Something That Really Needs to Make a Comeback

[Foxer55]

Decent broadcast Radio!

I don't know about where you live but here in DC even FM radio has gotten sour. AM radio has been lost to static bound loud rock, religion, and foreign language for some years but FM seems to be headed in the same direction. I love radio and I can't see paying for satellite radio. Even at a cut rate price of $200 a year I have no intention of paying for radio, you still get commercials.

Now when I scan the FM dial I get this: foriegn language, irritating contemporary pop stuff that is just awful, sports and news channels. There are a couple of classical music stations but a steady diet of that stuff is just too heavy for me. There is no light jazz, calm pop music, oldies, nothing to provide just easy listening. Its no wonder people are strung out and nervy, listening to this raucous broadcast faire is enough to put you on edge.

Some of the best radio I've ever listened to was driving across the high desert in California in the middle of the night some years ago. The night and desert were pitch black, it was like I was the only person in the universe, the air streaming though the open windows was dry and cool, I had a cigarette lit, and a mellow voice on the radio talking about some philosophical point was my only contact with life. It was just easy.

I do listen to NPR on Sunday evenings to get the Big Broadcast of old radio shows but even NPR has gotten too activist for my tastes, I'm not interested in focus discussions of micro issues in foreign countries or in being brainwashed with someone's social issues. I just want some easy listening to get me through the day. I even leave my radio on all night long sometimes as company while I sleep. My only contact with life. Its just easy.

Bring back decent broadcast radio!

 

[vitanola]

To do that we'd need to reinstate some of the FCC regulations which limited concentration of ownership.

Not going to happen.


Sow the wind...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Indeed. I worked in radio during the days of ownership limitations and the Fairness Doctrine, and broadcasters took their requirement to "serve in the public interest, convenience, and necessity" seriously, because the FCC held a gun to their head requiring them to do so. When the regulations were struck down and Chimp Channel was allowed to take over, that was the end of radio. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't miss it.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's really horrific. Since deregulation, the real hometown broadcaster, the station with a local news staff, local high school sports, remotes from the Western Auto or whatever, all of that, has been exterminated. Local radio didn't die a natural death -- it was still viable and making money as recently as the '90s. It was murdered, and its corpse was butchered, for the sole benefit of the five corporations shown above. Where is the listener who sincerely believes that he or she is better served by radio now than they were twenty years ago?

 

[Chasseur]

Lizzie,

This might seem like an odd ball question but its something that has been bugging me for years. Is there a link between the deregulation in the 1990s and the homogenization and spread of pre-packaged "redneck country country music/culture?

The reason I ask is that I mostly grew up in Alaska in the 1980s and 90s. In the late 1980s and early 1990s we had a "normal" variety of music stations and genres: pop, classic rock, oldies, talk radio, NPR, etc. By the end of 1990s almost every station (except for a clear channel pop) was either classic rock (non-stop Golden Earing and Dire Straits) or bad "pop country". I can easily imagine some corporate programmer in a city thinking, "Well Alaska? Hmm give them the same play list and options like Tennessee or Texas its about the same."

I found this strange because while Alaska is not a urban state it really had very little of the typical "country culture" you find in the South or the mid-West (for example there is no real agricultural tradition throughout most of the state). However, by the early 2000s it seemed that both in music and pop culture much of Alaska had bought on to the "Nascar, confederate flag, Larry the Cable guy" package of bad pop-country culture. I've seen you comment before on how this also spread to rural Maine as well which again makes as much sense as it spreading to Alaska.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm inclined to think so. We had country music radio stations here long before the late '90s, of course, but they were locally owned and locally programmed, and non-music features were usually Red Sox baseball, Celtics basketball, and Bruins hockey. (Nobody cared about the Patriots, because they stunk.) There was also a deep, long-established local country music tradition that was very different from the highly-packaged southern/Nashville style that dominates now: we had Dick Curless, Lone Pine, Curley O'Brien, Stacey's Country Jamboree, all sorts of performers in an extremely local vein who were well-known on local radio and local television.

