2. music
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So much music that we never hear!

I do a lot of casual music listening both at home and in my car. My go to is local radio stations as I can get strong signals from 8 to 10 in my area. The recent consolidation of the industry is starting to show and not in a good way. There are only a few companies who own all the stations now. We music lovers know that the amount of music is vast and we can spends months with out having to play the same song or album over again. Today in radio I notice that no matter what station I listen to I keep hearing the same few songs over and over again. Even station that advertise as being different formats all play the same loops. They run commercials all at the same time and even run the same promo events. Are we witness to the death of radio and new music discovery at the hands of the corporate profit model?

sgreg1
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,379 posts
 

While your observations are spot on regarding commercial stations, with a tiny bit of effort you can flip the whole scenario on its ugly earnings-driven head.

Most of us have mobile phones that can connected to car stereos. Independent radio station growth has been steady. "Live Radio" features in popular apps like Roon, Spotify and Pandora have given these stations, many from universities, far more listener reach, allowing them to keep their niches and find more listeners and support. 

So I would suggest you download apps from stations like these (or find them in your streaming apps) and let your car time be musical discovery time:

  • KUTX - Univ. of TX-Austin
  • WXPN - Univ. of PA
  • WFUV - Fordham Univ.
  • KCRW - LA inde radio

There are thousands more...those are personal favs for inde rock, folk, blues, modern. All are commercial free and have far wider, deeper playlists and genre-specific shows. Cheers,

Spencer

tablejockey
3,916 posts
 

Radio station programming is to keep a listener for around 20 minutes. Nothing new. It's been this way for decades.

Expand your listening tastes to Classical and Jazz for the PBS stations. They don't do the radio "formula"

middlemass
917 posts
 

What tablejockey said. Absolutely nothing new. Mass radio program brainwashing has been going on for over 50 years.

mitch2
4,007 posts
 

Try SirusXM radio in your vehicle.  I also use their app to listen at work on my computer sometimes.  Try Tidal and Qobuz in your system at home.  After your specific choices have played, those services will continue to play similar but different choices.  These options have made things interesting and more enjoyable for me compared to my listening being limited to my own CD library or standard radio station catalogs.  I now hear music I have never heard as well as music I know but have forgotten about because I don’t own the CD.

 

larsman's avatar
larsman
1,982 posts
 

@tablejockey + 1

I think since the 21st century, anyway, the influence of 'radio' has declined somewhat dramatically - there are just so many more ways to check out and listen to music, like this new-fangled 'streaming' stuff... 😆

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