Ladogaboy

Why is it, when a radio station previews the upcoming artists, I already know exactly which songs they are going to play? I know the artists, and I like a lot of them... but it also happens that I like more than just ONE of their songs.

Why do these stupid radio stations feel the need to play songs into the ground?

Sorry, GAM, if you feel this is too much of a rant, go ahead an move it...

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Freelance Superhero

yeah, i don't listen to the radio much any more. even when i'm driving, when i first get in the car, i'll flip through the stations to give em a chance, but rarely do i find something i wanna listen to, and i end up just popping in a cd.

i always say if they let me run a radio station and select the playlist and whatnot, it'd be one of the greatest stations on earth...

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Cantacuzene

Everyone says that.

Freelance Superhero

yes, but most of them are wrong.

revil

i have only been driving cars 3 months out of the year for the past 3 years. so i use the time to see what people are listening too... When i'm at home, i listen to my cd's and mp3's.

Ladogaboy

Well, like I said, some of the songs are good, but when you listen to the radio for 2 hours a day and only hear 5 different songs, something is wrong.

Nija

sounds like the local Hip Hop station around here....

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caribiner23

Okay, I'll admit right up front that I'm cynical.

The fact is that there is that radio station owners want to take as safe a route as they can when it comes to programming what goes between the commercials.

If their research shows that 45% of people between the ages of 18-34 like the song "The Space Between" by the Dave Matthews Band (God help us) then that's what they will program.

In addition to their research, they also work with the record companies to see what those guys are going to be pushing this week.

Radio stations are not in business to play "the best music." They are there to make money. And guess how they do it? Yup, commercials.

Now, add to this mix the fact that a few years ago the government dropped most restrictions on broadcasters, particularly the number of stations a company can own in the same market. Now you've got this mindset spread all across the dial.

Here in Chicago, CBS/Infinity owns seven stations: WBBM-AM (news); WBBM-FM (thump-thump-thump hit radio); WCKG (talk-- Howard Stern, Steve Dahl) and rock; WJMK ("oldies" that rarely go earlier than 1970); WSCR (sports); WUSN (country); and WXRT (a shadow of it former greatness as a progressive rocker).

Clear Channel owns six stations: WGCI-AM (religious, talk); WGCI-FM (thump-thump-thump but more urban); WKSC-FM (thump-thump-thump hit radio); WLIT ("lite" rock); WNUA ("smooth jazz"); and WVAZ (soul "dusties", probably the best of this lot).

The companies who own these stations usually have one or two people programming all of them, and staffs for most of these stations are all sitting in the same office suites.

My opinion: you can't do everything well all at once.

The only way this will change is if people stop listening and the industry wakes up to the fact that not everyone likes Dave Matthews or Pink or Enya. The best way to communicate this is to tell a survey-taker that you don't bother turning your radio on anymore; a lot of people have done this in recent Arbitron surveys, and the industry is starting to take notice.

It's all about selling advertising time. Until we tell the stations that we aren't hearing the commercials, they aren't going to change a thing.

My favorite game, when I do turn on the radio, is to see if I can click through my presets from one end of the dial to the other without hearing a single song. I can actually make it at least twice a week these days.

Okay, enough ranting.

Freelance Superhero

on a similar note, i turned on the radio on the way to work the other day, and i heard the same damn eminem song on an unprecedented FOUR different stations: both of the hip hop stations, the top 40 hits station, and (get this) the rock station (eminem on "the world famous KROQ"? come on...).

it was unsettling, to say the least...

Hoser

Where I work during the day, we listen to a different radio station each day. No matter what station we listen to, they all do the same thing. You'll hear the same song at least three times within eight hours. Actually if you listen to a station once that week, you've heard everything they'll play for the rest of the week. The play order might change, but the songs remain the same. If you listen to several different (oldies, rock, soul, country) stations, don't you find it funny that they'll all play the same (oldies, rock, sould, country) songs? For example I like music from the '80s, and have a lot of CDs from that era. You'd be amazed how many songs I have that will never be played on radio. It's like they have a core list of 100 or so songs, and never stray from that list.

