[Nick Dangerous]

It's true: Radio really does suck! Thanks to Clear Channel's monopoly upon the airwaves, promotion venues, billboards, taxi ads, and focus groups... "live and local" radio is dead meat.

Transcript of tonight's show:

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/tr...pt_clearc.html

Clear Channel says in defense of their anticompetitive monopoly:

"Clear Channel’s sheer size isn’t what makes us a formidable competitor. It’s our excellence in understanding the needs and wants of consumers. In order to do so, we compete hard but fairly and within the rules."

MUAH HAH HAH!!! KISS FM is the pinnacle of radio desire?!? God help us.

I praise Napster, Audiogalaxy, Morphius, and streaming internet radio. Without them, NO music would ever escape from the computer-guided focus groups that are now the gatekeepers of our society. Keep the fight alive, kids. Remember, hi-fi and good music are inseperable!

 

[Old Pa]

Exactly. GFL for finding good new music on radio (especially public radio)

 

[gaineso]

Used to be able to drive all over the country picking up Public Radio Stations and listening to good classical music.

Now!!!!! Lots of talk radio and other garbage. Occasionally music.

Forced me into a 12 disc CD changer for the truck.

Thank God for Flagler College Radio, WFCF, here in St. Aug. Classical from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM and great Jazz from 3:00 to 7:00 PM.

 

[Old Pa]

Don't forget "proletariat" radio's "Beg Week" - ABOUT 6 TIMES A YEAR!

Remember good old "underground" FM? (sigh!)

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Yeah yeah... but I gives 'em the money anyway. Better me than Clear Channel.

 

[coolvij]

Hm, I really like NPR........though I don't listen to much radio.

I just like how they often use BBC radio clips, and those British broadcasters are so easy to listen to......

 

[BeeEss]

KARR: Like Wal-Mart, Michaels said, big radio chains are good for almost everyone.

--enough said.

 

[RMSzero]

I used to like radio a lot more than I do now. Seems like I used to be able to have a few stations to go to for something I might like, now it's hardly worth trying. I only listen in the car anyways, and I don't even have a car in college. I swear, when I'm home for a month for winter break, I'm sick of all the songs on all the major stations by the time I go back to school, and I really dont' drive all that much.

 

[BDA_ABAT]

I work in a 24 hour a day call center (poison center actually for those who care). The radio is on all the time, tuned to different stations depending upon who's working at the time. We work 12 hour shifts. The amazing thing is that it doesn't really matter which station is on at the time. After about hour three, I'm absolutely SICK of the same tunes being repeated over and over. This despite the fact that the majority of time I'm there, I'm listening to folks calling the service and not to the radio. The monotony creeps into my consciousness anyway. It's painful. FM is definately NOT what it used to be.

Bruce

 

[carlo]

coolvj,
i'm right with you man, npr is where it's at. for streaming music i enjoy the college stations much more, as well as the opportunity to get *real* news.

btw is this the same bill moyer from pbs?

best,
carlo

 

[john_jcb]

I remember sittiing at a friends house in the mid-late 60's as a teenager listening to FM radio into the night. Her father was one of the few people that I remember that even had an FM reciever at the time. It was a different and wonderful era. I grew up on a small rather secluded island in the Pacific Northwest and FM radio was a window into the events of the day. The news and TV were far more biased then or so it seems now and the radio gave us an alternative view.

John

 

[secretagent44]

One of my favorite radio stations in high school was WABN in Abingdon, VA. They were just about the only station that would play anything besides top 40 stuff (The first place I ever heard Pavement, a milestone for all indie rock fans!). A married couple owned the station until just a year or two ago when a large radio conglomerate began a hostile take-over and replaced my beloved radio station with 24/7 talk radio. Yay capitalism. Plenty of Creed/Blink 182/Britney on the radio these days, wheeeee....

 

[kelly]

I don't remember radio ever being good. I think this may be a case of nostalgia kicking in to convince us that what we have today somehow isn't as good as the utter crap we had years ago. Oh sure, the Eagle (a Clear Channel rock channel) isn't great but you know when the Eagle wasn't owned by Clear Channel, I remember a time when Kid Cradock pumping out regular doses of "You Be Illin" back to back with "The Final Countdown."

Radio has been good, but only for short intervals and in rare instances. A satellite station called Z-Rock, upon first coming to market, played an ecclectic mix of hard rock and metal without hardly any repetition--that included everything from Thin Lizzy to Slayer. It wasn't long before commercialism set in and the format thinned to more of a "Bon Jovi" and "Van Halen" type of thing. Likewise, a local station called The Zoo had the guts to play a variety of non-repeating music for about three weeks before going off the air and being replaced by Christmas songs.

No, things weren't always like they are today. We used to have cassette decks in the car and before that 8-tracks, but whatever we had was almost always better than whatever was on the radio.

 

[blueocp]

Who is this Bill Moyer guy?! I've seen him on some poet series with various American poets. I don't like the guy personally, does he work for PBS or soemthing?

 

[elipsis]

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly I remember a time when Kid Cradock pumping out regular doses of "You Be Illin" back to back with "The Final Countdown."

That wouldn't be so bad!