FM radio love and hate relationship
- Thread starter leesonic
- Start date
You might be able to do that on WVLT. Maybe you can go on after the "old man yells at clouds" call in hour. Pretty sure their weekend programming at least is hosted by just random people who want to do a radio show.
This sounds an awful like Mad Wasp Radio. Streaming radio. Maybe you should contact them about getting an open slot.
Been doing this for years.
No comfort from WXRV? I only check there when non-commercial stations I can get in the car are too depressing, but for a commercial station, they seem pretty good to me.
Brunch By The River is a must on Sunday morning.
cq.ab0nf
Active Member
Good grief, it feels like 30 minutes here in the US.
Analog compression is on nearly every station here, and after about 20 minutes my ears are tired.
Also I won’t hold you back now , great song that never gets much play !
Well, full of optimism and hope I turned on the radio yesterday.
Suffered through commercial after commercial and a couple of old "hits."
I could only take it for 20 minutes, switched over to a cassette. Ahh, relief...
I find the best signal and least commercials after 7 pm
Mike_S
Well-Known Member
You all keep talking bout iHart, but in the PNW it's all Audacy stations.
Grew up in Boston listing to WBCN!
For local stations, I like this web page, helps when I'm on the road.
Grew up in Boston listing to WBCN!
For local stations, I like this web page, helps when I'm on the road.
Bill Ferris
Lunatic Member
I used to do the same internal music sourced broadcasting using that same Ramsey transmitter that I built sometime in the mid nineties, but unlike your setup, I purchased and built their PVC pipe enclosed outside FM transmitting antenna mounted on a 36 ft. high pole for best all around coverage, and cranked up its RF output control.
Friends told me they could pickup my clear frequency chosen 103.3 broadcast signal pretty cleanly from their car`s radio well over a couple of miles away.
Volvo242GT
Well-Known Member
I've started listening to KAFA-FM out of Colorado Springs and KHKM-FM out of Hamilton, MT via their streaming services. Both seem to be less Seattle grunge and GnR, Poison-centric, than KNDD and KISW are. Locally, I'm more likely to listen to JackFM (KJAQ 96.5 FM) or KISM 92.9 FM out of Bellingham than the aforementioned Seattle rock & alternative stations. The latter comes in fairly well here in Duvall. Even when I lived on Mercer Island, it still had enough oomph to be listenable.
For a while, I listened to KEXP, but found that they had become too radicalized in 2019-2020, so I moved on. KBCS 91.3 is ok. Comes in fairly well all over the eastside, and has some decent shows on the weekends, plus a fairly decent variety of music during the weekdays.
Interesting thread...
My FM listening is mostly confined to WCRB-FM out of Boston, NPR classical radio. It is very good, and I'm a financial supporter. I can also tell that there is a 'playlist' of sorts. They seem to play classical radio's greatest hits, and not so many of the 'deep' cuts, even by composers such as Aaron Copland. Way too much Maurice Ravel... I wonder who curates the playlist... The variety seems better at night, though, which is much like FM radio back in the 70s. The night jocks could really get going with album tracks that wouldn't be played 'business' hours...
My FM listening is mostly confined to WCRB-FM out of Boston, NPR classical radio. It is very good, and I'm a financial supporter. I can also tell that there is a 'playlist' of sorts. They seem to play classical radio's greatest hits, and not so many of the 'deep' cuts, even by composers such as Aaron Copland. Way too much Maurice Ravel... I wonder who curates the playlist... The variety seems better at night, though, which is much like FM radio back in the 70s. The night jocks could really get going with album tracks that wouldn't be played 'business' hours...
amptramp
Well-Known Member
I have always been amused by the term "curated" for the playlist. It make it sound like we are in a museum. I can imagine someone saying, "In this display case, we can see the early heavy metal civilization who accepted Duane Eddy as their king." If FM radio doesn't wise up and give people what they want, it will be relegated to a museum.
In our area, there is one AM station (CKOC 1150) that runs music with far fewer ads and just announcers with minimal presence - no obnoxious radio personalities. There is another bright spot in that a local FM station fired its male/female radio personality duo and replaced them with one guy with an English accent who had previously been a news reader. The female always sounded like she was high and her voice just grated. At least someone was listening to their own signal and took steps to improve things.
In our area, there is one AM station (CKOC 1150) that runs music with far fewer ads and just announcers with minimal presence - no obnoxious radio personalities. There is another bright spot in that a local FM station fired its male/female radio personality duo and replaced them with one guy with an English accent who had previously been a news reader. The female always sounded like she was high and her voice just grated. At least someone was listening to their own signal and took steps to improve things.
war2thegrave
Active Member
When I lived near St.Louis I mostly tuned into KSHE and it was mostly abysmal on the weekdays. Inane morning and afternoon shows featuring DJ talk, the same playlist of the same old songs that want me to believe that rock music must have vanished in the early 90's.
