Angry old guy rant on modern radio

sucks2beme

When did fm turn into am?
Sometime in the 90's something changed in a big way
Corporate radio took over. They started streamlining playlists
to a short list of artists and songs. Howard Stern helped create
the morning circus format for mornings. All you heard driving in
to work was 3 idiot's babbling. Either Stern or a clone. And to pay
for the extra personalities they added a ton of ads. Really
obnoxious ones. In a 45 minute drive you might hear 1 song.
New music was rare. This has become the classic rock format.
Late morning they would start with their 50 song rotation.
It's time to lose the chatterboxes and get back to playing music.
And stop with the awful TV style ads.
Soon with phone hotspot and streaming, they will either
have to adapt or die. Look at ABC, NBC and CBS.
They can't seem to do anything right other than local weather.
Who watches them anymore? Or reads newspapers?
Nothing but fluff there.
I don't care if I ever have a fm tuner in the house anymore.
Or cable tv. Streaming is the only way to go.

mhardy6647

I guess it depends on what one likes.
There is noncommercial radio still, and some of it's pretty good.

sucks2beme

Nothing like that here. The library broadcasts NPR stuff and some of their
Own content. NPR has gotten way too touchy feely to listen to in the
last couple of years. You'd have to be an old hippie or stoned to get
Into that.

VR3

Tidal in a car, near and far. On a bus, on a plane, I will take tidal over fm any day

Dabutcher

Apple Music all day at work and in my truck to and from. $16.00 for the family plan a month. We do have a local public radio station. The Current that I listen to in the garage or patio. Good luck. D

kevhed72

Here in the Atlanta area are sooo lucky to have 2 excellent college radio stations. WRAS and WREK. NPR has shifted way too far left with the touchy feely since we move here 16 years ago. Cmon NPR, no more Car Talk ?!?

motorstereo

I just plain love hearing songs from Boston's first album every single day.......not. At least they're not overplaying Phil Collins like they used to many year ago. Or going back a little further Glen Cambell used to get played to death. Fm being crappy isn't something new.

dromunds

There a lots of college stations that are good. The problem with ordinary FM stations is that they went to computer generated play lists. Nobody has any real DJs anymore. The college stations have DJ’s and they select the music.

sucks2beme

Not to worry. They have lots of dj's. And they talk you to death.
They like to read stuff off the internet. And both rock stations read
the same exact stuff. I'm not a hard-core country fan, but sometimes
I go over there to escape. Trouble is the wife won't put up with it.
And she's in the car 90% of the time now when I drive. Which
Isn't as often as it used to be.

msg

dromunds wrote: »

There a lots of college stations that are good. The problem with ordinary FM stations is that they went to computer generated play lists. Nobody has any real DJs anymore. The college stations have DJ’s and they select the music.

Yeah, we had some great DJs here that disappeared over the years. way way back we had a low-powered college radio type station that broadcast out of Moyock, NC. You could only tune it in if the atmospheric conditions were right, but man, was it worth it on those nights. I got turned on to so much good music from that group. They were trying to raise money for higher power transmission, but it never happened. They were acquired and the format became Z-Rock. Which sucked. Those DJs worked for the other progressive/alt format stations that began to take root here in the early 90s as that scene started to gain more attention after Nirvana was on MTV. It was a good 5 to 7 years, fun while it lasted

I haven't listened to the radio in years. We had three good ones I had on rotation in the 90s, but things started diving in the latter 90s and started sucking in the early 00s. Around that time Napster and the music download scene was getting popular with the spread of broadband. That was pretty much the end of radio for me, with the exception of two local public radio sister stations that I'd donate two. They had/have some good original programming and the NPR syndicated programs, some of which are pretty good, imho.

sucks2beme wrote: »

Soon with phone hotspot and streaming, they will either
have to adapt or die.

too late for that, don't you think?

newbie308

The best radio program near me is in the late evening on WMMR with Jackie Bam-bam on Friday night. It's 100% by request, and you get to hear a very eclectic mix of music, because he will play just about anything. I was driving home from my girlfriend's house a few weeks ago and he somehow managed to segway from Pantera's Cowboys from Hell to Barry Manilow's Copa Cabana

muncybob

It got to the point that the only radio i listened to was during my 20 minute commute to work and usually it would be Bob & Tom. Now that I'm 99% working from home, I haven't turned on the radio in 2+ years. My only radio type listening is playing FLAC files in random mode...just like radio but no garbage and only the music I like.

pitdogg2

dromunds wrote: »

There a lots of college stations that are good. The problem with ordinary FM stations is that they went to computer generated play lists. Nobody has any real DJs anymore. The college stations have DJ’s and they select the music.

