Happy Rhodes album titled "Warpaint." Is the first that comes to mind. It is an intoxicating album released in 1991 that I still enjoy today.
While shopping for music, the store played a cut and I bought a copy on the spot. I was surprised to never hear her get any air play with all the local stations we have in this market.
The alternative music scene is even more depressed today, as radio stations follow the "fast food" programming that plagues broadcast TV. |
Anything by Liz Phair, at least in my neck of the woods. |
I rarely ever hear Badfinger anymore. Emmit Rhodes is forgotten. Bob Seger now lives in your local Kareoke bar. Ritchie Blackmore's new band, "Blackmore's Night" is another. Here's a guy who contributed so much to FM in the 70's. Now he's performing some of the best work of his career, and no one plays it.
I used to want my MTV. Now, I'm wondering if I would miss my TV at all? |
Julia Fordham. Like everything she's done. Virtually zip
for air-play. |
problem is the great bulk of fm radio stations these days are owned by a handful of conglomerates. in my market, denver, two companies own the top 14 (in ratings) stations. much of what you hear is downloaded hard disks with inner-cuts from other servers that replicate a "live" experience. my older son, who's a consultant to radio stations and music labels, puts together a nationally-syndicated radio show (i'll not divulge its name) in about 20 minutes, from his home. if you heard it, you'd swear he was in the studio when, in fact, he's watching the av's beat up the stars, from the $120 seats. -cfb |
The mass majority of music that i grew up listening to as a teenager and in my early twenties rarely made it to any radio station. I'm primarily talking about "glitter", "avant-garde", "new wave", "punk" and later "death metal". While much of this may not be "music" to some of you, it is something that i will always cherish as i shared many of the thoughts and feelings of the writers / performers as i grew up.
Sure, there were a few college stations and maybe one large station that would venture into these areas for a short period of time, but nothing that dealt with these types of music on a daily basis. As such, i've always considered it "MY" music since it was not "commercial" or "produced for mass consumption". Considering all of that, my outlook was kind of "snobbish" or "elitist" at the time, especially since it was "snobbism" and "elitism" that much of the lyrics were protesting.
With that in mind, i've been listening to a local classical station now for a relatively short period of time (a few years now). I enjoy it so much i've become a supporting member and typically clock in several dozen hours of listening a week. I was never exposed to much classical music as a youth, other than in movie soundtracks and music class in grade school. Luckily, we have what is arguably the finest classical station in the U.S. here in Chicago, so i get to here "new music" ( at least it is to me ) on a daily basis on a very high quality broadcast.
As to "popular music" stations, they play the same songs soooooo much that it makes it repetetive and boring. I therefore try to listen to different stations that have different formats throughout the day. At least we can SOMEWHAT program what we hear on the radio by changing stations. Sean
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Well, I listen almost exclusively to "Listener Supported" radio stations. Some are college stations, some not. I hear a lot of great music. I've heard ALL of the artist you mentioned on WNKU (Northern Kentucky University). We have 3 good public radio stations here in Cincinnati and regionally, a good station in Columbus, Oh and Lexington/Georgetown, Ky. If you like the "Singer/Songwriter" genre, it's probably public radio or nothing.
BTW, WNKU also supports these artist Live shows in the Cincinnati Area. Support your local "listener supported" station and the artist by going to the Live show. It's win-win!
Enjoy,
TIC |
Sounds like Reubent lives in a great area for better FM. It is great to live in an area with a good selection on NPR/public stations...esp. small college..and esp. several towns to draw from.
I live in Madison, Wi....and as hip as this town "thinks" it is, it just isn't. Public radio here..that is seen as "cool" is still Prairie Home Companion....kind of the NPR version of "Hew Haw" for college towns.
Even when I visit Cedar Rapids, Iowa..they have a Community College station that has a better sense of music.
