Most radio stations including FM, satellite or internet play a very limited selection of music. Every year has its top 100 hits and there is still a lot of music beyond that. So a classic rock station for example should have 100s of songs to play. Well virtually all stations play the same top songs over and over again. They play them to the point that you never want to hear them again. I know there are licensing fee's, but these big corporations that own these stations can afford to change it up a little. Especially with all the commercials they play. Sirius XM is a little better, but they too overplay a lot of songs. The only one that plays a good selection is in my experience is Music Choice found on some cable providers. So does Muzak that many businesses use.
Anyone else have this experience or is bothered by it? Anyone know of any good internet radio stations that play 70s, 80s and 90s music beyond the usual party hit?
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You said it. It seems like every time I drive somewhere I'm spending the whole time scanning through radio stations. You'd think a little more variety would be an advantage. Everyone must be fed up, so I think record labels are paying stations to replay some of this crap.
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It just baffles me how they can get away with playing the same 30 songs over and over. A local classic rock station went to hip hop a little under a year ago. The corporation that owns them said with the demographics there wasn't a need for two classic rock stations in Houston. Bullshit. Most of these transmitters have been in operation since the 60s when there wasn't a limit on power and due to being grandfathered they exceed the FCC's power limits. This means they cover a very large area well outside the city. Hell I can get most Houston station just outside of Austin and San Antonio (over 100 miles away) in my car. No their ratings showed bad because they had a limited selection.
I downloaded an 80s mix on pirates bay last night. Felt like I was back in the 80s. These were songs I remember hearing back in the day that are NEVER, EVER played on the radio.
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My dad and I complain about this all the time. I've pretty much stopped listening to the radio and listen to my MP3 player. I can pick the same 30 songs I want to hear repeatedly.
Yeah I look for old 90s music they don't play on the radio anymore. Mostly early 90s stuff.
I suggested to my dad that he gets an MP3 player, but he refuses.
I honestly haven't listened to the radio in years. There's a radio station around here that plays old country music and openly mocks new country. I'll listen to that one on occasion, but most of the time I just plug my iPod in and listen to my own playlists.
My better half, on the other hand, listens to the radio fairly often. It's torture whenever she's driving and controls what we listen to.
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I think the radio stations in my area plays a decent selection
of music during their rotations, except for I guess the local
country music station which plays like 12 songs over and over
again. But maybe that's just because they play that one on the
bus over and over again until I grow sick of it.
Ed:An Apple A Day Keeps The Bus Driver Away!
Check out my Youtube page.Full of classic commercials from the 80s,90s,and 00s.
Ever since the FCC changed the broadcast ownership rules more and more radio stations across the country now belong to either Clear Channel or Viacom.
Radio stations in Seattle, like KZOK-FM Classic Rock, keep reducing the number of titles on their playlists. Now they've dropped all 1960's rock and only play a select few 70's and 80's tunes.
And now KJR-FM has been reduced to just a handful of old songs with the recent departure of Bob Rivers and his morning show - the last of the locally produced broadcast morning shows left in Seattle.
Some of you actually know Bob Rivers, he used to send-up his parody videos by "Spike and the Impalers" to Saturday Night Live back when SNL was funny.
Remember "Beat-Up, Old Jetliner"?:
The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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They have been slowly doing away with the morning talk shows in favor of more of the same music to reduce cost for a number of years. It's all about the numbers with these big corporations that own 100s of radio stations.
A little unknown fact about these stations is many of them run on autopilot during the overnight hours and the DJs work part time to record their voice for several stations. You could be having Armageddon and they would be playing their usual list during it on these remote controlled stations.
Another is the callers are often times paid actors that are outsourced by another company to give listeners that radio station feel and to keep the talk shows running smoothly.
Something else that actually surprised me was the lack of Christmas music this past season. There is a soft adult contemporary station that still plays it, but the others were business as usual. I don't know if it was part of the "war on Christmas" or if they just didn't see any benefit in doing so. Isn't most christmas music public domain now anyway and wouldn't it be cheaper that paying licensing fees?
I just downloaded about 2000 70s and 80s songs. I'm going to start keeping my ipod in the car and just shuffle my music. I'm done with this corporate bullshit. I get news and weather alerts on my phone and will probably get them faster than the radio anyway.
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That's right, eliminating actual people at the stations saves sooo much money. And the worst part is that the auto-play list of songs can be sent out to every station the corporation owns across the country.
Radio used to be the starter for many people breaking into the business. Local DJ's would feature new talent and offer feedback from the audience.
The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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Ever since the FCC changed the broadcast ownership rules more and more radio stations across the country now belong to either Clear Channel or Viacom.
Radio stations in Seattle, like KZOK-FM Classic Rock, keep reducing the number of titles on their playlists. Now they've dropped all 1960's rock and only play a select few 70's and 80's tunes.
And now KJR-FM has been reduced to just a handful of old songs with the recent departure of Bob Rivers and his morning show - the last of the locally produced broadcast morning shows left in Seattle.
Some of you actually know Bob Rivers, he used to send-up his parody videos by "Spike and the Impalers" to Saturday Night Live back when SNL was funny.
Remember "Beat-Up, Old Jetliner"?:
Is there any reason why the FCC did that?
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Every four years the FCC reviews its Station Ownership Rules. With the rise of the internet and the merger of ever larger media corporations, the FCC was under pressure by media lobby organizations with the backing of key members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Under FCC Chairman Michael Powell, the rules limiting the number of stations a corporation could own were relaxed. Now we only have a few players on the broadcast scene as mergers have favored big corporations that keep getting bigger by buying up the competition.
The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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Everyone must be fed up, so I think record labels are paying stations to replay some of this crap.
That's actually illegal. I also stopped listening to local stations (for the most part) years ago. Sirius XM is definitely better. The VJ Big 40 (80s on 8) and the Back in the Day Replay (90s on 9) are great because you get to hear the rarely played hits too. Those two stations have a tendency to play the same songs over and over otherwise. I swear, if I hear "Tainted Love" one more time...
The reason most stations play the same songs over and over is that those are the songs that most people request. We're in the minority of listeners, not the majority. And since a lot of stations are owned by big companies, they base their playlist on national trends. This is why most locally-owned stations are/were better.
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