THIS ^^^^^ I remember calling into a station to request a song (deep cut) from an album they play all the time. The on air personality (since they no longer drop needles) stated they didn't have the rights to play that song. WTH! I guess with BIG RADIO on air personalities can't deviate at all, play what we tell you to play and like it!
I guess that is why we have so many old DJ's in the insurance marketing divisions. In fact we had 4 of the DJ's I grew up listening to as a teenager, boy did they have great stories!!

Willow

This is why why we only use XM radio in the vehicles. I can't stand all the talk and it's usually about stupid **** too.

sucks2beme

Most of the time driving now are short trips to parks and trails to walk.
No more morning/evening commutes. Streaming internet radio at home
Is the norm. I have been leaving it on paradise rock mix.
I got into a p!ssing match with sirius xm over a lifetime subscription.
They tied it to an original Delphi xm receiver and won't transfer it to another
device. I don't think in the long run satellite radio will last. Other more nimble
Content providers are on the way.

mhardy6647

Heh, I remember listening to Howard Stern on WWDC-FM in... DC before he hit the big time.

jbreezy5

pitdogg2 wrote: »

dromunds wrote: »

There a lots of college stations that are good. The problem with ordinary FM stations is that they went to computer generated play lists. Nobody has any real DJs anymore. The college stations have DJ’s and they select the music.

THIS ^^^^^ I remember calling into a station to request a song (deep cut) from an album they play all the time. The on air personality (since they no longer drop needles) stated they didn't have the rights to play that song. WTH! I guess with BIG RADIO on air personalities can't deviate at all, play what we tell you to play and like it!
I guess that is why we have so many old DJ's in the insurance marketing divisions. In fact we had 4 of the DJ's I grew up listening to as a teenager, boy did they have great stories!!

Yeah, great DJs made music a cultural event with all the background stories of the bands.

Right now only Sunday afternoon/evenings on K-SHE 95 has anything like it, with Sammy Hagar as DJ. He’s actually not bad, but you always are gonna hear a few VH or Sammy tracks. Not too big on his solo stuff.

At least he occasionally deviates from the usual played out classic rock.

88.1 KDHX might be the best in StL as far as deviating from the mainstream.

Nightfall

Tidal in the car all day. Sometimes Pandora.

Jazzhead

I second OTA college stations. We're lucky to have two in listening range that have live DJ's and play jazz 24/7. We also have a third college station with programming for bluegrass, rock, blues etc. Good stuff if you can receive or stream it.

michaeljhsda2

The KSHE 95 Klassic show on Sunday morning 8 to 12 noon is pretty good. Vinyl Exam follows that for 1 hour.

motorstereo

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Heh, I remember listening to Howard Stern on WWDC-FM in... DC before he hit the big time.

I can go back a little further.......I remember him in the mornings at 106.9 WCCC in Hartford Ct.

F1nut

Driving to work MANY years ago, Greaseman on DC101 asks a caller where he's from. The guy says Waldorf. Greaseman says, "WALLLLLDORF...land of large foreheads and beady little eyes." I was laughing so hard I almost forgot I was driving.

Most DJ's suck...they talk too much and cut in before the song is over. There's one station around here that has a female DJ who has the most annoying voice. God knows how she got that job. If I could reach through the radio.....

msg

Fran Drescher School of Radio Broadcasting?

decal

I listen to a USB stick with 1400 or so files in FLAC format in the truck. No,loudmouths,no ads, and no songs I don't want to hear.

Jazzhead

Speaking of DJ's, some of us that grew up years ago in the Carolinas may remember Calvin Walker who was a God among DJ's during the heyday of FM radio. I went to sleep many, many nights with Calvin's voice and tunes coming over the airwaves:

https://www.charlottemagazine.com/the-last-dj/

tonyb

Also the different times of day you listen will vary the degree of your aggravation. Radio in the morning, is all talk B.S. and I feel like I'm listening the the freshman cheerleading squad.