Way OT: The Death of Rock Radio

[Nooch]

Is rock radio dead? Not classic rock radio, more like rock/alt rock/maybe even throwing some metal in there?

I got in the car on my lunch break and left my iPod at my cube. Went to throw on my standard, 101.9 WRXP (New York's Rock Experience) to find Sheryl Crow's (hey, this can almost be made OT with that reference) "All I Wanna Do." After the song was thru the tag on the radio changed from "WRXP" to "101.9 FM New," an adult-contempary station. Really? We have plenty of those in New York!

So is Rock Radio dying out across the country? Or does it just seem to be wherever I am?

Going back to listening to Seton Hall University's "Pirate Radio" from here on out..

[fiamme red]

Hinckley wrote about it in the News.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2011/07/18/2011-07-18_wrxp_transitions_to_talk_radio_evening_hosts_dr elio_chris_play_bittersweet_symph.html?r=entertain ment

Sad that the airwaves in NYC are so inundated with "easy listening" top-40 music, but that's what the people want.

[JMerring]

Pandora. Classic rock alive and quite well. What's a "fm" and what do those numbers have to do with it?

[William]

What's a "fm" and what do those numbers have to do with it?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpu95-MYgtw





William

[veloduffer]

A friend of mine who is the radio business told me that New York is one of the most conservative radio markets in the US. Not from a political point of view but in terms of advertising dollars. It is the most commercially driven market, so formats are dictated by advertising dollars. Hence the turnover in formats and no dedicated stations to alternative rock or country, and very limited choices on classical and jazz (traditional, not the Kenny G version).

[William]

A friend of mine who is the radio business told me that New York is one of the most conservative radio markets in the US. Not from a political point of view but in terms of advertising dollars. It is the most commercially driven market, so formats are dictated by advertising dollars. Hence the turnover in formats and no dedicated stations to alternative rock or country, and very limited choices on classical and jazz (traditional, not the Kenny G version).

It has come to pass....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077532/usercomments
"It may not be a cinematic masterpiece, but the 1978 movie FM has something going for it as, admittedly in its dated late 1970s way, it somehow foresaw the corporate turn that the radio media would take in years to come. And it does so with a wall-to-wall soundtrack of late 70s Top 40 memories that now fall under the rubric of Classic Rock. In essence, this is the classic rock response to the disco onslaught of Saturday NIGHT FEVER.

Michael Brandon is Jeff Dugan, the program director at QSKY radio in Los Angeles who oversees an on-air staff of wild and crazy disc jockeys (Alex Karras; Cleavon Little; Eileen Brennan; Cassie Yates; Martin Mull) that, through playing what the L.A. populace wants to hear and with limited commercial interruptions, has made the radio station Number One in the second largest media market in the nation. Things seem to be looking up, until "the boys upstairs" decide how much better things could be if more commercials were aired between blasts of Steely Dan, Queen, and Boston. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with Dugan and his merry band, but the top brass envision QSKY just becoming one big infomercial. This, however, leads to an insane backlash from the QSKY staff and, eventually, a takeover of the station that nearly results in rioting on the streets.

This is definitely pretty thin stuff for a film that was allegedly the inspiration for CBS-TV's fine sitcom "WKRP In Cincinnati" (though the pilot of that series was being filmed at the same time FM was being filmed, so the resemblance is only coincidental). But while this film is no NETWORK, in terms of films that attack the decay of the media, FM still works in getting its situations across. Maybe the idea that a radio station's staff would rail against corporate interference sounds a bit daft, but the notion that a big conglomerate (Clear Channel, for example) would turn a radio station into one big box in which the music is only the filler between attempts to part listeners from their hard-earned money isn't so easy to laugh at anymore.

FM has a lot going for it. For one, it was the only feature film directed by John A. Alonzo, one of Hollywood's premiere cinematographers; his credits include CHINATOWN, BLACK Sunday, SCARFACE, and parts of Steven Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. And for another, that wall-to-wall soundtrack of what we now call classic rock is enhanced by actual concert footage of Jimmy Buffett and Linda Ronstadt. Buffett's performance of "Livingston Saturday Night" reminds one of what he was decades before his Margaritaville was hijacked by Nashville pretenders like Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith. And Linda, normally a very stage-shy performer, asserts herself boldly on searing renditions of "Tumbling Dice" and "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me", then pays a heartfelt tribute to Elvis by doing the King's 1956 classic "Love Me Tender."

