Wow, radio is getting crappy, is nothing sacred

[TAGO MAGO]

I driving back from DC with the top down and wanted to listen to the radio but not necessarily to music so as I was loosing the C-Span feed on 90.1 FM around Front Royal, I decide to check out some old favorites on the AM dial, one of which is WBZ out of Boston. My father has listened to this station for years and it's night time talk shows were a staple of evening trips to visit relatives in Pennsylvania. I used to often fall asleep listening to this station and always liked it because the talk shows did not suffer from a political bias one way or another. I tune in on my drive home and hear this talk show and soon realize I am listening to a damn info-merical. What the hell? I tune into I think a New York station and they are also playing an info-mercial. Is this soon what the AM dial is going to be filled with, info-mercials and the radical right?

 

[OvenMaster]

Is this soon what the AM dial is going to be filled with, info-mercials and the radical right?

Too late. It already is. I've given up on AM... and FM isn't far behind.
Tom

 

[stabby]

AM is for sports only these days. FM died a long time ago when a few Giant Corporations bought up everything.

Go from town to town and you'll find the exact same stations playing the exact same music, even with the same nicknames and billboards.

They've turned radio into McDonalds.

 

[Hendrix416]

The AM band is now: sports, righty political talk, religious, spanish and asian. Little to no music - the few that are left are sat. feed or an iPod connected to a transmitter. There are no "local" AM stations anymore.

Aside from technology interference, I find no use to DX on the AM band anymore. Seems like every city airs the same crap.

As for infomercials, that's the same reason I don't watch much TV anymore either.

 

[TAGO MAGO]

Aside from technology interference, I find no use to DX on the AM band anymore.

Yeah, DXing on AM used to be fun, if it is all syndicated, it is rather pointless. I think I may be seeking out some old time radio shows on cd for in the car. Of course FM has John Tesh. I thought I hated him as a musician and the host of Entertainment Tonight, I really think he is contemptable as a disc jockey. Intellegence for you life, bulls**t. Play some music that stimulates my mind rather than that Air Supply crap and stop reading to me from Redbook, Womans World and Prevention.

 

[hbrocks]

I like NPR when I'm in need of a change of pace...

 

[Dan ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ]

It's either NPR or Radio Paradise for me. I gave up on the rest of it years ago.

 

[AK 47]

my ST-9030 has been tuned to 90.3 for 10 years (the dial may be frozen!) FM NPR is my favorite listening media..........

 

[WhiteSE]

yeah, its funny that I have my dial on only two NPR stations..one for talkie talkie and one with 24hrs classical...what a shame really!! and my fav is 105.9, out o fthe range of my Telefunken Opus radio...Damnit!!

 

[willyrover]

Radio?

 

[Sandy G]

It is particularly distressing to me, for I have managed to collect some of the Tooob era's most sophisticated devices for receiving Angel Modulation signals...And there's nothing to listen to except C-R-A-P.

 

[finnbow]

Other than NPR, the only decent radio in DC is WPFW, 89.3 FM. It has some pretty fine jazz programming; however, it features Pacifica talk programming. Its sound quality (within its reception area) is good, but its on-air engineering is quite amateurish (which can be either endearing, amusing or annoying).

 

[Andyman]

Went to an antique radio show this week and saw lots of beautiful old wooden tabletops and consoles, but many were AM and I wondered what the heck would I listen to on them???

This thread isn't helping. Perhaps they sound best silent????

 

[whell]

Last night, I was at a graduation party. The host had his iPod hooked up to the stereo system, and music of his choice played throughout the house and the back yard, completely commercial - free and w/o the need to feed a CD changer or flip a record. It was great, and not a single person there cared or complained about any perceived lack of fidelity / audio quality. That same technology / capability is available to folks who drive cars. It is the very select and precious few who still use analog FM gear as a primary source for music, and you don't need great fidelity for AM or FM talk or news.

Its no secret that broadcast AM or FM content providers need listeners in relatively large numbers to support them, so they can sell airtime for commercials. Listenership has been dwindling for years on music - only channels. Talk radio sells content as well, and will only air content that attracts a significant listener base. No political commentary here, but talk radio stations and advertisers have found that what sells on the airwaves, or attracts a significant listener base to a particular station, is sports, center - right leaning political commentary / entertainment, or ethnic content. NPR has a relatively low market share. If it wasn't supported by taxpayers, it would not generate enough share to be commercially viable.

Conglomerate ownership is the only thing might allow musical content stations to be profitable. Some of them still aren't profitable on their own. They may break even at best. There are some exceptions, though, and some of these are doing OK, and others are hanging on by a thread.

I'd love it if someone smarter than me came up with a "game-changing" scenario that allowed FM- music stations to thrive. HD radio was one such hope, and I don't think it is creating a transcendent environment for FM...at least not yet.

So, support your favorite sources on the broadcast dial as best you can. Their days may be numbered.

 

[TAGO MAGO]

Other than NPR, the only decent radio in DC is WPFW, 89.3 FM. It has some pretty fine jazz programming; however, it features Pacifica talk programming. Its sound quality (within its reception area) is good, but its on-air engineering is quite amateurish (which can be either endearing, amusing or annoying).

WPFW's range ain't what it used to be. I remember back in the 80's I could get it up in Massanutten Village (of course we were on a mountain) with a rooftop antenna, but I was starting loose it around Marshall last time I listened. On trips back from DC I find I loose a few of the lower powered ones around Marshall or Front Royal and then all the DC stations disappear around Woodstock. Years ago DC had some great rock stations, all of which are now long gone (anybody remember WCXR?). I listen to WTOP on occasion, but their news bursts lack detail and repeat way too often to want to listen to them more than 15 minutes. Most of the time my dial is tuned to nothing but NPR, although I am not that much of a Garrison Keillior fan, so Saturday evenings (or afternoons depending on the station) are out.

 

[stereofanboy]

If you find talk radio, or really any media today, in which you perceive no bias, that just means that they are biased in the same direction as you. No one thinks of themselves as a whack-job. They think of themselves as pretty middle of the road, while people who believe differently are fringe freaks.

I'm not digging the radio much these days. I sometimes doubt that there are any live people at the radio station. There are a few shows that I listen to on a fairly regular basis. For several weeks in a row, after Rock Line two songs would play simultaneously. You would think that if there was anyone there, that wouldn't happen two weeks in a row, much less six or seven.

 

[TAGO MAGO]

If you find talk radio, or really any media today, in which you perceive no bias, that just means that they are biased in the same direction as you.

Actually if they were right leaning, but approached it from a reasonable standpoint, I could deal with it. It's just the loudmouths that annoy me. Trust me, I am what would be called a liberal, but I got just as annoyed with Abbie Hoffman's crap as I do Rush Limbaugh's.

 

[mhardy6647]

WBZ still has local talk radio on weekday nights... but it's not of the calibre of David Brudnoy or even Paul "Sulley" Sullivan who took Brudnoy's place before David died and subsequently died himself (a victim of cancer).

I listen to WBZ news going to work every morning; it's still pretty good in the AM.

 

[Maron Horonzakz]

KFUO FM classical station in St. Louis shut down last week,,Will be replaced with a pop christian station,,, More PAP crap,, NPR is even worse with there leftest talk balony, and very little music.

 

[Andyman]

So, support your favorite sources on the broadcast dial as best you can. Their days may be numbered.

I know. whenever I hear WRCJ say that they are listener support radio for the Detroit Public Schools I shudder and wonder how long they'll be around seeing DPS was the poster boy for fiscal mismanagement.

I guess I should make a pledge, but that worked out so well the last time I made one to WDET....