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i listen to either my own cd's or sports/news radio on am. the choice of music is pathetic, which is a shame considering the size of chicago
In this week's Soapbox, reader Mike Johnston partly blames radio consolidation for music business woes. As radio ownership has changed over the last five years, have you found yourself listening to it more or less?
We can rest assured that the "golden days" of audio, when radio was king, are gone. For better or worse, radio stations have to pay for air time. Just like malpractice insurance, sponsors (and their associated commercial time) is a reality that one must accept if radio is the dominant listening mode.
I generally only listen to Public Radio. I think commercial radio has gone downhill steadily since the demise of the New York stations WRVR (106.7 Jazz Station) and WNCN (104.3 Classical Station) 20 years ago. Even the rock stations I loved such WMMR (93.3) out of Philadelphia are shadows of themselves. It is only a handful of Public Radio and College stations that continue to offer quality music and sound that is not hypercompressed and musically interesting. Even WQXR in New York (96.3) offers little variety and way more compression these days. So I switched to the Public Radio and College Statiosn years ago and those are the ones I chase after now.
The stations in my reception area play the same old crap, day in and day out, year after year. Fortunately, digital cable has music channels that, while the sound quality is abysmal, do offer variety both in genres, and in what they play within each genre.
In toronto we have a jazz fm radio which is currently bringing up new and exciting programs to the air, not to mention blues fm on saturdays. It's great to listen to at work and in the car when your stuck in rush hour! I think Magnum Dynalab and Synthesis are doing to right thing by introducing all new tube tuners, it's about time!
When a market research company called to ask which radio station I listened to, I named the local NPR station. They didn't believe me. It wasn't on their list because public radio and college stations don't subscribe to the ratings services. So who knows what the listeners want?
Though I gave up on commercial radio years ago, in the last five years I stopped tuning in to the few stations I would occassionally check out because radio is limited by too much "sameness" and hardly any true program diversity. Exploring radio used to be fun & exciting when you could find stations with music or topics that were different from what you were accustomed to and that provided a new or interesting experience. Sadly, it seems station owner's "bottom line" will be the ultimate determinant in what listeners will get to hear.
Radio has become too bland. Especially for Rock and Roll. It is nearly impossible to find a rock station that plays more the 5 different songs. I live in Detroit, MI and I listen to a Canadian rock station and public radio only.