now I listen to college radio (KCSN) or public radio (KCRW), but often they get pretentious. A lot of what is played on the show "Morning Becomes Eclectic" with highly influencial Nick Harcort (KCRW.com) sounds like bad New Wave to me. But every so often there's a gem.

What bugs me is I'll hear a decent tune, so I'll buy the CD, and it turns out that's the only decent tune. So much for supporting the arts!

Listening to a lot more classical.

[winston]

FM programming in general drives me bonkers. Back in the day when FM was introduced it was the coolest place to listen to many songs that had never made your collection........simply because you had never heard them before. There was only one DJ on per shift, news was only dealt with if it was breaking news and the DJ on shift would simply say something like this. "Just heard that.....(fill in the blank)......" and would immediately get on with regular programming all of which was hand selected. There were no approved lists to choose from. Advertizing was also provided in a very relaxed manner. How quickly that all changed for the worse. When did I first notice and object to the change in format........about 1973 or so. It's tough to pin point a date really. But I do remember being really turned off by disco and the hype that went along with it.

Now in Canada we have this format where we have up to three "radio personalties" per shift who all seem to be frustrated comedians with really ****** jokes that only they laugh at. The music (when there is music played) generally is repetitive and it sucks to put it bluntly. Overall the formatting is mostly talk and advertising. I have no time for that garbage. I listen to satellite radio in my vehicles when I travel for any distance.

[soundmasterg]

In the mid 80's, they re-released Twist and Shout as a single and it started to get airplay on the local pop Top 40 station. I noticed that it sounded really fresh and original, and began to hunt down The Beatles, and then other 60's music, then went to the roots of that, etc. For awhile I shifted to a classic rock station, but got tired of the repeats. I'm sorry but when you have 40 years of music you could play and you play the same 50 songs all the time, there is no excuse. So I stopped listening to radio except for a local college station that plays blues and jazz. Deregulation may have started in the 80's, but radio's death knell was the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Lookup info about it and reaction to it in the years since. The industry said it would open up choice for the consumer and a bunch of other bull, and it has done the opposite. Sure we've got satellite radio now, but that would have come anyway. Satellite radio is the new FM and will end up being just like FM is now with corporate ruination eventually, and AM used to be that way in the early 70's and before. The same arguements used to support the Telecommuincations Act of 1996 were used when FM came on the scene and the AM giants wanted to limit it's reach to protect their profits. There is a great article on this in Vacuum Tube Valley magazine from several years ago btw.

My uncle worked in radio in the 60's, 70's and 80's as a DJ in the Portland and Seattle markets, and he got out of the industry when they took his freedom away and started telling him what to play in the mid 80's. The whole process has given less choices to the listener, made it harder for bands to get airplay and for the listener to learn about them, and padded corporate profits for those companies like Clear Channel who were able to stay in the game. It has also made it harder for labels to make money, though part of that is their own fault.

End result though.....most radio sux and I listen to CD's mostly, or the local owned station I mentioned above.

Greg

[blue330]

Late 80s. The radio was always unsatisfying, like waiting through the dreadful vaudeville acts on the Ed Sullivan show for the rock band, but by the late 80s, I just couldn't imagine having to hear China Grove ever again! The tragedy of all this wasted technology playing the same unquestioned played-to-death stuff just wasn't funny anymore. I guess I was still listening when Nirvana got some play, and those were really good songs, but no way was anything revolutionary going on as many hoped, and that quickly gave way to Modern Rock, surely the final silver stake through whatever was left of commercial rock! Awhile back I found a local radio weekly Top Ten chart from '67, I think, which was interesting. There was Hi Ho Silver Lining, by Jeff Beck, next to something by, oh, I don't know, Dinah Shore?? Different world! At least that sort of programming wasn't as coma-inducing as what the Professionals are dishing out nowadays. The last interesting FM station I came across was what seemed to be an illegal operation in Mississippi, maybe around 1999- it was some guy who really liked Hair Metal and it was sort of like you were hanging out with him in his basement, playing records. It was terrible, but amusing! Since the FCC now seems to exist mainly to make it easy for fat cats, oh, and protect us from Improper and Immoral information, maybe abolishing it really is the answer! I'm ready for some anarchy here... A 5% reduction in "Classic Rock" and Motown on the airwaves would give room for probably thousands of new records to be heard.

[paologregorio]

There was actually an alternate proposal for dealing with how to sort out various frequencies back in the day, instead of the FCC solution. It would have infolved a form of electronic homesteading or buying of frequencies, similar to the way that land was homesteaded on the frontier. Instead congress went with the idea that the airwaves were publlic/government owned, and established the FCC to grant licenses.

Not trying to be political or anything, that's just a blurb I read about that awhile back.

[rkbsound]

Satellite radio has been the answer for me. I have purchased countless songs on iTunes over the past couple of years, and probably only 3 cds over the same period (Dynamico was one - by Mitch Easter, before it was available on iTunes). While it's not as good as what college radio used to offer, it's a far better option than FM and worth paying for.

Suggestion to Mitch Easter: You should host a show on Sirius. I think there is a demand out there that you would fill. On a similar note, growing up I listened to Vin Scelsa's "Idiot's Delight" (NYC area). I only just heard that he is also now on Sirius with his show. I'll have to try to catch it.

[winston]

Suggestion to Mitch Easter: You should host a show on Sirius.

You'll likely to be happy to hear this breaking news: Mitch Easter has consented to let me interview him for my Spotlight - On series. That's right folks you heard it here first. Look for it. It promises to be a good one.

[paologregorio]

Suggestion to Mitch Easter: You should host a show on Sirius.

You'll likely to be happy to hear this breaking news: Mitch Easter has consented to let me interview him for my Spotlight - On series. That's right folks you heard it here first. Look for it. It promises to be a good one.

Cool!!! Keep us posted.

[blue330]

Thank you, Mr. Phelps, for the vote of confidence! A radio show would be great fun. Although I think Management would give me the boot after the 2nd time I played Soft Machine Vol. II all the way through...

[rkbsound]

....my point exactly --- another good reason why you'd be great at it! -- Jeff