Serious question about radio!

[Zoots]

Why does it suck so much??? I mean, seriously... WHY? Why do they only play the most popular songs of any artist?.. and then proceed to overplay the shit out of the same songs?

If it's Pink Floyd, it's Another Brick, WYWH, Time, Money. Why not A Pillow Of Winds or Sorrow for a change?

If it's REM, it's usually The One I Love or It's The End Of The World. Why not Disturbance At The Heron House or King Of Birds???

For The Who, we get Pinball Wizard, Baba O Riley or Won't Get Fooled occasionally. Why not Boris The Spider?

Are they afraid that the other songs won't be as popular? I mean honestly... if it's a fucking classic rock station, the listeners are gonna own classic rock albums. So why won't they appreciate other good songs from the same albums? I mean don't they know it's annoying as hell to hear the same 3 or 4 songs over and over again? Queen... let's play We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions for the 847346356484th time! Why not something different like Don't Stop Me Now?

And don't tell me to stop listening to the radio. For a work commute as short as the one I have, it takes too much effort to get the iPod connected. I'd rather just turn on the dumb radio.

Anyway, I'm seriously looking for thoughts from you guys on why they torture us so.

 

[phillyfan26]

Stop listening to the radio.

 

[corianderstem]

Clear Channel. That's why it sucks.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

Clear Channel. That's why it sucks.

That's exactly what I was about to post. I gave up on radio a few years ago. I discover new music online now, through blogs and around here mostly. If you live in a town with a big enough college, you're probably lucky enough to have a decent college radio station. I'm not crazy about either of mine, so when I'm in the mood to listen to the radio, I tune in to WXPN online, or to woxy.com.

 

[corianderstem]

kexp.org

 

[Zoots]

Clear Channel. That's why it sucks.

That's exactly what I was about to post.

Could you explain that please? Why does Clear Channel not want to play anything outside of the 3 or 4 songs that they play to death?

 

[martha]

Six cd changer in the car saves me from radio.

 

[Zoots]

Six cd changer in the car saves me from radio.

My iPod should technically save me from the radio. But then there is the decision of what to listen to.

 

[LMP]

It's because the radio is like a giant asshole.

It spews out stuff you've already seen before, but in an ugly and deformed form you never want to see or smell again. Also, it's brown.

 

[namkcuR]

It's directly related to the rise of the internet and the personal mp3 player. Everybody and their mother has an IPod and ITunes and easy/quick access to both paid-for and free music online. Given all this, people are easily creating their own personal radio stations, if you will, with their IPods. If you hear a song you like in a TV show, and you can simply type a lyric in google, get the name, search the name in whatever file-sharing program you use, download it, and send it to your IPod, all in a matter of minutes, if that, then why would anyone listen to the radio for hours hoping that the song they want MIGHT come on? Because people can now so easily customize their listening experience, people aren't really listening to the radio so much anymore. What happens then is that in order to appeal to as many people as possible in what is a shrinking demographic, radio stations play only the songs at the top of the charts, like only 40 or 50 songs at any given point in time, whatever appeals to the lowest common denomenator, which is, most of the time, shit.

 

[corianderstem]

Clear Channel gobbles up more and more radio stations, turning them all into cookie-cutter duplicates of each other.

As of the date this article was written, they owned 247 of the 250 largest radio markets in the US.

http://archive.salon.com/ent/feature/2001/04/30/clear_channel/

 

[martha]

Clear Channel gobbles up more and more radio stations, turning them all into cookie-cutter duplicates of each other.

As of the date this article was written, they owned 247 of the 250 largest radio markets in the US.

And somebody, somewhere thought this should be legal.

 

[LMP]

It's like the old Trust companies owning 90% of the industry.

If this were 1911, Teddy Roosevelt would not stand for this.

 

[phillyfan26]

It's like the old Trust companies owning 90% of the industry.

If this were 1911, Teddy Roosevelt would not stand for this.

Someone needs to create a motivational Teddy Roosevelt poster. Now.

 

[Joey788]

Could you explain that please? Why does Clear Channel not want to play anything outside of the 3 or 4 songs that they play to death?

The main reason for this is because virtually all Clear Channel stations are run by computers. There's no real DJ selecting the tunes. Any person who hear introducing the song or station is most likely just a recording. Therefore, the main reason you hear the same songs is because the computer will either play songs on the current Top 10, if it's a Top 40 station. For classic rock, it'll probably go by chart ratings of what their highest positioned songs are.

