Has Radio Leveled Out?

[richardmac]

Yeah, I remember radio playing entire albums. That was pretty cool. Conventional radio is pretty stinky now, compared to then. Listening to music now, though, is soooo much better. I have the $5 per month Spotify and it has 90% of what I'd ever want to hear. But some things will never be on there, so I will still purchase rare music on CD every once in a blue moon. I really love being able to listen to stuff I've never had a chance to hear before, so easily. Stuff I've never heard from Lyle Lovett or Steve Earle. Or Mozart. Radio is a piece of push, but I've got better access to listen to music than at any other time in my life. As a songwriter, I am sad that the money is leaking out of the music business for artists. As a music fan, I'm listening to far more music than any time in the past 20 years, easily. It's a mixed bag.

[BlueStrat]

 

Yeah, I remember radio playing entire albums. That was pretty cool. Conventional radio is pretty stinky now, compared to then. Listening to music now, though, is soooo much better. I have the $5 per month Spotify and it has 90% of what I'd ever want to hear. But some things will never be on there, so I will still purchase rare music on CD every once in a blue moon. I really love being able to listen to stuff I've never had a chance to hear before, so easily. Stuff I've never heard from Lyle Lovett or Steve Earle. Or Mozart. Radio is a piece of push, but I've got better access to listen to music than at any other time in my life. As a songwriter, I am sad that the money is leaking out of the music business for artists. As a music fan, I'm listening to far more music than any time in the past 20 years, easily. It's a mixed bag.

 

 

Yes, all that is true. But the biggest difference is with radio, all you had to do was turn it on and great new music was delivered to you. Now, terrestrial music is not so great, and with the internet there is much more available, but it' still up to the seeker to go find it. And that's where it gets daunting. Who has an hour a day to spend listening to sound clips? I sure don't. It used to be, radio played great new music you heard while you were doing something else -driving, working, studying, whatever. Now, you have to drop what you're doing and go look for it, and the real kicker is, you don't really know what you're looking for until you hear it. Ever watch that show "American Pickers"? It's kind of like that for me, except unlike those guys, I neither like picking through garbage to find something good nor do I have the time to do it.

[fatusstratus]

 

You missed the point. Of the commercial stations, the classic rock stations play the same 300 songs they've played for 25 years. The country stations all play the same 50 songs over and over and over. Ditto the other stations- all hits, all the time.

 

 

you didn't actually make that point - you talked about a small market having these different stations with different programming

 

 

Not that that's bad, if you like commercial hits that are played to death.

 

 

part of what makes it commercial I suppose

 

 

They do it because it's how they make money.

 

 

That's what "commercial" is

 

 

 

 

I should have mentioned that I live 30 miles from Spokane and 45 from the EWU jazz station, so listening to them is an adventure in static, which is another horrible limitation of radio.

 

 

have you considered getting a better system? with FM you are somewhat limited, but a set with better sensitivity and discretion and a real antenna can make up for a lot

 

 

And besides, most jazz is like ice cream. A bowl of it now and then is fine. I wouldn't want to eat it three meals a day.

 

 

That's that personal taste issue - with variety you are going to get that

I have that about blues for instance (and I like blues, went the Chicago for blues fest this year...I like it enough to do that sort of travel) -- but, for me, THAT is like ice cream

Jazz though I can leave on and on and on

 

 

I guess that makes me all or nothing!

 

 

yeah, I guess so - I mean forcing deafness on yourself --- that's pretty all or nothing

 

but yeah, take a style and someone else is going to pooh pooh it

 

 

The first time I heard Led Zeppelin 3 was on the radio. Ditto the Allman Brothers live at Fillmore East in 1971.

 

 

That's pretty commercial stuff too - public though can go a lot further

[BlueStrat]

you didn't actually make that point - you talked about a small market having these different stations with different programming

Different programming with mind-numbingly same limited and narrow formats and annoyingly repetitive. .

But hey...Maybe I missed my own point! Wouldn't be the first time....:wave:

[richardmac]

I think the point being missed is how music is discovered. Us old farts sit around and say "Hey, dammit, no one is feeding us good music! Who turned off the dag gum pipe?" But talk to someone in their late teens or twenties and ask them "How on earth do you find new good music," and they'll just look at you funny. They'll say they find out about new great bands via their friends, via the web sites they visit, via a million different places. It's a different culture. The concept of just listening to one radio station or one TV station (Mtv) to hear about new bands is totally alien to them. We don't understand the workings of the younger generation's music mechanism because it's been crowd sourced and we're not part of the crowd.

 

Nor can we use their recommendations. When a youngster tries to hip me to some new "cool" act like when Adele first started getting big, I listen to it and it bores me, because I know what music is being rehashed. But they don't. And back in 1979 when The Cars first album came out, it was brand new to me and recycled bubble gum rock to the oldsters. And the beat goes on...

[sventvkg]

I think the point being missed is how music is discovered. Us old farts sit around and say "Hey, dammit, no one is feeding us good music! Who turned off the dag gum pipe?" But talk to someone in their late teens or twenties and ask them "How on earth do you find new good music," and they'll just look at you funny. They'll say they find out about new great bands via their friends, via the web sites they visit, via a million different places. It's a different culture. The concept of just listening to one radio station or one TV station (Mtv) to hear about new bands is totally alien to them. We don't understand the workings of the younger generation's music mechanism because it's been crowd sourced and we're not part of the crowd. Nor can we use their recommendations. When a youngster tries to hip me to some new "cool" act like when Adele first started getting big, I listen to it and it bores me, because I know what music is being rehashed. But they don't. And back in 1979 when The Cars first album came out, it was brand new to me and recycled bubble gum rock to the oldsters. And the beat goes on...