I can't help but give FM a rating of "7" because it reminds one of what the radio was like before corporate interference and MTV began to slowly corrupt and destroy it, and because it is an interesting time capsule of life in Los Angeles at the end of the 1970s."

Also reminds me of the cable tv logic at the start...."No commercials because you pay for it." :rolleyes:





William

[FlashUNC]

Rock is kicking right along on satellite radio.

Little Steven's Underground Garage is Number 1 on my preset, and worth every penny for the subscription.

[AngryScientist]

luckily for us in NYC, little stevens UG is aired on the classic rock station.

i was totally bummed that RXP is off the air, they were pretty good. sigh.

[Nooch]

I had satellite, and loved it, but I couldn't justify the cost any longer. They didn't try and save me nearly as hard as I figured they would (I've heard people getting half off just by calling and b!tching).

It is what it is.. I'll continue with my iPod, and eventually someone will play new Alt Rock -- or if I just wait long enough, everything I like will start getting played on the classic rock stations...

[zetroc]

I can't remember the last time I heard metal on the radio.

[1centaur]

Wait long enough and everything will be on your cell plugged into your car stereo.

[Charles M]

Tunein radio...


Google it.


Want rock?

Want it in Swahili? Or German or Arabic?

Rock is alive and well in most cities, especially the stations that are smart enough to know times and transmit ion standards change..

[cmg]

google a list of commercial free online radio stations, Kexp, seattle or wber rodchester, 3wk etc. etc. it's either that or get use to hearing familar music. as the audience gets older its tolerance for new dimishes. Older america are the ones holding the purse strings. The audience for non mainstream is very small, your not going to get rich catering to it. How much classic Guns and Roses, led zepllin can you stand? not even robert plant wants to sing Led zeplin songs.....

[Nooch]

I'm stuck in the car, though, as I don't have an aux-in and I lack an iPhone.. Internet radio is great... if you have the internet..

[AngryScientist]

I'm stuck in the car, though, as I don't have an aux-in and I lack an iPhone.. Internet radio is great... if you have the internet..

yea, not to mention that, its a pain in the a$$. i just want to jump in my car, turn on the ignition and listen to the radio, not plug stuff in, look at another device, etc etc.

hopefully someone will step up and fill the gap for the NYC area, i have to imagine there is demand for rock

[Bradford]

I had satellite, and loved it, but I couldn't justify the cost any longer.
Xm is $13 a month, not counting the discount if you pay for the whole year at once. I spend 2 hours a day in the car commuting, plus weekend driving. The cost is pennies per hour.

I get baseball every day, a variety from talk to jazz to rock that suits my mood, and I never loose the station when I drive to the mountains (other than in the tunnel).

That is a whole lot of listening for not a whole lot of money. I know people that spend more money on coffee by the third day of the month.

I can't think of too many things I spend money on where the cost is easier to justify.

[Kevan]

NYC radio is now awesomely bad. Even WFUV seems to be slipping and their weekend format, like when a lot a people can listen to radio, is mostly stuck in Irish country jig mode (Not that there's anything wrong with that!). But still... Even our classical formats are disappearing or have gone to stations with virtual-no-power antennae.

What's the point in having a radio dial anymore?

[Seramount]

the satellite radio I've listened to is tolerable...commercial FM is junk.

drivel from brain-damaged DJs, endless commercials, the same 3 songs from each artist...

utter crap.

[Sasha18]

It's all about KEXP.org. Commercial free, listener supported, awesome music. All the nighttime shows are good. Daytime is alt, indy rock n roll. Honestly, it doesn't get better.

[jlwdm]

Just downloaded the iheartradio app tonight. Choose stations by city or type of music.
Just listened to a little Seattle sports radio in the car.

Jeff

[WickedWheels]

Is rock radio dead? Not classic rock radio, more like rock/alt rock/maybe even throwing some metal in there?

I got in the car on my lunch break and left my iPod at my cube. Went to throw on my standard, 101.9 WRXP (New York's Rock Experience) to find Sheryl Crow's (hey, this can almost be made OT with that reference) "All I Wanna Do." After the song was thru the tag on the radio changed from "WRXP" to "101.9 FM New," an adult-contempary station. Really? We have plenty of those in New York!

