Todays Raido Stations suck

Anytime anyone keeps talking about 'the good old days' I expect another of to sound like our parents. It is true that the so-called alternative stations of the late 60's and 70's don't seem to be as much 'out there'. Of course, one must measure this against what was 'there' when these stations first appeared. It was all pop AM-crap and normal FM was dominated by Jazz, classic and elevator music. How many of us discovered rock on the AM dial? How many kids today discover their own music--as opposed to their parents' music--now, on FM?

Remember there is one purpose to radio: to sell advertising. Or, to be more specific to sell things. The powers that be have realized that alternative radio does not attract the advertising dollars that the average humm-drum crap can. I live in a major metropolitan area and I drive the passengers in my car crazy as whenever a Dj comes back on, I push the button and find more music.

EVEN A PIECE OF A SONG IS WORTH MORE THAN A COMMERCIAL

That is my justification if I bug someone too much. No, it is not a "guy thing with the remote". I just hate commercials. I do pause to hear the news, though.

So, I am obviously not the target audience. Why should a radio station play my music when I just keep changing channels? I do suspect, though, that there will be some alternative web based stations that many of us will listen to...and it would be much harder to change channels. So folks, lets get a list together of favorite stations that are streamed to the computers and have some fun. DSL can be wonderful, allthough one can get decent music on a regular telephone lines. I was in France a while ago and I was able to listen to my home-station on my friend's computer.

The AM signal is going to piggyback on the FM signal. I can see a con coming here.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/883723.asp?0si=-&cp1=1

Wdhsvbgod, where can one go out nowadays for a night of cosy etc. live jazz in TO? I used to swing by George's from time to time (many yrs ago), plus another place on the waterfront whose name I can't recall now. I wonder if old haunts have been joined or replaced by the new (maybe the Silver Dollar does jazz nowadays?;-) Fond memories... Anyways, I've always felt it would be uplifting if more metropoles celebrated summer &/or winter with a Jazz festival. Montreux & Montreal can do it, so too even little Ville de Quebec; why not (name-your-city)?

Precisely--they suck and we can expect them to get worse. There was a "comminuty owned" radio station in Charlottesville, VA that was, and still is, one of the best that I have ever heard. Then I moved to NYC and expected to be able to find here, of all places, at least one or two decent options. One decent jazz station. That's it. Otherwise, in one of the biggest and presumptively most diverse markets on earth, a horribly banal sucking void of homoginized tripe. Don't waste your time, look for music elsewhere. (Yes, I am bitter).

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.