I rarely listen to music radio any more.
Its unlistenable. I can get a gig, now, at a pretty big station around here, but I cant talk for shit with the format, and spinning CDs I can do at home.
And some stations, like Snoogs mentioned somewhere else, I worked for an FM Guitar-Rock station for a year, and the entire music catalog fit on One of those rotating CD holders; maybe 200 CDs; and about 20 on a shelf, the 'adds' the new stuff. Only that new stuff stays for months.
I was immensely spoilt working what used to be WHTG 1063 at the NJ shore; they now call themselves G1063 and if you hear REM, its gonna be 'Losing MY Religion', 'ITEOTWAWKI' or 'Man on The Moon'. That's about it. Back then we had No Music Log. This was almost unheard of, against the rules actually, as you have to log for BMI/ASCAP, as R+F mentioned they get paid. A lot.
But we could pick what we played, and actually take requests, and stick and move as the night dictated. There is nothing more suckier then Voice Tracking. With apologies to the station of my last Vox gig, looking at a piece of paper that says "Wed 7p-8p" when its only Sunday, and youre at a computer, and hit the button, and do the outro, ID, blah blah, all the while Pretending it's Wed night. You cant even get specific on the Weather for fuck sake. And the music, every song, has been chosen by the MD, and arranged on computer.
Hey ironically they are an NPR station, so they have some interesting talk bits, and the Music is as diverse and good as, well, what you would hope a Real, Live, Eminating from the town you Live in show.
If you're lucky your Universities have a good station; here Princteons WPRB used to kick ass, but I dont listen. Fuck now I'm remembering when even the Philly rock stations like WMMR were seen as Serious Competition, Not for Ratings, but for how Kick-Ass the music was. Coz we got spolied as fuck when WNEW was Rock, and fucking A why dont they try it again? Blink and the Format Changes Radio didnt work, a year ago they flipped to all Xmas. What the fuck? That speaks one of those volumes, Mikey.
Fuck this is so long I would even read it.
Its an easy anti-establishment cliche, but its a truism: Commercial Music Radio Sucks.
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