So is Rock Radio dying out across the country? Or does it just seem to be wherever I am?

Going back to listening to Seton Hall University's "Pirate Radio" from here on out..

Yes. In NY it is.

I moved here from Boston, where we had 101.7 WFNX (my favorite), 107.3 WAAF and 104.1 WBCN. Most of the stations here are either hip hop or hispanic. Switch to internet radio. It's worth it.

[ThasFACE]

FM is brutal in NYC, and not in the good way.

[Louis]

What's the world coming to?

My NPR station dropped Stephen Hill's Hearts of Space (http://www.hos.com/) program. Not sure what the stoners are going to do now...

[rice rocket]

When KROQ died, I think it was the beginning of the end of rock radio nationwide.

[Nooch]

When KROQ died, I think it was the beginning of the end of rock radio nationwide.

+1

as far as xm, the hit me with the annual re-up right before my wedding, and most of the stations I listened to were on the best of sirius package, and I just didn't have the money to spend at that moment. now that things are better I may reconsider, but since I don't deliver pizza anymore the urge to drop the coin on it isn't quite as strong. That is, when I still had RXP.

Listen, KROQ was great. I even, for a moment, enjoyed 92.3 when it was Free FM or whatever the talk format was. Nick DiPaulo's show at lunch time was pretty money... O&A in the morning... it wasn't *terrible*. I'd gladly take that over the recycled Z100/Hot 97 hybrid that it's turned into.

When I was living in Hartford, 106.9 WCCC was the best. Bring that to NYC and we'll be golden.

[Fixed]

dumbing down listeners over the years so they like nursery rhymes and think it is cutting edge music
imho
cheers

[Germany_chris]

dumbing down listeners over the years so they like nursery rhymes and think it is cutting edge music
imho
cheers

I don't want to offend you I have too much respect for your character (nothing I say is personal) but I would say the same things about "rock" in the 60's and early 70's..overly whiney, emotional and dumbed down..My tendency is to say the sex pistols changed that or at least turned the annoying emotions of "rocks heyday" *looking at you Bob Dillon* into anger and change. Peace, Love, and Flowers changed nothing but fists and baseball bats do/did.

[Fixed]

i said top 40 music ...punk is college radio music around here ,,
the 60's had had bubble gum but some real music made it to top 40 once in awhile
cheers

[Germany_chris]

i said top 40 music ...punk is college radio music around here ,,
the 60's had had bubble gum but some real music made it to top 40 once in awhile
cheers

Punk will always be college radio, that's it's market. I like it for different reasons but that neither here nor there. I think at some point I've heard all the favored music of that era and have liked very little. It's probably because that it's my fathers music and does not appeal to me on a visceral level like punk does. The tunes that are angry enough "Black Sabbath" are to dark (minor chords) Iron man is anger and sadness all rolled into one, a soldiers regret. while the Beatles, Led Zepplin, Dillon, CCR, etc. while the lyrics were important had no repercussions. Saying you're a bad guy Mr. Nixon/Mr. Johnson, doesn't do it for me. Saying you a stupid f**k Mr. Reagan if I see you I'm going to knock your teeth out with a Louisville slugger has more effect. The 80's/90's were decades of excess and maybe thats why i'm skewed.

*edit* in the end I think the aims were the same. Much of todays music is just bad. I ask my wife who loves songs for their good beat if I can have the few minutes of my life back after the songs are over. The songs say nothing and mean nothing other than a platinum record.

[rounder]

I used to bad mouth satelite radio until i got it...used to say i want local channels with local news. I drive to work about half of the time now and spend almost 4 hours on the road each day. The channels i listen to the most are B.B. King's bluesville, Outlaw, and Coffeehouse. I agree that if you keep listening to the same channel, you can hear the same songs over and over. But there are lots of channels, including umpty ump channels by genre. When at a computer, i listen to Pandora.

[Nooch]

meant to bring this back last week, but 101.9 is back in NY/NJ! :banana:

granted, it's the same 15 songs over and over but at least it's music!

[echelon_john]

http://wfmu.org/

[tlittlefield]

Hey Wicked Wheels...

'BCN has been gone a couple of years now and "FNX stopped broadcasting next week.

It is really a shame...

[cmg]

http://wfmu.org/

Thanks, the streaming link worked on my goverment computer. Yes, your tax dollars are being used to waste bandwidth. very cool.