Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
Who listen's to the radio anymore? Actually only time i listen to broadcast music is in the car. Any other time i listen to what i want to. Although Satellite radio and Web Radio do look mighty tempting.
Do you still listen to the radio? With regular FM stations coming in for heavy criticism and satellite, Web, and cable radio readily available, we're wondering how or if you generally listen to broadcast music.
I am a lucky man to live in the Denver area with two really top notch NPR stationsone dedicated to jazz and the other dedicated to classical, both with strong RF power. They're about all I listen to. But also have one really "out there" station that plays really odd and rare stuff, a couple of college stations, though weak in power, full of vim and vinegar. As for the rest, mostly dominated by ClearChannel dreck? Just don't need no frequencies above 99.5 MHz.
Listening to my local FM classical music station is mostly just a habit. But I don't listen to the radio often enough to pay for a satellite service, nor am I convinced their programming is that much better. I suppose I should explore web radio more than I have, since I've finally ugraded to DSL.
For music listening, in my home, web radio edges out FM, mainly because I live in a mountainous area where FM reception (any over-the-air reception for that matter), is very unrealiable. I love FM when the signal comes in strong. Good FM sound is, well, really good! However, I now have DSL along with my own 802.11g wireless hub. I also happen to have an IBM laptop with built-in wireless. By attaching my laptop to my home entertainment system, I've got access to 1000s of Internet radio stations. As my favorite music genre is original motion-picture scores, I often tune into the 64kbit Mp3Pro stream at www.streamingsoundtracks.com. I also enjoy classical music at www.bluebeat.com. With their 320Kbit/second classical stations, Bluebeat.com truly does provide CD (or very near CD) quality over the 'Net.
I started listening to the music provided by Dish Network, but I am not satisfied with sound quality. I think, they compress sound to much, so music is uninvolving, lacks dynamics, high frequencies are blurred, comparing to CD's, not mentioning even LP's. I prefer listening to the PBS from my FM tuner.
I listen to the Baltimore classical station in the car. At home, I like Rob Bamberger's Hot Jazz Saturday Night and Dick Spottswood's show of Obsolete Music (both on WAMU). My favorite radio show of all time was Jerry Washington's The 'Bama Hour on WPFW.
Groove Salad on: http://www.somafm.com/ Downtempo, dub, and ambient styles (some House). Very cool. Check out: http://www.stonerrock.com/ If you like Queens of the Stone Age. I get my jazz, classical, and dub (reggae) from: http://web1.shoutcast.com/newwaradio.phtml Will probably eventually get XM or Sirius...
Primarily FM radio. NPR mostly, some commercial stations. Besides content, the problem I have with most commercial stations is the audability of dynamic compression. I find the sound to be very fatiguing after a while. NPR and college stations either don't dynamicly compress or are sparse users of the process. The difference is audible and staggering. I also listen to web streamed radio broadcasts. The later has been fun to explore. There is so much variety on the web and it is surprisingly easy to forget about the overall quality and just listen.
A few years ago I bought a Fanfare FT-1A FM tuner. This was the first time I had ever spent more than $300-$400 on a tuner (in ANY era's dollars...). I paid an extra hundred or two for the "Rolls-Royce" options, most notably Kimber silver wiring all over the unit. I have no idea if this makes any difference. This thing does all I could ever ask a broadcast medium to do: it creates a real soundstage (if the station is good), doesn't audibly compress (if the source is good), and has true frequency extension...IF I don't push it beyond, say, 80db or so spl. I tried a Sirius setup and it sounded like clabbered shit, in the comparison: strained, flat, one-dimensional, peaky and glaring in the highs... I'm sure other readers have gotten similar results from Magnum-Dynalab, McIntosh, etc, but I fear you really have to pay for it. But don't Sirius, XM, and Dish charge a monthly subscription fee? I'd say, save it for a year or two and get a better tuner... if you have a couple of listenable stations in your area. One more thought: I have a friend with an old Scott tuner. Tubes. Relatively cheap, even though he paid to have it tweaked. It sounds very much like mine. He's probably smarter than I am: I'm sure he paid less for similar quality.
Good ole FM radio. The ad-free jazz and classical stations are what I listen to the most, and occasionally I tune into some classic rock. I like the fact that the jazz station I listen to is broadcasted in both my home town, the city I commute to, and online! Someday I'll get XM, I really like the Cinemagic station. DirecTV music is a waste, though. Right now, I am a student, and can't afford to buy a lot of music, so I probably listen to the radio about 40-50% of the time, and pre-recorded music the rest of the time. I think more audiophiles are sometimes so anal about the sound of broadcast music, that they forget about what it is really for, hearing new music.
Online stations such as somafm.com or last.fm help make me aware of interesting, under-the-radar indie samples that would otherwise pass completely ignored, and can give the Big Five output a run for its money. Shame on those who tried to shut them downand failed.
Up here in Canada, most radio is an abysmal wasteland of boredom and stupidity thanks to an organization called the CRTC. They make sure all sorts of sub par Canadian music content gets an abundant % the of airplay. Just because it's Canadian doesn't mean it's good. My Canadian identity is not reaffirmed by a 20-year-old Loverboy song. Oh yeah, one more thing: As a Canadian, I would like to personally apologize for Celine Dion and Shania Twain being allowed to record. They are as annoying as the NHL.