Modern radio, regardless of format, is programmed "off the bird" -- all you get are standardized satellite formats with standardized music packages, standardized features, and a standardized flavor. Apparently "country" now means "southern yahoo," without any accounting for the fact that there once was such a thing as Northern country.

Clear Channel was, and may still be, based in Texas, and was a heavily southern-oriented company -- in many ways it's the Wal-Mart of radio, a rapacious, all-consuming monster that swallows up everything in its path and leaves a homogenized, well-digested, but nonetheless odious spoor behind.

 

[Foxer55]

Bruce Wayne,

Thanks. So is there no alternative other than satellite which is run by the same guys so its probably the same junk? Two concerns I have are (1) even conservative talk redio is becoming noticebly belicose and less reasoned and (2) music across the board is becoming so commercial sounding there is no beauty in it whatsoever, its a lot like cheap tin noise and dogs howling. How anybody can listen to this stuff all day long and still stay rational is curious. Well, now that I think about that...

 

[stevew443]

Here in WV there are still a few locally owned stations that are still community oriented. Unfortunately they are very small and their signals do not make it out that far, but it makes my trips home to visit mom much more interesting.

Back in the early 80s when I was living in New Jersey, there were some really great radio stations in the New York/New Jersey market. One of my favorite programs was What's Your Problem hosted by Bernard Meltzer.

Anymore, I only have the radio on when I am in my car and it is turned on mainly to help keep me awake after working all night. Radio, like almost everything else in this country goes for the easiest least expensive way to make a dollar. They are all geared to appeal to the masses. Radio today is nothing more than background noise designed to provide a constant drone so people do not have to use their own brains to keep themselves occupied.

 

[Gregg Axley]

XM/Sirius is a great alternative, of course you have to pay for it.
I have 3 systems but I use each one.
Anything from old rock like CSNY, Boston, The Cars, etc to hardrock like Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Metallica, and even hairbands like Dokken, Poison, Skid Row. All of these are on just one section of the network, and you hear each one on their respective channel, not on all of them. I don't listen to Country, but there is a newer version and an old version (Hank Williams Sr's crowd), and even an all Bluegrass channel.
My wife listens to the Radio Classics channel which is old radio shows like Jack Benny, Lights Out, X Minus 1, The Bickersons, etc.
For what you pay, you get a lot of music and entertainment to choose from. Since we travel quite often it's a lifesaver.

 

[furious]

There are precious few truly independent stations in my area (Central MD): WNAV (1430AM)--owned by Pat Sajak, who is a local resident; WAMU--American University radio, and Morgan State radio. I listen to NPR (via WYPR, 88.1FM) until the activist cause of the week drives me crazy; thankfully, Friday evenings from 9PM until 12AM for the last ten years or so I try to catch a big band program that is hosted by a local emcee who is a real big band aficionado. Thank God for that!!

 

[ButteMT61]

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a DJ. What a shame radio is what it is today. Basically, useless. I mostly use radio apps to stream overseas stations now.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Then you have NPR which is basically a BBC wannabe. Heck they even stole the BBC logo.

 

[LizzieMaine]

NPR is fine when it comes to world/national news -- but it doesn't tell me how they voted at the city council last night.

 

[W4ASZ]

I made up for the FCC's pro-interference agenda by listening to more shortwave radio, especially the BBC World Service and Radio Canada International, but that is no longer an option, either. It was amazing how good the reception using my homemade converters was in the car.

Think about how it would have been with regulated superpower (500 to 750 kw) stations and ownership limits !

As it stands now, you have George Noory showing up in the small hours on above 400 stations, but WSM in Nashville is, I believe, the only clear channel (not Clear Channel) station in the eastern U.S. playing music.

Food for thought in this link :

http://www.durenberger.com/RESOURCES/documents/CLEAR-CHANARTR-W2000.pdf

 

[3fingers]

It's really horrific. Since deregulation, the real hometown broadcaster, the station with a local news staff, local high school sports, remotes from the Western Auto or whatever, all of that, has been exterminated. Local radio didn't die a natural death -- it was still viable and making money as recently as the '90s. It was murdered, and its corpse was butchered, for the sole benefit of the five corporations shown above. Where is the listener who sincerely believes that he or she is better served by radio now than they were twenty years ago?

