Radio

After the last post I realized it could stand on it's own, and decided not to do the radio part.

For some reason I started listening to commercial radio again, I suppose mainly because the only station I can pick up in my apartment at school is the alternative station on campus where I have a show. I realize that there is some good stuff out there on commercial radio. Zwan comes to mind, and the new Everclear does also. Of course, if I listen to those stations long enough, I'll get sick of those songs too. Commercial radio never fails to do that.

Like I said, I work at a radio station. Granted, it's a college one, but it's actually run much like a commercial station. We have actual playlists that we play from, and the DJ's pick only 2 songs an hour. Mind you, I'm not counting all the "specialty" shows, I'm talking about the regular alternative and hip-hop shifts. We have about 300 cd's that are in rotation, and about 3 or 4 songs from each cd are good for airplay. This is unlike msot commerical stations that have a list of about 40 songs that they play over and over again, and then other spots in the hour are reserved for "catalogue" hits. I could go into more detail about this, as I learned how station managers plan out each hour. But that's boring.

What's wrong with radio is this: there's no variety anymore. Sure, you can go from a modern rock station, to classic rock, to rap, and on and on. But what was wrong with having all those on one station? There's way too much good music out there...why limit yourself by listening to only one genre? Some of you may be thinking, "Kevin, you idiot! What about Top 40 radio?" Top 40 radio is the worst of all. They only play the newest songs, and with such a small playlist they drive those songs into the ground (where most of them should belong anyways). Alternative radio isn't the answer, either. Indie rock is cool, I'll admit that... but it's not the end-all of music. Alt-radio tends to be free form, which is good, but at the same time they ignore pop music for the most part. I'm not talking the overproduced crap that passes for music on MTV, I'm talking good old fashioned rock and roll. Some of you may know that I have a soft spot for guitar-driven pop (like Weezer)... So neither of those things are the answer. I think radio in general needs to go back to being free form.. they should play music from the 50's - today with a nice balance of oldies, classic rock, blues, country (some, not a lot)., hard rock.. the list goes on and on. I think this would work, because the people I know that actually appreciate music listen to more than just what's popular and current. Wouldn't you like a radio station that's as diverse as your cd and mp3 collection?