http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Tue, 13 Aug 2002 08:20:16 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/08/13/082016.php John Venlet Just about everyone listens to the radio, well at least if they're not listening to CD's, cassettes or other self recorded music, while tooling down the road in their automobiles. One of the things I find interesting about local radio listeners, as opposed to those who are on a road trip, is their total lack of loyalty to any one particular station. This lack of loyalty is most evident to outside observance while cooling your rubber at stoplights. Many times, while waiting for a light to turn green, I'll watch the driver or passenger aimlessly jab their presets as if they are playing video poker hoping to "hit" that one station that will provide the payoff of a good tune. Though I am not a voyeur, I do take some enjoyment from watching these idling drivers punch their car radios, and, if their windows are down, listening to the cacophony of sounds that emit from their sound systems. It's almost like being in Vegas, either that or playing a game of musical chairs where nobody wins because of the confusion resulting from the lightning quick music changes. This lack of station loyalty is part and parcel of the larger problems facing the music industry today. Today, many radio stations are simply cogs in the conglomeration of business that is the music industry. The stations are spoon-fed the tunes that need to be played so the conglomerates that own the artists, the distribution channels and the airwaves can regurgitate their product to generate profits. A good portion of the listening public have simply become Pavlovian dogs conditioned to button pushing until their reward is dispensed. Unfortunately for them, their reward is usually the same tune played over and over and over again on a myriad of different stations. It's not so much market share the conglomerates are gaining in this business model, rather it's more of a zombie like public that worship at their call letters until the next bell rings. When it rings, they are punching their radios buttons like there is no tomorrow in order to satisfy their need for the same old thing. How can one escape the regurgitated product of the music conglomerates? One way of course is burning your own discs. Napster was a pioneer in this field, but ended up being buried by the legal teams the conglomerates fielded to protect their turf. Additionally, burning your own discs, for at least some people, was too time consuming. Another hassle, at least for those who didn't have time to burn discs, was surfing to each song they may have wanted to burn for their listening pleasure, or they were too lazy to jump through the small hoops that needed jumping so they could choose music they wanted. They may moan and groan about the repetition of tunes played by the conglomerates, but they do very little, except hit the next preset, as a form of protest. I want to suggest an alternative. Community radio stations. I know what you're thinking, don't tell me to listen to NPR, and I won't. There are community radio stations out there that are not associated with NPR, don't accept grants from the state or the feds and are totally supported by their listeners. The local station I listen to, WYCE, is one of these type of stations. WYCE is 100% listener supported; the programmers are all volunteers and have no play lists to regurgitate upon your ears. WYCE does not report the news and may report the weather by looking out the window. It plays music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of such a wide variety you probably will not know what you'll hear next. Many times listeners, including myself, have called in when a particularly good tune is heard to find out exactly what has been played. This not only increases listener's knowledge of different music genres, it also increases sales for artists who are generally not known because they are not slaves to the conglomerates. There are drawbacks to this type of radio, the largest being their lack of power. My local community radio station is only 7,000 watts and when I get 20 miles from home, I'm at the mercy of the conglomerates or hope that I have a good supply of CD's with me. Another drawback can be the programmers' choice of tunes. This problem is not that bad though because the next tune played can be the one that you've never heard but that turns you on to an artist who is so good you're wondering why you've never heard of them before. Another small problem, at least for some community stations, is their formatting. Some play jazz for a few hours, then rock or alternative or blues, which is fine, but if you want a good mix, it leaves something to be desired. It's still better than a play list slave conglomerate station. How do you find one of these stations? I can recommend two. First, search the lower reaches of your FM dial, there could be something good hiding down there. Second, locate a copy of Community Radio News. This publication provides a listing of community radio stations throughout the country. The stations listed may not have far of a reach, but if you're in a community or area that has a community radio station, you may strike gold. Culture31@blogcritics.org Tue, 13 Aug 2002 08:20:16 EDT