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Todays Raido Stations suck

Is it just me, or does todays Radio suck?
When I was a teenager FM was cool, it had laid back D,jays and they played cool new music. That's were I first heard Alex Harvey, Hawkwind,Atomic Rooster,Zappa,The amboy dukes,
Robin Trower,Roxy music,BOC,Captain Beyond,Audience,
Bowie,Steely Dan,etc.

The AM of that day used to be Hit Radio, and played the top hits of the day.

FM today has become Hit radio, with a lot of cookie cutter stations all playing the same old hits, with a few of those old fm classic hits as well.

Does it only bug me, that they only play the one hit off the LP over and over again. When in fact the lp had even better tunes on it, but they never play them.

Recently with the advent of eBay, I have been able to collect a lot of rare and Great music that I never new existed before.

When my friends here the new tunes I have They get the same Idea that I always get, to start a new radio station that plays this unknown treasure. As well as the songs like "Candys gone bad" off of the Golden Earring lp with Radar love on it, you know the one.

You know what I'm talking about, am I alone here.


I must state that I live in a smaller town now, but we can still pick up the Jacksonville Florida stations.
Does this kind of practice go on all over the country?

The new music of today no longer interests me with Rap and the Rock of today all sounds the same, with only minor exceptions like Radiohead.

WHAT do you think, is their some stations that I could pickup on the internet that would satisfy my craving?

would you like to be able to get in you car and tune the radio to a station like the one I described?

128x128rockinroni

Showing 2 responses by sdcampbell

sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
The perception that today's radio stations are a sorry substitute for the broadcasting of yesteryear is probably correct. A number of factors have come into play:
1. fewer and fewer independent local and regional stations, as the broadcast giants consolidate their holdings;
2. use of "formulas" for broadcasting -- top 40, etc. -- that are pretty much the same across the country;
3. heavily compressed broadcast signals;
4. focus on profitability rather than quality;
5. the virtual demise of good classical and jazz programming.

If this seems like a gloomy outlook, then consider what we have to look forward to following yesterday's ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (known inside the Washington, DC, beltway as a "captive agency"). The ruling by the FCC will permit a new wave of consolidation among newspaper, TV, and radio companies, which will place even more power in the hands of a few media giants. Newspapers will now be able to own TV and radio stations in the same city, and the broadcast networks will be able to own even more stations at the local and national level.

Consider, for example, that the radio group called Clear Channel now owns more than 1200 radio stations in the U.S. -- let me say that again: 1200 stations, and growing!!! Or consider that Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns Fox News Channel and the Fox TV network, as well as 35 TV stations plus 20th Century Fox movie and TV studio. Nationwide, a single owner will be allowed to own stations that reach as much as 45% of TV households (up from 35%).

So, if your perception is that radio stations are becoming more and more homogenous in their broadcast content, you have only more of the same to look forward to....

sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
As a follow-up to my previous post, let me share some excerpts from yesterday's lead editorial in The Seattle Times (one of the few independent newspapers left in the country, although one could argue that it's not a very good paper):

"The FCC has made it easier for big owners to buy up TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers like so many yachts...The commission asked large media chains what they wanted, and listened to them. It asked the American public what it wanted, received 750,000 responses, and ignored them. About 99.9% of the responses from the public were opposed to what the FCC did. It's time for America to ignore the FCC.

It's time, specifically, for Congress to declare that the FCC was wrong and the American people right, and to enact into law the restrictions the FCC has just ignominously diluted.

At stake is American democracy. That is because a democratic republic requires citizens who can find many points of view. And that is what is being lost here...

To this concern, FCC Chairman Michael Powell has been as uncaring as a stone god. He and his fellow believers unleashed a new round of mergers and acquisitions that will leach the industry of its remaining local flavor. What we shall get is raunch, blather, and blandness. The alternative is to fight back --- in the courts, in Congress, and, most of all, in a hurry."

If you agree with this editorial, as I do, then it's time to E-mail your elected representatives in the House and Senate and call for a Congressional vote on the new FCC ruling.
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