Does anybody listen to music on the radio anymore?
Yesterday, I wrote a post about how 27-year-old “urban singer” Jay Sean is bent because there is too much guitar music on British radio. I asked for an assist from the Brit contingent as I wondered; “is there too much guitar on the radio over there?” Kenski replied in short order…
Too much guitar on the radio in the UK? No clue! I don’t listen to the radio unless it’s on the internet at work, in which case it’s me controlling the airwaves, not the other way around.
At which point I queried…
Does anybody listen to music on the radio anymore?
I checked back a little later to see if anybody had any thoughts and noticed that Sans, had weighed in. Now, Sans I figure him to be a radio guy. He’s even mentioned cutting his teeth on KSHE a couple of times. Sans saaaaaaaaaays…
I try not to. There’s one station near work that I sometimes pull up when I’m commuting, but really, there’s nothing on the radio I haven’t heard a thousand times before
I’d like to get some more input on this. I’d like to try and figure out how we got to this point.
See, when I was a kid, radio was my lifeline. Now, I’m not just talking about when I was a teenager and playing guitar. I remember that my first major purchase was a good transistor radio. I’m talking, maybe seven or eight years old. I would do the hiding under the covers bit, listening to AM skip signals from all over the West and Midwest. I could get WLS in Chicago, KOA in Denver, KAAY in Little Rock, and WOW in Omaha. I listened to Casey Kasem’s Top 40 on the weekends and if I could stay awake late enough, under the blanket, Wolfman Jack. I would even write down the chart positions of my favorite songs so I could see how they did the next week.
A few years later, the family moved to Hermann, Missouri where, with a good antenna, one could pick up the same KSHE, mentioned above, on the FM dial. I would set my alarm so I could listen to Mark Klose for a couple of hours before school. Klose would play some obscure stuff from time to time and I craved that. If he played Little Feat or Rory Gallagher, I felt like I was getting inside information. I followed artists’ careers, Springsteen, Tom Petty, Bob Seger, from regional act to super stardom. When that happened, I felt a sense of pride because, I had been through the journey with them.
I listened every day and so did everyone I knew. How did we get from that to this?
Try to think pre-iPod here. Because, however it developed, it started before that. The common wisdom has been that the big conglomerates like Clear Channel screwed the whole thing up. Took the personality out of it, eliminated diversity and inundated us with formats that, as Sans says, we’ve heard “a thousand times before”.
At least, that was what was in my mind yesterday when I though about it; Damn Clear Channel.
But then, I thought about something I saw last week at the RAIN (radio and internet newsletter) site; the top ten stations on each of the satellite radio networks…
At Sirius:
1. Howard Stern’s “Howard 100”: 1,200,000
2. “Hits 1” (CHR): 584,800
3. “Howard 101” : 501,100
4. “New Country”: 468,300
5. “Big 80s”: 417,900
6. “Octane” (hard rock): 383,700
7. “Classic Vinyl” (early classic rock): 347,100
8. “Classic Rewind” (later classic rock): 335,500
9. “The Pulse” (90s and contemporary hits): 330,000
10. “Totally 70s”: 309,400At XM:
1. “Top 20 on 20” (CHR): 1,049,200
2. “Flight 26” (modern AC): 741,600
3. “80s on 8”: 698,300
4. “70s on 7”: 687,400
5. “60s on 6”: 581,300
6. “Highway 16” (new country): 579,500
7. “Top Tracks” (classic rock): 534,900
8. “The Blend” (Lite pop hits): 532,400
9. “The Heart” (love songs): 493,400
10. “Fox News” (news/talk): 464,800
To me, the biggest selling points of satellite radio are, sound quality and diversity. It’s going to sound as good as a CD and I’m going to hear different stuff. But, looking at the charts, people are listening to same music formats that are available on terrestrial radio. Stern is obviously dominant but also, very much product of terrestrial radio. Stern doesn’t exist without it. Now, you might make the case that they are playing different songs within the formats on satellite radio, that they may play “Mama Kin” instead of “Walk This Way” or something. I don’t know because, if I get the chance to listen to XM or Sirius I’m going to seek a format that isn’t close to anything I could hear on the local Clear Channel outlet.
Here’s what I think; radio is too predictable. Radio is more predictable than your iPod. That shouldn’t be. Even if you have 8,000 songs on your iPod that shouldn’t be.
There is a fix. There is a simple fix. Put the playlist back in the hands of the DJ. Get a music fan as the DJ for starters and give the DJ the run of, what should be, the vast music library. You, the listener, should be wondering; what is the DJ going to play next? That is simple drama. What will he or she play next.
Radio is the original portable music device and everybody’s got one. And, it’s free!