We still have one of those in this area. It's about 30 miles from me in a town of about 2500 people. It's heavy on farm programming. They do local news and events, live studio interviews with everyone from the girls softball team to the DAR ladies, to the kid who got 3 blue ribbons at the fair. You can learn who is in the hospital, whose birthday it is, or who had a baby shower over the weekend. They do remotes from the schools in the area throughout the year and eat lunch with the kids. Then the kids do the noon news and farm markets. Local sports is their evening work. They do have some talk shows from satellite when there isn't a ball game somewhere, but the majority of the day is Don, Rob, and Chuck doing what they do. It is so popular that advertising is not a problem for them. One of their daily events is called Dining Out. They sell gift certificates to restaurants in a 30 mile radius in a high speed phone auction. They never have any trouble getting callers to bid. People who don't live in the immediate area, and may only vaguely know of the people that are being discussed, listen to the station because it is one of the few examples left of what radio should be. They also have an internet presence and take great pride in the fact that they have listeners from all over the world.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Exactly --that's the radio I knew, and worked in for years, radio that was woven into the fabric of its community. Stations like that can still make money under local ownership, but the corporate combines made most local owners offers they couldn't refuse years ago and drove them out of the market -- not because the listeners didn't want the sort of programming they had to offer, but because corporate owners wanted market dominance. The interests of the listeners were given, and are given, zero consideration in these transactions.

In 1943, NBC was forced by the FCC sell off one of its two networks for fear of one corporation having undue control over the nation's broadcasting. James L. Fly must be spinning in his grave.

 

[3fingers]

Exactly --that's the radio I knew, and worked in for years, radio that was woven into the fabric of its community. Stations like that can still make money under local ownership, but the corporate combines made most local owners offers they couldn't refuse years ago and drove them out of the market -- not because the listeners didn't want the sort of programming they had to offer, but because corporate owners wanted market dominance.

That is what we have here, though on a smaller scale. We had at least 4 local stations, all with different owners and different formats- some with an FM side as well as the AM. All were profitable, though some were more successful than others. They are all now owned by one company. They have a piddling morning show on a couple, the rest of the day comes off of the bird. The others are 100% satellite feeds. It's all rubbish and mindless drivel. We do have a local NPR affiliate that actually does some local news, but like others have stated, the constant regurgitation of the cause of the week makes me tired.

 

[W4ASZ]

I can't begin to list all of the bad FM and AM stations available for my listening "pleasure."

The town's AM has quite a substantial amount of locally originated programming, and its sat-fed music is agreeable.

I have respect for WCBS, WBBM, and WGN -and WSM- for not trashing the airwaves. Most of the fare at night is thin gruel, indeed.

There is a way to improve the environment, but it requires divestiture on a large scale.

Something like this, metaphorically :

:kick: :kick: :kick:

 

[Chasseur]

I'm inclined to think so. We had country music radio stations here long before the late '90s, of course, but they were locally owned and locally programmed, and non-music features were usually Red Sox baseball, Celtics basketball, and Bruins hockey. (Nobody cared about the Patriots, because they stunk.) There was also a deep, long-established local country music tradition that was very different from the highly-packaged southern/Nashville style that dominates now: we had Dick Curless, Lone Pine, Curley O'Brien, Stacey's Country Jamboree, all sorts of performers in an extremely local vein who were well-known on local radio and local television.

Modern radio, regardless of format, is programmed "off the bird" -- all you get are standardized satellite formats with standardized music packages, standardized features, and a standardized flavor. Apparently "country" now means "southern yahoo," without any accounting for the fact that there once was such a thing as Northern country.

Clear Channel was, and may still be, based in Texas, and was a heavily southern-oriented company -- in many ways it's the Wal-Mart of radio, a rapacious, all-consuming monster that swallows up everything in its path and leaves a homogenized, well-digested, but nonetheless odious spoor behind.

Thank you Lizzie. Your experiences in Maine match mine in Alaska.