Dispatches from Nowhere 01.05.06
What is it about radio that keeps pulling me back?
Maybe it is the myth of it. You know the story. Back in the "golden age" of radio the DJ was king. He found and broke all the good music. Bands lived and died by what he spun. If you couldn't convince the DJ you had nothing. Then the suits got involved. Radio became another commodity. Where there used to be local radio that mattered with a variety of stations for your listening pleasure and driving from zone to zone was an adventure in the musical landscape, now we have corporate play lists dominated by the same acts.
It might be my market that sucks. We just lost another "Modern Rock" station leaving the DC Metro Area with a grand total of ONE "rock" format station. There are lots of hip-hop and country, a couple classical stations, a news/weather/ traffic giant, and a few Spanish language stations. A few years ago I drove north (to Cornell) and on the journey, we listened to the radio. I found that, almost with out exception, the "rock" radio stations I found to listen to were the same format and play lists as the local "Rock" station.
On an interesting note, our remaining "rock" station now sounds much like the late, lamented WHFS in the late 90's. In short, flaccid and with out teeth.
I recently completed another long car ride. Did you know that the further south you go the more variety there is to be found on your radio dial? Between Charlotte and Atlanta I found no less that 4 different rock stations with varying play lists and music I might have programmed myself, were I forced to stay in a particular genre. There were more stations but only 4 that I listened too. I continued to find "modern rock" and "rock" format stations through Alabama and into the Florida Panhandle.
Apparently Rock is not dead. It just went south for the winter.
What Am I getting at? I don't know. The interweb has basically replaced radio as a means of finding new music, iPods, CD players and the like have rendered Radio virtually irrelevant.
You know what though?
That sucks.
Something that used to be cool is dead.
I have heard a lot of you say "Why not XM or Sirrus?” I don't know. Maybe they are the future. The market will dictate if they will survive. Certainly Howard Stern is betting on it. That maybe the answer. If enough people abandon traditional radio for the cable equivalent, the existing beast will need to re-contextualize itself. Here is hoping.
A small solution I see would be allowing the existence of micro-broadcasters or allowing the air waves to be opened up to the public again. Right now the cost of opening a radio station is so prohibitive that it is no wonder the only people in the game are the corporations.
I know. It's not funny. In fact, I think it is just down right sad.
I thought I had a solution. For a while I did. I hope to again. But internet radio for all its promises still isn't radio. It does not have the mystique, the myth that radio had. But it is a start.
Maybe Radio is dead (for the moment). There is some hope. New stations like Jack FM and Dave are popping up, mixing genres and play lists into a muddle that resembles what I want in radio. There is hope.
Maybe it is the myth of it. You know the story. Back in the "golden age" of radio the DJ was king. He found and broke all the good music. Bands lived and died by what he spun. If you couldn't convince the DJ you had nothing. Then the suits got involved. Radio became another commodity. Where there used to be local radio that mattered with a variety of stations for your listening pleasure and driving from zone to zone was an adventure in the musical landscape, now we have corporate play lists dominated by the same acts.
It might be my market that sucks. We just lost another "Modern Rock" station leaving the DC Metro Area with a grand total of ONE "rock" format station. There are lots of hip-hop and country, a couple classical stations, a news/weather/ traffic giant, and a few Spanish language stations. A few years ago I drove north (to Cornell) and on the journey, we listened to the radio. I found that, almost with out exception, the "rock" radio stations I found to listen to were the same format and play lists as the local "Rock" station.
On an interesting note, our remaining "rock" station now sounds much like the late, lamented WHFS in the late 90's. In short, flaccid and with out teeth.
I recently completed another long car ride. Did you know that the further south you go the more variety there is to be found on your radio dial? Between Charlotte and Atlanta I found no less that 4 different rock stations with varying play lists and music I might have programmed myself, were I forced to stay in a particular genre. There were more stations but only 4 that I listened too. I continued to find "modern rock" and "rock" format stations through Alabama and into the Florida Panhandle.
Apparently Rock is not dead. It just went south for the winter.
What Am I getting at? I don't know. The interweb has basically replaced radio as a means of finding new music, iPods, CD players and the like have rendered Radio virtually irrelevant.
You know what though?
That sucks.
Something that used to be cool is dead.
I have heard a lot of you say "Why not XM or Sirrus?” I don't know. Maybe they are the future. The market will dictate if they will survive. Certainly Howard Stern is betting on it. That maybe the answer. If enough people abandon traditional radio for the cable equivalent, the existing beast will need to re-contextualize itself. Here is hoping.
A small solution I see would be allowing the existence of micro-broadcasters or allowing the air waves to be opened up to the public again. Right now the cost of opening a radio station is so prohibitive that it is no wonder the only people in the game are the corporations.
I know. It's not funny. In fact, I think it is just down right sad.
I thought I had a solution. For a while I did. I hope to again. But internet radio for all its promises still isn't radio. It does not have the mystique, the myth that radio had. But it is a start.
Maybe Radio is dead (for the moment). There is some hope. New stations like Jack FM and Dave are popping up, mixing genres and play lists into a muddle that resembles what I want in radio. There is hope.
posted by depressoboy at 1:45 AM
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