I’m sure some people want to tinker with their iPod while balancing a steaming travel cup, talking on the phone and negotiating through traffic on the way to work. And, they may never return to radio. But, there are a lot of others out there that would give a listen to something that wasn’t predictable, something with a little drama. And, who knows, the word could get around.
Comments
13 Responses to “Does anybody listen to music on the radio anymore?”
Leave a Reply
-
Pribek At Zazzle
The post to blame: Most Peculiar Mama (Don't Eat Your Cat)
The radio in my truck is busted (good line for a song?) but even if it wasn’t I wouldn’t listen to it – I have my ipod loaded with music I want to listen to and I rely on friends, blogs and websites to point me in the direction of new stuff I might be interested in. I’ve been travelling in my wife’s car recently and the radio works fine – until I pound it into submission with my fist as soon as I get in the car!
But you’re right, when I was growing up radio was a very important psrt of my musical education – from the pirate stations – Radio Caroline, Radio London, and many more, to Radio 1 (John Peel was a huge influence and I first heard both Beefheart and The Dead on Peely’s show, Alexis Korner and Mike Raven for blues shows, Johnny Walker, Roger Scott (deceased) and many I’ve forgotten about all introduced me to some great music that I still listen to today.
Sorry if this is a ramble but I’m ill, have had no coffee and have had a terrible week.
Gary Grainger’s last blog post..Gary Grainger Private Stock Bass
Oh, and don’t forget Radio Geronimo – a pirate station based in London that used Radio Monaco’s transmitters late on weekend nights – I spent many hours with yards of cable stretched around the room listening to stunning stuff into the early hours – they’d play whole albums – I remember Workingmans Dead being played and I immediately had to save up my pocket money and buy it – I have some playlist somewhere that I scribbled down in my adolescent obsessiveness – must dig them out and scan them. Ramble over.
Gary Grainger’s last blog post..Gary Grainger Private Stock Bass
I used to subscribe to a few podcasts, and they were great ways of hearing new and different stuff, as, the ‘deejays’ did have control (however illegally they were reproducing the songs).
Funny. I was just listening to ‘Listen Through The Static’ by The Nadas before reading this post, which is basically about not being able to find anything decent on the radio… SPOOKY!
I too remember the excitement of listening to the charts (which were a bigger deal in the UK compared with the US). I used to follow both the Thursday night one (Top Of The Pops) and the Sunday night one (Network Charts) to see what was new and where my favourite songs had got to.
Now there are so many freakin’ charts that if I recorded myself f**ting I could probably be Top 10 with a bullet the following week.
Kenski’s last blog post..Riverdance…
You know, that’s exactly it. And I think that some radio stations are realizing that a little. There’s a radio station here that’s supposed to be random like that. They queued up “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” last time I tuned in, which was good.
But the problem is, beyond everything, they’re keeping the pool of songs static, if not shrinking. And it doesn’t include lots of great stuff.
I listened to KSHE. Then I moved to North Carolina, and I listened to WRDU out of Raleigh. KSHE was a station that played metal on Saturday night, while WRDU was a station that played blues on Sunday morning, but it was the best I could get. But I also listened to 120 Minutes on MTV and Night Flight on USA, and neither station played Siouxie and the Banshees or Suicidal Tendencies or Bob Marley, while music on cable did. I read in Rolling Stone that Richard and Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out The Lights was one of the best albums. I called up and requested it, and they didn’t have it. Camper Van Beethoven released the fantastic My Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart with great songs like “Eye of Fatima” and “Turquoise Jewelery” and they never came within 10 miles of radio play, not then and not now. First time I ever heard early Metallica on the radio was on KSHE after midnight in 1984. Second time I heard early Metallica on the radio was in 2003. When I first listened to “Suffer” and “Land of Competition” by Bad Religion, I knew they were better pop songs than anything on the radio in 1988.
My 1980s was filled with Black Flag and Dream So Real and the Dead Kennedys and Ratt and Don Dixon and Anthrax and early Run DMC and the good REM songs when Michael Stipe still mumbled, and the only place I can hear that my 1980s happened is on Christian radio.
Sans Direction’s last blog post..As A Matter Of Fact, I Can’t Even Afford A Rondo
I never remembered specific DJs, but I did remember “Hocus Pocus” by Focus. A weirder thing never existed outside of Captain Beefheart, I think. A hard rock track with flute and yodel breaks. How could it get better?
And the Aerosmith song I’d be most looking for in a format is “Let The Music Do The Talking”. It’s the opening track of Done With Mirrors, which was the one album they did after the reunion and before the sobriety. I don’t think it’s more uneven than Rock or Toys In The Attic, and I think the high point is as high as either of those, and I’d certainly queue it up long before I ever willingly listen to “Dude Looks Like A Lady” again.
