What type of broadcast music do you most often listen to?

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.

What type of broadcast music do you <I>most</I> often listen to?
Regular FM radio
65% (111 votes)
XM satellite radio
4% (7 votes)
Sirius satellite radio
3% (5 votes)
DirecTV or Dish satellite music
2% (4 votes)
Cable music
2% (3 votes)
Web radio
6% (10 votes)
AM radio
2% (4 votes)
Other
5% (8 votes)
None
11% (19 votes)
Total votes: 171

COMMENTS
Michael Chernay's picture

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.

suits_me's picture

I only listen to FM radio, and mostly during off hours to hear the somewhat good stuff, such as "Earthsounds," "Prairie Home Companion," "Echoes," "Thistle and Shamrock," and so on.

Mark Gdovin's picture

I am a lucky man to live in the Denver area with two really top notch NPR stations—one 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.

David Schwartz's picture

I listen to news and sports talk on AM radio. The only FM radio I listen to is a weekend Breakfast With The Beatles show.

Gerald Neily's picture

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.

Tim Bishop's picture

Mostly just in the car, driving here and there.

Martin Clark's picture

Regular FM here, via an Onix BWD-1. Long live BBC Radio3 in the UK—the live relays are probably the finest "source" I've heard.

beken's picture

A good tuner, good music off the air in my area. What more could on ask?

Anonymous's picture

I refuse to pay for a subscription for music and web music is usually terrible.

Paul J.  Stiles, Mtn.  View, CA's picture

In the car, though. It is usually the PBS station or a classical or jazz station. No Clearchannel or such pap for me!!!

Rico C's picture

NPR in the car or on my Walkman either walking the dog or on my public transit commute. Classical music to wake up to, in my workroom, and if I use my tuner.

Chris Kantack's picture

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.

Ren's picture

I listen to the four national station available in BC Canada Eccletic music at its best.

John E.  Klintz's picture

Long live FM; I like the choices satellite radio offers, but I do not like the compression and artificial "echo."

DAB, Pacific Palisades, CA's picture

Whenever I'm on my online database, I listen to RCN Internet radio in the background. Other from that,....

H.'s picture

I used to listen to FM,but the commercials got too long. A CD or two sees me thru my drive.

Todd R's picture

FM is dead,; long live XM!

Ted Kwolek's picture

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.

Peter MacHare's picture

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.

Donald N.'s picture

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...

Larry Solomon's picture

With all the cable music "stations", I still spend most of my listening time with BBC and NPR (A Prairie Home Companion ROCKS, despite what Fremer says).

Fred's picture

I can no longer listen to the crap on commercial radio. I listen to some good local public radio stations.

Ross in SC's picture

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.

B.  Wilensky's picture

Public radio is still putting out the best music out there. Open up your wallet, donate a few dollars, and feel good about what you're listening to. You have a say in what's on the air.

Gerald Clifton's picture

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.

Colin's picture

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.

JCS's picture

Sports talk show.

Mike Agee's picture

Outside of talk and a little Tanglewood on Public Radio, my tuner sits idle. We have Serius (sp?) Radio via the TV dish but wire management keeps it in the box, so far.

beto's picture

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 down—and failed.

Ron in Vancouver's picture

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.

Pages

X