 

God Damn Son! very succinct!

[Poker99]

Nor can we use their recommendations. When a youngster tries to hip me to some new "cool" act like when Adele first started getting big, I listen to it and it bores me, because I know what music is being rehashed. But they don't. And back in 1979 when The Cars first album came out, it was brand new to me and recycled bubble gum rock to the oldsters. And the beat goes on...

 

 

This is so true. I think its even worse now, because music is everywhere. Companies aren't ashamed to use slighty modified hits to sell products.

[michaell]

Radio is like the railroads. Rail was a high tech way to move freight in the 1800s. Then came auto, trucks, airplanes. Like the railroad, radio will be around but with far less usage.

[richardmac]

The funny thing about the railroads is that they are still waaaaay more efficient than trucking - they're the superior technology for moving stuff 500 miles. But the trucking industry is mighty powerful. People don't realize.

 

I like your sig, by the way. I'm a huge Fender fan - own two strats and a tele.

[michaell]

 

The funny thing about the railroads is that they are still waaaaay more efficient than trucking - they're the superior technology for moving stuff 500 miles. But the trucking industry is mighty powerful. People don't realize. I like your sig, by the way. I'm a huge Fender fan - own two strats and a tele.

 

 

Thanks Richard..........I have a CS Strat I had built for me 2 years ago..........wish I had done that sooner!

I like your thoughts on this thread. Radio used to be a cultural information dispenser in an entertainment vehicle.

Now that role has moved to the internet. Radio is not what it once was.

[daddymack]

 

Radio used to be a cultural information dispenser in an entertainment vehicle. Now that role has moved to the internet. Radio is not what it once was.

 

 

we may ascribe to radio that which we perceived, but it was never really anything but a business, cultural forces notwithstanding. It existed to sell airtime to advertisers. Everything between the commercials and mandatory PSAs was and is inconsequential filler to the management. That we enjoyed that filler was what gave value to their product (airtime)...because it meant we came back to the same trough to get our fill of their filler.

Sad really...I worked in radio on and off for decades...as on-air 'talent', engineer and producer at varying times...getting a degree in this ruined it for me....

[michaell]

 

we may ascribe to radio that which we perceived, but it was never really anything but a business, cultural forces notwithstanding. It existed to sell airtime to advertisers. Everything between the commercials and mandatory PSAs was and is inconsequential filler to the management. That we enjoyed that filler was what gave value to their product (airtime)...because it meant we came back to the same trough to get our fill of their filler. Sad really...I worked in radio on and off for decades...as on-air 'talent', engineer and producer at varying times...getting a degree in this ruined it for me....

 

 

Great point. Its a business alright. Always has been. Show business. Many people lose sight of this. When young BB King was on WDAI he was plugging his live shows that evening and plugging Pepsico ( or whatever it was ). Commerce.

 

But I wouldn't call the content on radio " inconsequential to the management ". After all, content draws audience. Smart management understood this and tried to create great programming. Broadcast companies spent huge dollars on music research and the Arbitron ratings service to insure the target audience was enjoying what was programmed. Many employed programming consutants too. The consultants earned their fees by advising on content. The smart operators understood this: No audience = no ratings = no revenue. I worked for a few. Having been in radio you know the Telecom Bill in 1996 marked the time when radio companies started focusing on how many stations they could own, instead of serving the audiences that listened to their stations. Most listeners had no idea these changes in government rules about multiple ownership were happening. Prior to 1996 one owner was limited to owning 14 station in 7 markets; an AM & FM in each market. After 1996 one company could own 1000 stations! I believe that greed is what started the spiral of down trending Time Spent Listening.

Add PCs, cable TV, Internet, iPods, cell phones, digital cameras to mix of electronic gear consumers were offered to play with, and the radio receiver had some serious competition for people's attention.

 

Has radio leveled out? Perhaps. The only way to keep it interesting is to focus on providing entertaining content AND to somehow interweave the radio technology with the new gadgets and gizmos for sale all over Best Buy. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

I agree that what radio has become is sad. Good thing we have the internet to replace the vibrancy radio stopped providing as an entertainment medium.

[daddymack]

The Telecom Act of 96 was also called the Great Airwave Grab. Score another one for the 'de-regulation' geniuses...what I meant by 'inconsequential' is that the management of radio companies don't care what goes on the air as long as it draws. They all look for the segment they can dominate in their market, where they can generate the most ad revenue...they really don't care if it is rock, country, urban, or talk (jazz, blues and classical are no longer considered viable commercial formats, sad to say). They also generally have little regard for providing a valuable service to the people of the area, which their licenses require...that is really the province (or problem) of the station management, who are at the low rung on the ladder.

[michaell]

what I meant by 'inconsequential' is that the management of radio companies don't care what goes on the air as long as it draws . They all look for the segment they can dominate in their market, where they can generate the most ad revenue...they really don't care if it is rock, country, urban, or talk (jazz, blues and classical are no longer considered viable commercial formats, sad to say).

 

 

Got it. I see what you mean now. Thanks!