The Big Green House

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

 

This is Radio Clash

For as long as it has been around, there have been people lining up to declare to anyone who�ll listen that rock & roll is dead. They push and shove in a most unseemly manner, vying to be the first to leap up onto the casket and dance a merry little jig. Problem is, the casket is always empty, as the guest of honor is off making a great deal of noise somewhere else. R&R is often hung-over and occasionally comatose, but reports of its death are greatly exaggerated.

It�s a resilient style of music, and not one easily characterized at this late date, some fifty-odd (very odd indeed) years after its inception. It�s kinda like pornography that way � you might not be able to really define it, but you know it when you hear it. (Also, when it�s played right it will get you hot.)

There is vital music being created in towns big and small all around the world this very night, my friends. Your mission, should you choose to accept it (and if you don�t, why are you here?) is to get out there and find it. Because you�re sure as hell not gonna hear it on American radio. I don�t know what the radio situation in other countries is, but here in the US it is dire, to say the least. Commercial stations nationwide are increasingly owned by the same corporations, foisting the same tired playlists on a public which might well respond favorably to new music, if only they got the chance to hear it.

Take a look at the Arbitron ratings for Seattle. Christ, it�s a scary thing indeed. Infinity Broadcasting owns five stations, Entercom owns seven, Sandusky (who apparently don�t have a website) four, Clear Channel two.The only local owner with more than one station in town is Fisher Communications.

Where is the local content? Why are there six radio stations in the Seattle market alone devoted to �classic rock�, oldies, or music from the eighties? (One of them runs an ad supposedly quoting a listener, to the effect that he bought his radio in 1962 and never changed the station. He�s probably still hearing the same music.) Why do the stations that do play newer music all play the same tracks? How, exactly, are we being served by this arrangement?

Public radio, non-commercial radio, is all that is left for those who don�t want to hear the same 20 cuts over and over again. And may the various gods bless KEXP, but there are times when they go into an electronica/ambient/triphop/whatever coma and I just can�t listen to them. KBCS and KSER are both interesting alternatives, but I often find their formats to be fairly limiting.

Meanwhile, the FCC is busy cracking down on pirate radio stations with micro-transmitters rather than going after the monopolistic greedheads responsible for the shitty noises emanating from your receiver. Fuck that noise. The suits don�t own the entire spectrum, although the FCC might try to convince you otherwise; the public does.

Support local music and non-commercial radio. Take back the airwaves. Eat your vegetables. And kick out the jams, brothers and sisters!

bmarkey 10/21/2003 09:21:00 PM