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Thread: Let's talk about Radio.
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09-26-2011, 10:05 AM #26
No love for WFMU, Donkeykong?
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09-26-2011, 12:40 PM #27
In all seriousness (after posting several Youtube vidz of songs either dissing or praising radio), I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with radio.
I was a DJ all through college and hosted the typical "college" rock show, then a pre-taped live show, then a classic rock show, and finally my station's first all rap show.
Apres college I went and worked for a radio trade magazine for several years, so I was tuned into the more commercial aspects of the business.
The last time I can remember being really jacked to listen to the radio would have been in college. I used to hike up the hill behind the dorms and listen to this one show hosted by this smokey voiced girl named Dana Sano (she is now one of Hollywood's top music supervisors for film). The show was a typical college rock show, but she had a co-host named Scott and they worked well off of one another and played a nice mix of poppy college tunes and underground stuff. It was a regular 3pm - 7pm pre-party Friday afternoon appointment.
I have to say that the stint I did at the radio trade magazine really opened my eyes up to the business and made me kind of hate radio--especially commercial radio. It was sad to see a lot of local flavored stations get sucked up by major corporations and start playing the same music across the board (i.e. I could get a playlist from a station in Portland, OR and one from a station in the midwest and they would be almost identical in what they were spinning).
That's what I really dug about radio before corporate takeover, is that a station in San Francisco would have a totally different vibe than a station in Chicago.
I haven't really listened to much mainstream radio or college radio in the past several years (and sadly, one of the all-time great college stations, KUSF, had its plug pulled a while ago), but I have friends that still spin at my alma matter and others who spin at various stations around the country.
I wonder how essential radio is these days with the influx of the Internet? I.E. is radio going the way of the newspaper?
The only stations I seem to see a large influx of are Spanish speaking stations (they literally control the dial between San Francisco and Tahoe).
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09-26-2011, 02:11 PM #28
I like the sound of your show Schwerty, I'll give it a listen.
-do you guys archive your olde shows?
I don't mind a little schtick now and again (I'm a bit of a cornball in my regular life )
Yep, we've got NPR (KMXT) and I listen to it quite a bit {fwiw: Kodiak > Homer}, plus the Homer station 93.3 (107.9) out here
-love me some oldies
not sure about raising a dipole though
There can be some fun local shows out here with goofy non-pro dj's
but the other main station here is JACK fm, a completely canned piece of crap
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09-26-2011, 08:07 PM #29
If you'll expand your definition of "Radio" beyond what you can get on AM/FM then I think the internet is actually saving/reviving what was awesome about non-corporate, DJ powered song playing sets. Streaming music hosted by human beings is actually gaining traction, IMHO. Places like www.RadioParadise.com, or Alternative stations becoming streaming focused like what Donkey Kong was saying, are gaining traction, and thanks to phone apps I can even listen to them in the car.
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09-26-2011, 08:19 PM #30
I hear ya Tipp and that's kind of what I was driving at.
Technically speaking, can a "radio" station broadcasting over the Net be considered "radio" since they are not using radio waves to transmit their programming?
With the advent of online "radio" stations that you can get anywhere in the world as long as you have a smartphone or a computer, will we continue to see a decline in traditional radio?
Additionally, do stations that transmit over the Net lose any of their local flavor since they are, in effect, going global? I think that would an interesting thing to examine.
I have to admit, that I haven't scoped out a single radio station online (I have too much music littered around my house so I tend to spend most of my time listening to that or downloading mixtapes, etc.), but again, that was one of the things that commercial and corporatization of radio killed: that local flavor. I'll have to ask my buddy who is on a college station in Durham how he approaches his show, whether he looks at it as a local Durham show or if he thinks broader since it's also simulcast online.
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09-26-2011, 08:37 PM #31
I'm not sure I get the "local flavor" argument - you're playing the music you want to play and your audience isn't limited to the reach of your transmitter. How could this be a bad thing?
The only time "local" matters is in news, weather, and advertising. - the first two are always underserved in music radio. If you do a subscription service or listener supported music only model then neither of those factors matter at all.
Traditional radio is dead.
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09-27-2011, 12:48 AM #32
Well to be honest i haven't heard of it. I usually skip past the low 90s when scanning stations because there's never any music down there. The last good one was 92.3 K Rock but a few years ago they turned that into pop trash as well.
And i haven't been here that long, just moved back and was wondering where my favorite radio station went. Apparently i'm not the only one. There are facebook pages and everything to bring it back. But thanks for the tip, tipp.
On a more positive note, streaming the station from my smartphone has actually worked out pretty well. As long as I get cell service, I'm in range, and it's perfectly clear instead of cutting in and out when the signal isn't strong.
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09-27-2011, 12:57 AM #33
I think the viability of radio in the traditional sense lies in the demographic. When I was in school (and not traveling much) I never EVER listened to the radio. In front of a computer mostly, it was iTunes and Pandora.