Since most of the local radio stations are ultimately owned by Clear Channel, we have to listen to what they play. There's only one radio station (run by a local college) that will play anything that's not totally mainstream. There was another station, but it was shut down. It was probably bought out or put out of business by Clear Channel.

I don't know why they (the local stations) bother to have local radio personalities, since they serve no purpose. They don't have any control over what's played, and I'm sure most of what they say is heavily scripted. You could have all the stations run from a central location, and there'd be no difference.

If I want to listen to music, I usually make my own CDs. It's nice to be able to hear an hour or more of music with no interruptions or commercials. That's why XM radio is now available. If you want to listen to your type of music without interruption every five minutes, you have to pay. I'll stick to my CDs, I listen to what I want and they're cheap.

InfiniteNothing

If you think KROQ is bad you should listen to 91X here in san diego. I hate them because they don't even play anything REALLY new. I think they usualy hang 3 months behind KROQ. Anyone know if I can find KROQ on the internet. I really miss them.

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sbp

Who listens to radio anymore?

You are a psychic?

The stations in the DC area {rock, oldies, country} are the same way. The oldies station plays the same songs over and over again. Hey its not like there wasn't any other groups back then except the Beatles.

Actually Hoser sometimes the local radio personalities aren't local and it is all done in a central location. Then specific stuff is added for each area {weather, bantering etc.}.

caribiner23

In some markets, you can find some privately-owned stations that still program what the owner(s) want.

In the Chicago suburbs, we have a station on the AM dial called WJJG. This station is owned by a guy named Joe Gentile, who made his fortune running a car dealership in an affluent Chicago suburb.

Joe's favorite music is Frank Sinatra, so guess what they play most of the time.

Even though I get tired of Frank, it's great listening to this station because you never know when Joe is going to show up and start ranting about something.

The other day, one of the station's jocks was in between songs by, I dunno, Dean Martin, Sammy.. one of the Rat Pack, and he said, "Oh, Joe Gentile is here and he wants to say something." So Gentile gets on the radio and starts ranting about how the decline of the family unit is leading to people like John Walker Lindh seeking out "alternative ways of living." This was in the middle of a music show; there was no discussion going on at all, and the station owner just grabs the mike and starts ranting. Then they went into a Kane County Cougars AAA baseball game.

Even if you don't agree with the guy, it makes for interesting radio.

When I get tired of waiting for the rants, I can always turn the dial to hear "even when I'm with my boooooo" on four or five other stations.

Freelance Superhero

i dunno if i know exactly what you mean by finding KROQ on the net, but i know they do have a website:
KROQ

DaFunkyUnit

if you're in SD, listen to 92.1 fm if you can. Independent radio. They play a mix of hiphop (real hiphop, underground sh--, not the "booty-bling-bling-floss" crap) and alternative. And every saturday nights, its "Paul Oakenfold presents...." Hell yea!!

Nija

pfft... I like listening to 91x when I can get it (on a clear day, with the sun out and me hanging out the window with a coat hanger ) they play stuff I've never heard on KROQ. Same goes with 103.7 (i think) it out in the San Bernadino area. Like I had never heard of Default on KROQ, but they are heavily played on MTV and that SB station, not to say I liked them at all but it was nice to hear something I hadn't heard on the station.

I listen to KROQ for the morning personalities, because they crack me up, but a lot of the music.. is.. well... crap. There used to be a great college station in santa monica but I can't ever find them anymore... oh well...

Freelance Superhero

i heard KROQ play a Jurassic 5 song when i got in my car today...


it's sad when your local rock station plays better hip hop than your so-called local "hip hop" stations...

Nija

heard the same song played on Power and the Beat....

Freelance Superhero

guess i missed it on them... in any case, power and the beat don't play enuff stuff like that...

Ladogaboy

The oldies are actually better, usually, because they have a much larger list of songs to choose from... eh hem... should I say a much larger list of QUALITY songs to choose from.