Part of the problem in Madison...is that other towns are just a bit too far away...for decent FM reception....I guess I could put up a house on the biggest hill in town...with a 200 ft. mast...with stacked Finco FM-4 feed into an Marnatz 10B..that I don't mind re-tuning every 30 seconds..point the antenna towards Chicago after midnight..and.....naw! |
Although quite popular here (NE OH), I don't recall ever hearing anything by The Tragically Hip. Different story, I assume, north of the border, eh? |
We have a station, WRNR, in Washington DC area (it's actually in Graysonville, MD) that plays all the eclectic, singer-songwriter stuff you could ever want. I can sometimes get it off the air, but otherwise you can hear it on the internet, site used to be www.wrnr.com. I've also heard a couple of great west coast stations on the internet that play all kinds of artists like the ones mentioned in previous posts as never heard: KCRW (California somewhere) and KCMU (Seattle). |
Sounds like the pattern is the same all over the country, I thought it was just the "wasteland" of FM here in the Seattle Tacoma area. I have long given up listening to FM for anything decent, with the wonderful exception of KPLU-Tacoma, which is listener-supported Jazz, Blues and NPR news. My idea of torture is being forced to listen to the same, tired, played-to-death songs that are spun over and over and over and over on the "big" Seattle stations. It's bad, folks, real bad. The upside of this is that I've started reading various music magazines for info on new and exciting artists, and have discovered a whole world of cool music that "corpradio" wouldn't touch with a stick. Stereolab, Beck, even Radiohead? Coldplay, David Byrne, or Moby? Not likely in this lifetime. Good luck finding anything interesting when the advertisers are involved... |
Have to admit, when first coming to New York I expected there to be choices for great radio stations. To my dismay, there is absolutely nothing that I consider worth while, save for NPR and one jazz station. The remainder, as Mr. Porter so aptly and reliably put it, is the "fast food" variety, at best. Prior to New York, I was in Charlottesville, VA, where there was both a great college station and a phenominal "listened suported" station that I miss dearly and still sometimes contribute to. These days, the only way I get to hear new or interesting music (save from seeking it out live) is on various internet stations. The favorite for fairly cutting edge "alternative," underground, largely unsigned artists is 3WK.com -- which offers seperate channels for both "New" and "Classic" underground music. Through them I've discovered a whole host of things I wouldn't have found any other way: Crooked Fingers, Tykwar, Callendar Girl, Tawwater, Rainer Maria, Slumber Party, Neutral Milk Hotel, Chicks on Speed, Sigur Ros -- the list goes on. I am frustrated that I am condemned to listening on my decidedly lo-fi computer system (though I try to buy the stuff I like) but my tuner now lives in a box in the closet.... The death of radio is not somehting to fear in the future, I suspect it has already happened. |
Direct TV has quite a few different music channels that play a WIDE variety of music. Not only is there a great selection of music styles to choose from, whomever is selecting / organizing the program material seems to have a clue. While this is not as good of quality as i get from a top notch local station, it IS better than most of the sludge and dreck being repeated on a daily basis on the FM band. I assume that if i wanted to improve the audio characteristics, i'd have to start "tweaking" my Sattelite receiver : ( Sean
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The Tragically Hip get airplay in Canada, but nothing in the U.S. Bizarre |
Quite right Jeff, bizarre and a shame. Such a good band, so little exposure in the US, even here where they land usually twice per tour. Frankly, half the audience at the shows are die hards from Canada who religiously make the trek, waving the Leafs flag. |
Sad to say my first blush response would have been "Anything I like", but then I realized that is not totally true. Here in Kansas City we have a few (About 12) hours of classical/week on KCUR (NPR)-via a feed from Minnesota PR! There used to be about 12 hrs. of jazz, but that got reduced to 3 hrs. on Sunday PM, and even that has now been changed to "world" music. The rock stations are pretty much formula stuff-even the "Oldies" one is stuck in the bubble gum vein and never plays anything the least bit adventuresome. Oh, I forgot: We do have a "smooth" (snooze?) jazz station!
What is really discouraging is that when we moved to KC 4 yrs. ago, there was a full time commercial classical station on both FM & AM. Shortly thereafter it was purchased by one of the conglomerates and...do I really have to tell you what happeened?
I know that this post is slightly off topic, since the thread was started by someone talking more about the pop/rock arena. But everyone with an interest in serious music, no matter the genre, should be concerned about the disappearance of quality and the homogenization of radio.
The FCC at one time at least pretended to be concerned about this sort of thing and made some effort to promote diversity. That, of course, is a thing of the past since the de-regulation mania caught on. |
The alternative music never heard on the radio is great!!
Some examples are, The Tragically Hip, Dan Bern, Loundon Wainwright III's new album, Greg Brown, Willie Porter's, Falling Forward which is a great album. Call up www.knba.org "live stream" which is alaska's native station. They play all kinds of awesome artists that you will NEVER hear on the commercial sales, er, radio stations. |
What FM radio plays prog. rock? Even Jethro Tull is a rarity on the US radios today. |
anything by Eddie From Ohio
anything from Marc Cohn
anything from Michael Tomlinson |
