Okay, this came up in another thread, and I thought I'd branch off. What has you listening, or not listening to radio?
For me, what keeps me away is the completely brainless cycle of endlessly bad music that seems to permeate most of the stations.
It amazes me that people will listen to the same rotation of swill all day long, with no desire for anything different. I want to hear stuff I've never heard before, and then some more of what I've never heard before. I want music that's challenging and will make me think. Which is why Radio Free Hawaii was so good. I could go from The Smiths to Hui Ohana, to some whack band that I'd never heard of. But at least it was doing something to increase my awareness of music and of life in general. There were many viewpoints, some which I didn't agree with, but since there were so many different people on the station not constrained by weird corporate conventions, conversation could occur.
Sometimes the easy way out is just that.
Of course there's a caveat to my statements, and this thread is no slam to those currently involved in radio. I know of the constraints put upon DJs - they have to follow what's prescribed to them. It's management and the higher-ups that I have a problem with.
For me, what keeps me away is the completely brainless cycle of endlessly bad music that seems to permeate most of the stations.
It amazes me that people will listen to the same rotation of swill all day long, with no desire for anything different. I want to hear stuff I've never heard before, and then some more of what I've never heard before. I want music that's challenging and will make me think. Which is why Radio Free Hawaii was so good. I could go from The Smiths to Hui Ohana, to some whack band that I'd never heard of. But at least it was doing something to increase my awareness of music and of life in general. There were many viewpoints, some which I didn't agree with, but since there were so many different people on the station not constrained by weird corporate conventions, conversation could occur.
Sometimes the easy way out is just that.
Of course there's a caveat to my statements, and this thread is no slam to those currently involved in radio. I know of the constraints put upon DJs - they have to follow what's prescribed to them. It's management and the higher-ups that I have a problem with.
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