I found this all out this semester in college. Thank God I live in New York City. We still have some average radio here.

 

[corianderstem]

Thank God I live in New York City. We still have some average radio here.

That made me laugh. Who ever thought it would be a good thing to have some average radio?

 

[bono_man2002]

Six cd changer in the car saves me from radio.

iPod in car saves me

 

[Zoots]

Because people can now so easily customize their listening experience, people aren't really listening to the radio so much anymore. What happens then is that in order to appeal to as many people as possible in what is a shrinking demographic, radio stations play only the songs at the top of the charts, like only 40 or 50 songs at any given point in time, whatever appeals to the lowest common denomenator, which is, most of the time, shit.

See, but why would even the lowest common denominator want the songs to be repeated over and over and over again like a torture experiment? No human can stand the same shit repeated over and over again. Even if said human had only basic music knowledge and only knew the biggest hits. After a while repetition = boredom = insanity.

And I don't think that what the radio plays is shit. They're all good songs. It's just that even good songs after the 732635244759th listen become annoying as hell until you wanna smash the radio to smithereens!

 

[corianderstem]

They're all good songs.

Are you sure you want to stand by that statement?

 

[Zoots]

The main reason for this is because virtually all Clear Channel stations are run by computers. There's no real DJ selecting the tunes. Any person who hear introducing the song or station is most likely just a recording.

You cannot be serious!?! I mean, dude... I hear DJs on the local classic rock station here.. there's Jim Kerr, Ken Dashow, Maria Maledo... surely they can't be robots! And they talk about daily goings on and stuff. I can see your top 10 computer playlist scenario though.

 

[Zoots]

Are you sure you want to stand by that statement?

Oh cmon, take a look at the songs I have mentioned in the original post. It's not that they are not good songs. It's just that they are overplayed to DEATH!!!

Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars was a good song ONCE.

 

[indra]

I think a good deal of the reason is because most people who listen to the radio don't really listen to the songs, they just use it as background noise. And I do think most people -- most people who listen to the radio anyway -- do like what's familiar and don't really want to hear anything other than the songs they know, even from artists they say they really like.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

My next car is so going to have an iPod compartment or whatever. I can't stand the radio.

 

[corianderstem]

Well, you said all the songs on the radio were good. I took that to mean ALL SONGS ON THE RADIO.

In response, I say: Creed? Really? Soulja Boy? Really?

 

[phillyfan26]

There's this crazy feature on iTunes. If you create a playlist, you can insert a blank CD, and have a CD burnt! Crazy, I know! And then, you can take that CD, and you can go out to your car, and you can put it in the CD player and play music you like!

I make a burned CD for my car once a week, to keep it fresh.

 

[u2popmofo]

My parents bought a new car and have Sirius free for a year now. I messed around on it, and it seemingly had some interesting stations that were at least playing good music at the time. Anyone have any long time experience with Sirius or any Satellite radio? Is it worth the money, or did I just luck out on what was being played at the moment?

 

[Zoots]

I think a good deal of the reason is because most people who listen to the radio don't really listen to the songs, they just use it as background noise. And I do think most people -- most people who listen to the radio anyway -- do like what's familiar and don't really want to hear anything other than the songs they know, even from artists they say they really like.

Now you are on to something here... great points! I know a lot of people who listen to music like it's background music. They don't pay attention to the lyrics or even the music sometimes. They just like having something on... the radio or the TV. So the real question is.... Why do people suck?

 

[corianderstem]

I just like having something on, many times. I'm not always paying full attention to music.

I don't do well in silence - I need music or the TV on as background if I'm doing anything else.

 

[Diemen]

I my iPod integration kit in my car. I rarely listen to radio, and when I do, it's usually.... NPR.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

There's this crazy feature on iTunes. If you create a playlist, you can insert a blank CD, and have a CD burnt! Crazy, I know! And then, you can take that CD, and you can go out to your car, and you can put it in the CD player and play music you like!

I make a burned CD for my car once a week, to keep it fresh.

I used to have an adapter thing that plugged into the iPod then the stupid thing died. I have a few bootlegs and cds in there now but eh, I miss having 3,500 + songs at my fingertips.