Sans Direction’s last blog post..As A Matter Of Fact, I Can’t Even Afford A Rondo
Satellite radio killed the local radio for me. Local radio to me equals a set of songs played over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over….and over, and over…
I think the reason why some folks think of radio as being good in the past is that, it was really the only way to access music back then (besides live music and buying a record). I think today, with the billions of options people have in terms of access to music, they just gravitate to what caters to them from a niche perspective. Which is good, but, makes it hard to navigate through all the “stuff” out there.
Plus, I hate radio commercials.
IG
PS, “Gloria” by Van Morrison with John Lee Hooker is on your site’s radio right now. So groovin’! I am groovin’ while I type.
IG’s last blog post..It takes people to make music
I agree with you on that IG, in addition radio was personality, for us 77 Sunset Strip gangs. It seems combos put music together to appease that audience, as well. Radio was handed down to me by my Dad, who had only the radio in WWII on ship in the Pacific, to remind him of romances waiting for him once he “got back.”
Think on Bob Wills, and Cole Porter, with the influence of a song story about every subject imaginable.
My complaint is that there is infinite band width; how in the devil can we be limited in our ability to broadcast, if not for the luny federal and state governments’ controls. I can only guess that only proves “we are willin’ but the rich folk got us pinned down.”
Pat Darnell and Friends’s last blog post..?asopis Národního musea By ?eske museum, Museum Kralovství ?eskeho
My God I haven’t heard anyone mention WLS for ages. I used to listen to it all of the time when I was younger. The only other radio station I was loyal to was Q95, out of Indianapolis. It had the infamous Bob and Tom show.
As I got older the less I listened to radio because I pretty much hated most of what they were playing. And the commercials. ughh They also seemed to stop giving the names of bands/tracks for some reason. Now when we travel, we try to catch the Prairie Home Companion…hysterical.
dragonlady474′s last blog post..Shhhhh
That hits something I keep saying, Dragon Lady, but I don’t know if I ever convinced anyone with it.
Years ago, I was a journalism student. I was in Advanced Editing, and the prof said that ad content was just as much content, just as valuable content, just as much “news” as the news content. I thought bullshit.
Then, after class, I went to the student lounge, pulled out my new copy of Maximum Rock’n'Roll, noticed the ad from Dischord saying that Fugazi had a new CD coming out, and became enlightened.
But who listens to radio? The simple case is this: If the ads don’t talk to you, the stats don’t think you’re the kind of person who listens to that, or the audience is just so general that they’re using the shotgun approach.
Sans Direction’s last blog post..I’m Torn
Wow, a lot of good stuff here guys.
I got in the car today and turned on the radio. The station it was on is the FM that does the Cardinal’s games, KTXR. That’s what I will usually listen to, if the Cards are playing.
This station, with the exception of the ball games, is kind of an easy listening affair. They used to call themselves “The Gentle Giant” but, I think they are trying to be a little more hip nowadays, a little adult contemporary in the mix.
Anyway, the first song that came on was “Light My Fire” by Jose Feliciano. I couldn’t guess the last time I heard that one. I’d never even really considered it before but, when I heard it today, it hit me broadside.
It’s a real good record, totally different than The Doors. The Doors version has a slightly ominous quality and Jose’s is more sultry. Jose isn’t trying to convene with the mystic, he wants to get it on.
The parts that used to sound cheesy to me, the flute and background vocals, sounded kind of charming to me today. And, what a monster of a guitar solo, Jose plays a little run at the end that sounded like an Al DiMeola thing.
The record has a real earthy quality to it even with the flute and vocal arrangement. Maybe, it seems that way in the context of all the hyper edited stuff that is around now. Or, maybe I was predisposed to having a “radio moment” after writing the above post.
I had a similar but reverse moment. I turned it on, searching for music, and all I found were ads for things I didn’t want. And “Dude Looks Like A Lady”. There’s post-sobriety Aerosmith that’s OK. “Living on the Edge”, and that’s about it. And the Christian station, which is my wife’s station. It’s so indie that it’s clothes don’t fit, and I ran it until I pushed the edge of it’s broadcast range.
Sans Direction’s last blog post..I’m Torn
I think I’m just going to hook up a satellite to our car radio and listen for aliens. heh
dragonlady474′s last blog post..Ahhhhh…Saturday
dragonlady; made me think of this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record
In a Saturday Night Live segment, it was announced by Steve Martin that the first message from extraterrestrials was being received. Once decoded, the message stated, “Send more Chuck Berry.”