But now that I'm in the car a lot more and on the move, radio is really easy, and I found myself using it a lot, both for music (usually a fail) and for news. I like the local aspect that you don't get with satellite radio. So there's still a market for it, and I think it will be a long time til it gets phased out. The over 40 crowd does not accept new technology that well, and they will be around for many more years, so radio will do fine for another couple decades.
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09-27-2011, 05:26 AM #34
^^^^ Same here, I generally listen to local all news radio or a fave college station in town when puttering around in the car. Sat radio doesn't appeal to me valuewise since I wouldn't listen to 95% of it. If I was travelling in my car 5 days a week, especially in areas with poor or no reception or nothing more than Jesus radio, it would make sense.
Silent....but shredly.
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09-27-2011, 06:44 AM #35
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09-27-2011, 11:39 AM #36
Thanks Tief...you summed up what I was blowhardingly attempting to get at.
A station with local flavor will not only play the music that everybody else is playing, but also support the local scene, play unsigned artists from the area, etc. The station "should" reflect the community it resides within. Which is exactly what radio did back in the day, especially college and local (as in stand-alone) stations used to do.
I don't have a problem with the globalization of radio, but the loss of a local centerpoint for the community is kind of lame.
The last cool station I can recall listening to was some station in SLC that I could get way out on I-70 whilst headed East to Summit County. They played an eclectic mix, had a definite local flavro--as in the station's vibe clearly was not being dictated by some suit in a shiny hightower in some other city--and it was exciting to listen to. Wish I could recall the name of the station.
Again, I hear ya Tipp, and agree that "traditional" radio is dead, which is sad (much in the same way that traditional print media is dead).
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09-27-2011, 12:08 PM #37
It's been said before, but the local station here ://www.kexp.org/Default.aspx is pretty damn good. Local broadcasting and simultaneous streaming on the web with tons of in studio acts, archived shows, and wide variety of programming in the evening from World music to rockabilly. The 3x yearly pledge drives are a little annoying, but it is largely a commercial free format.
Joseph Arthur live right now.Move upside and let the man go through...
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09-27-2011, 01:07 PM #38Head down, push foreword
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they were good but quit 15-20 years too late
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09-27-2011, 03:09 PM #39
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10-01-2011, 06:31 AM #40skier
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Working in the shop Saturdays one of my favorite things 10AM - 2PM
The Rythym Review on - http://www.wbgo.org/
Makes things a bit more bearable. Check it.
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10-01-2011, 11:09 AM #41
KEXP is pretty good, I enjoyed FNX and the Emerson college stations in Boston. Haven't figured out the SF dial yet, as I'm never in my car.
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10-01-2011, 12:07 PM #42
SF Dial is pretty commercial, however there are a wealth of college stations with crazy eclectic programming:
KALX over in Berkeley
KPOO, which is on Divis in the City
KFJC (Foothill Junior College) down in San Mateo (though not sure about their reach)
KDVS in Davis is always interesting on the drive up to Truckee
KZSU, Stanford
I have to admit that I haven't listened to a lot of these in a spell (I used to be a college DJ and kept abreast of the scene more back then).
KUSF, University of San Francisco got "thrown" off the air awhile back and is broadcasting on the World Wide Web (their site says they are attempting to come back on the airwaves, though).
Most of the other stuff in the area is highly commercial (classic rock, alternative rock, hispanic, talk radio).
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03-14-2013, 04:51 AM #43
bump.
MPR still krushing my dome on a daily basis!
the current, rules.
http://www.thecurrent.org/crab in my shoe mouth
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03-14-2013, 05:12 AM #44
Aside from tolerating that assclown Mojo Nixon, I am still learning about tons of artists and projects on X-Country.
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03-14-2013, 08:08 AM #45Funky But Chic
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X-country on what? Satellite?
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03-14-2013, 08:17 AM #46
Yeah, it's on sirius
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03-14-2013, 08:26 AM #47Funky But Chic
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I didn't know they brought it back, where've I been? I used to love that station on XM a few years ago and then they nuked it after the merger.
edit: Wait I just looked at their programming guide, you're talking about "Outlaw Country"? That station sucks, or at least it sucked every time I tried it, maybe it got better?
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03-14-2013, 08:39 AM #48
Yeah, outlaw country. It helps to be in the mood. Drink a lot of beer and listen to it in a large pickup truck. With a dog in the bed. After you get divorced. And quit your job.
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03-14-2013, 08:47 AM #49Funky But Chic
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I dunno, that "Outlaw" thing is so played. X-country played, for lack of better terms, alt-country or even "Americana". Music on the edge between rock and country but no syrupy ballads or pop hooks. No Kristofferson or Waylon or Willie. That was a good fuckin station.
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03-14-2013, 11:45 AM #50
That play list sounds like one from one of my all-time favorite stations- KOZT, out of Fort Bragg CA. One of the few remaining locally programmed radio stations. It can get a little hippy dippy for me at times, but over all, a great station to have on in the background at work or around the house. "KOZT, Fort Bragg. Our friends just call us... the coast."
www.kozt.com
Or open this in Itunes or Window Media Player:
http://koztlinux.kozt.com:9000
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