Articles about the state of radio really irk me. "Why?" you ask? Because I've been working in radio as an IT manager for more than three years now, and what really strikes me as the problem with radio today is that all that market research is right. When Arbitron (the radio ratings folks) says that people in your market really, really want to hear Kenny G. and the backdoor boys (yuck!), then they're probably right!
Basically what I'm saying is that the problem with radio in the US is not the handful of corporations that have decided which formats to sell - it's the undereducated media consumers who tell those corporations (with their dollars) that they'd rather hear the same song four times a day for three months than be exposed to something new every week.
How is the station I work at different? Well, firstly we're a community radio station. Don't know what that is? Doesn't surprise me. We air programming that is produced by members of our broadcast area. We air more than 80 unique programs covering more than 20 distinct genres of music each week. We've had weeks where we play more than 1000 DIFFERENT songs. A thousand! Shameless plug: KDHX St. Louis
Bottom line - Don't complain about lack of choices - there's a 90% chance that there's a community/college/public station near you with programming that you like, and that you can have an impact upon - screw the seek button and GO FIND IT.
Slashdot Mirror
Articles about the state of radio really irk me. "Why?" you ask? Because I've been working in radio as an IT manager for more than three years now, and what really strikes me as the problem with radio today is that all that market research is right. When Arbitron (the radio ratings folks) says that people in your market really, really want to hear Kenny G. and the backdoor boys (yuck!), then they're probably right!
Basically what I'm saying is that the problem with radio in the US is not the handful of corporations that have decided which formats to sell - it's the undereducated media consumers who tell those corporations (with their dollars) that they'd rather hear the same song four times a day for three months than be exposed to something new every week.
How is the station I work at different? Well, firstly we're a community radio station. Don't know what that is? Doesn't surprise me. We air programming that is produced by members of our broadcast area. We air more than 80 unique programs covering more than 20 distinct genres of music each week. We've had weeks where we play more than 1000 DIFFERENT songs. A thousand! Shameless plug: KDHX St. Louis
Bottom line - Don't complain about lack of choices - there's a 90% chance that there's a community/college/public station near you with programming that you like, and that you can have an impact upon - screw the seek button and GO FIND IT.