5 to 10 minute commercial breaks featuring R&B themed Mc Donalds, Hip-hop themed lawfirms specializing in DUI, and the local porn shop ads. I usually tuned out after the 2nd or 3rd porn shop commercial shilling penis pills and crotchless underwear, sooner if my children were in the room.
The weekends were better when they played lesser known stuff, occasionaly discussed the history of the bands, and played entire albums.
WDLJ out of Breese, IL was better with a much wider variety of songs, much fewer and less obnoxious commercials, and little to no talk. Had to wait until the signal was strong enough to lock in stereo though.
Does anyone actually listen to all these terrible morning and afternoon shows?
Life improved when I replaced when I replaced my tuner with a multimedia PC and internet radio. Thousands of stations avaliable. Many playing what I want to listen to, when I want to hear it.
5 to 10 minute commercial breaks featuring R&B themed Mc Donalds, Hip-hop themed lawfirms specializing in DUI, and the local porn shop ads. I usually tuned out after the 2nd or 3rd porn shop commercial shilling penis pills and crotchless underwear, sooner if my children were in the room.
The weekends were better when they played lesser known stuff, occasionaly discussed the history of the bands, and played entire albums.
WDLJ out of Breese, IL was better with a much wider variety of songs, much fewer and less obnoxious commercials, and little to no talk. Had to wait until the signal was strong enough to lock in stereo though.
Does anyone actually listen to all these terrible morning and afternoon shows?
Life improved when I replaced when I replaced my tuner with a multimedia PC and internet radio. Thousands of stations avaliable. Many playing what I want to listen to, when I want to hear it.
Mike_S
Well-Known Member
KEXP doesn't always come in well at my house, so have to stream it. I'm in the South Sound.
All streamed radio sounds compressed and lifeless.
Yeah, JackFM has a place, do tune into it. There are no Dj's, but they play a wide variety of music, it's great when you just want background music.
When I lived in the Bay Area, used to listen to Live105, have streamed that from time to time.
The programming of our local NPR affiliate (mainstay of classical and jazz/alternative) has been progressively becoming more talk, less music. I suspect it's only a matter of time before they go to all-talk.
About four years ago, another NPR station around 50 miles away (which I received reasonably clearly) had the same broadcast format, but made the decision to break into the two different signals with two different broadcast frequencies - one for all-music classical/jazz with a much smaller footprint (that I cannot receive) while the main carrier (the one I was able to receive) went to all-talk format.
Fortunately, both of these stations broadcast their music-only programming on HD-FM which is the only material I'm interested in hearing from either of these two stations. That is why straight FM-only tuners are no longer useful to me.
A third classical/jazz station out of Temple University has remained essentially all-music and still transmits FM exclusively.
About four years ago, another NPR station around 50 miles away (which I received reasonably clearly) had the same broadcast format, but made the decision to break into the two different signals with two different broadcast frequencies - one for all-music classical/jazz with a much smaller footprint (that I cannot receive) while the main carrier (the one I was able to receive) went to all-talk format.
Fortunately, both of these stations broadcast their music-only programming on HD-FM which is the only material I'm interested in hearing from either of these two stations. That is why straight FM-only tuners are no longer useful to me.
A third classical/jazz station out of Temple University has remained essentially all-music and still transmits FM exclusively.
We have an all classical FM station here in Portland, OR, which is good. However, they keep blasting the big, booming 19th-century symphonies with predictable cadences that I find myself wondering why I even bother listening. It's not all bad, to be sure. But there's so much great early music, and "smaller" chamber music around, that I wonder what on earth the program directors are thinking. It's the classical version, I suppose, of the rock stations that are afraid that deep cuts will alienate their audiences.
Taketheflame
Super Member
The consolidation (or hijacking, as I call it) that's taken place in the FM radio industry is why most of the major FM stations play a small selection of songs on repeat all day, other than during talk programs or local artist blocks (though those seem to be getting more and more non-local music thrown into the mix on said stations...).
IMO, it's the college/non-profit stations that are the last bastions of true goodness with FM. Living near some of the more well-regarded stations in the US that fit this category is why I still bother to use tuners.
IMO, it's the college/non-profit stations that are the last bastions of true goodness with FM. Living near some of the more well-regarded stations in the US that fit this category is why I still bother to use tuners.
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