This topic has bothered me for quite a while. Having been involved in radio in college, thus provided with a small glimpse of how the radio industry works, the whole idea of radio in this area has me rather perturbed.
The idea of radio came to mind the other day when I was answering a survey question that asked, "Music or talk radio?" I thought about this for a while. I have 6 preset buttons on the radio in my car, which is primarily where I listen to the radio. Of those, all but one is set to music radio. But I probably listen to the talk station more than all of the others combined, simply because I can't stand what's on the music channels.
The primary music station for my tastes around here is Y100. They play "Modern Rock". Today that translates to, "bands that sound like Limp Bizkit." A year ago it translated to, "bands that sound like Creed." And the year before that it translated to, "bands that sound like Dave Matthews Band." Basically, the idea is to throw together a bunch of tunes that sound the most like the most popular pop rock band out there, mix in new tunes from a few classic acts (like the awful, awful new stuff by the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and vomit it out onto the airwaves.
Every time I turn on Y100, I hear one of two things. It's either another sound-alike of the most popular band, or a beer commercial. In fact, I would go so far as to say that they have a wider variety of beer commercials than they do songs in their normal rotation. The only thing that plays on Y100 more often than the Samuel Adams commercial is the station name, "Y100." Just count how many times you hear it in an hour. I guarantee you'll hit 50 or more, as if you didn't know what station you were on.
Button number 4 on my radio is 94.1 WYSP. YSP used to be the "cool" station in high school because they played classic rock that you could only know if you were in that crowd. You know the cool crowd. Anyhow, within the past year it has turned into Opie and Anthony radio, and since their ejection from radio, Don and Mike radio. Oh, yeah, don't even start me on Howard Stern in the morning. I could easily overlook him back in school because I was never listening to the radio at that time of day (see also: sleeping in). These days, it's just rehashed unfunniness.
Speaking of unfunniness, Don and Mike... Ok, they have some interesting segments, but as usual I have several complaints. First, you're a talk program, so stop playing the 15-minute-long sound bytes from movies when you come back from commercial! Second, based on your voices, I have this very disturbing image of two old farts sitting around a shack of a studio asking bucktoothed girls to strip for them. My point here is that I don't find your content as disturbing as who you've gotten to present it. It's like having a 90-year-old coot announce the next stripper at Al's Cabaret. Finally, you've got to lose the attitude that prevents new listeners from picking you up. I get the feeling that if I even knew what inside joke you were talking about more than half the time I might enjoy the show more.
Besides that on WYSP, you'll hear Metallica. Only Metallica. Mandatory Metallica. Does Metallica own the station? It sounds like it. And they really don't play classic rock any more. WYSP doesn't compare to a real rock station (last I heard it, anyway) like WJRR in Orlando.
Speaking of rock stations, lets talk about button 6 on my car radio, 93.3 WMMR. I hate Pierre Robert. Turn that guy off. Every time I hear him I wish he would just shut up with his dumb anectdotal Workforce Blocks. Strangely, I only tune to WMMR when no other of the previous stations suits me, but they play a decent assortment of classic rock. But they seem to rotate Rush (and bands that sound like Rush) a lot more that I care to listen. So if I hear Pierre or Rush I pretty much don't listen to MMR, and as a result, I don't listen to much MMR at all.
Button 3 on the tuner is 97.5 WPST. It's "real music variety" only if you listen to it as I do. That is, if you don't want to hear rock any more. But it's "today's hit music". I'm wondering with whom this music is a hit. The Pink, Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne, J Lo, Justin Timberlake, etc. crowd. Icky icky icky. But it sounds different, and like walking into a dark room and trying to fumble your way out or driving an unusual route to work, it's stimulating for the brain to hear something that you don't ever listen to otherwise. Until you freak out from the bad music.
Button 5 is a good one, The Curve, 91.7 WCUR, West Chester University Radio. Why is it good? Because it's not the same dumb stuff, yet it's not the teenybopper garbage on WPST. The shows tend to run in 2 hour blocks, so if you don't like the music you hear at one time of the day, you can just tune in a couple hours later and hear something probably totally different.
Unlike other local college radio, WCUR doesn't bother with PSAs or much talk at all. In fact, I was surprised to hear talk at all this morning during what appears to be a regular Friday morning news/talk segment. There are no ads at any time I've listened. The only bad things I can say about WCUR are that I can't receive it everywhere (only within about 8 miles of West Chester) and the station ID sweepers need souped up. The Monday night shows rock on toast, er... techno on toast.
Let me rave a bit about setting 2, my news station KYW 1060. I like getting the news in short bits, even though I sometimes wish they would report more. I like the cheesy tech reports that would be of interest to nobody. To put it more succinctly, it ain't great, but it's comfortable.
There are a few other stations in Philly worth note. I will skip all of the rap/R&B stations.
I don't even know how to describe the kind of music Mix 95.7 plays these days. "Bad?" There used to be a good modern rock station there. Oh, well.
And another station, WDRE, used to rock it on 103.9, as you can see on the WDRE web page. They're gone, too. Most of the DJs moved over to Y100 when they left, but they're mostly gone from there now, probably since Y100 ain't all that. The original WDRE domain has been appropriated by... someone else.
Should I even mention B101? Transmitting hypnotic slave music, er, soft rock to the working masses. Really. What better way to lull you into complacency than play Billy Joel and Elton John at you all day?
What exactly is the lure of NPR? To me, it's worthless. Even so, people seem to like WHYY 91.
And before anyone starts in about XPN... XPN really really sucks. It's like someone who tunes in regularly to Masterpiece Theater was left to decide what kind of music people would like to listen to, and it was deemed that "artsy" is what best suited the students of Penn. It's student radio fro crying out loud. It's not supposed to be so lame!
Not the same can be said for XPN's bastard child WQHS, which seems really neat according to this history. But I've never heard it on the air.
If you know of a better station, let me know. I'm dieing to get out from under this poor radio selection. Maybe you could just send me a nice MP3 system for my car. Maybe one of those EMPEGs. C'mon, you know you want to.
