Kansas City Radio is a Wasteland, Part 12

[featherynscale]

It's a familiar complaint, I know. And yet, I am still full of hate. This morning I tuned into the 'alternative' station in town, KRBZ, to discover that they have a new morning show. For the past month or so, they've been running lists of ten favorite songs from their listeners, and often letting the listener who chose the songs DJ the set. I liked that approach, and certainly the listener base had a more interesting and developed taste for music than the station programmers, so it meant we got something new and different on the radio for a while. (Yes, I know that the music played on the radio is not what the programmers like, but what they're urged to play by marketing reports.)

Anyway, some time over the last week or so, they've changed format back to the 'obnoxious bigoted morning guy show with little music'. I hate this. I understand that they're trying to appear more edgy, and I support alternative stations becoming more edgy. But when you come right down to it, the rude morning DJ was edgy at the beginning of Howard Stern's reign, and somehow, I'd like to think that the definition of edge has changed just a little bit since then. (I mean, this guy is making fun of retarded kids this morning. That's not edgy, it's facile. Anyway.)

I'd also like to think that a station pursuing more edge might first look at its playlist. A quick analysis of the playlist in question would probably reveal that 3/5 of its population are songs by Coldplay, John Mayer, Snow Patrol, and other artists better suited to an adult contemporary station than 'The Alternative'. In fact, the stuff on this station only qualifies as 'alternative' because it is, in fact, different than what the other stations in town are playing, which is Motley Crue. All Motley Crue, all the time. With some Great White on the side, and Metallica at 9 p.m., by God. (Not that I mind being stuck in the 80s every now and again, but it's a profoundly different 80s that I would prefer to be stuck in.)

Blech. Another day older, another day closer to an XM subscription. Effing merge already, satellite giants. (Of course, I could opt to listen to CDs. That can happen. Of course, then, nobody in my household will want to ride with me anymore. As bad as the radio is, it does at least offer us some common ground. Left to my own devices, I apparently play things that kittenpants and triadruid can't stand.)

EDIT: And in my day, we thought of new stuff. All you kids, get off my lawn.

Comments

[crookedface.livejournal.com]

The quest for Radion That Doesn't Suck is eternal. When it happens, it happens only temporarily. Lazer in Lawrence didn't suck for bit, was sold, and then turned into a Top 40/adult contemporary sucking hole.

The college station in Lawrence wasn't too bad, though I've no idea if it's webcasting.

The last truly good alternative programming I heard was at college--when I was the Alternative Director. I had some DJs who understood that "alternative" wasn't a commercial niche provided by music labels, that it involved picking good tunes from stylists of every sort. It helped to have a couple of guys who spent hours each weekend traveling to music stores and live shows to find good stuff for us; my major accomplishment involved encouraging them, I think, by pointing out that I wanted a nice eclectic mix of tunes our listeners couldn't get anywhere else--and getting people hooked on new bands.

That began me on the road to Fogeydom, though. Too many hours of listening to all the new stuff that arrived at the station's door, and too many hours listening to new releases at music stores. So much new stuff and so little good new stuff! Still, I'm probably one of very few folk who can sing along to some bands that never released more than an EP....