Is radio going to hell? (1 Viewer)

[Lew Crippen]

NPR
I also find plenty of classical/jazz/blues/country/Tejano on the dial here in Dallas with no problem.
Finally broadcasts of the Mavs, Stars, Cowboys, Rangers, etc. are widely available.
So, no, I don’t think that radio is going to hell. More to listen to than I can possibly fit in.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Like others here, I stopped listening to FM radio years ago. In fact, I did not bother programming the FM stations to the presets in my new car's radio. I toggle between AM news/sports/talk radio and CD's. My biggest complaint regarding the AM stations is the number of commercials. There is probably no more than 20-25 minutes of actual programming in an hour, and some stations can go 10 minutes with advertisements and station break info.

Satellite radio sounds intriguing, but I cannot bring myself to pay $120 per year to listen to the radio.

 

[Matt Gordon]

I've got to say I'm also thrilled with XM. I never listen to local radio anymore, which makes me feel like a sellout because I used to be in that field.

$120 bucks a year for enough commercial-free (or very limited commercials) to make sure there's always something I want to hear is a good deal for me, but I spend at least two and a half hours on the road every day.

For the times when I want to hear a specific song or something from my CD collection, I travel with an Apple iPod. Currently, I have about 1900 old-time radio shows, over 400 songs, and 5 audio books on it with plenty of room to spare.


Matt

 

[Matt Gordon]

My biggest complaint regarding the AM stations is the number of commercials. There is probably no more than 20-25 minutes of actual programming in an hour, and some stations can go 10 minutes with advertisements and station break info.

Actually, it's more like 18-20 commercial minutes an hour. Plus station promos, public service announcements, and news/sports/weather segments.

 

[Leroy]

The FM stations here in Houston are just awful. All the main ones are Clear Channel staions. Like others, I bought an mp3 capable car stereo and, other than a local sportstalk station, listen to it exclusivley.

 

[Kevin Farley]

What do you mean going?

 

[brentl]

That's why I basically only listen to TALK RADIO.

With my weird hours, I work midnights, I even get reapeat of talk radio.

Brent

 

[Jeff Pryor]

Here in the Memphis area, the only reason to even listen to FM is for the Wake-Up Crew and Drake and Zeke, both on Rock 103. Other than those programs, Rock 103 sucks really bad, playing the same old classic rock shit day in and day out. I mean, how many times can I handle Freebird?
The other stations like FM 100 or 93X are the same, no originality whatsoever and the same crap all the frickin time. But if you love hip-hop, Memphis loves you. Sorry, no hipity-hopity for me. Hip this...

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I hate talk radio and I hate the Clear Channel destruction of the airwaves. So my last car has a CD changer in it. I may never listen to radio again.

 

[Michael Varacin]

OK. So how about a big thumbs up for Clear Channel?
So what can we do about this?
Or is this Clear Channel's plan....make FM radio suck so bad that everyone switches to XM,(since they own it) and now you have people PAYING for radio.
Like in Tom Petty's new song..."the boys upstairs want to see how much you'll pay for what you used to get for free."
Funny how that song, "The last DJ" doesn't get too much airplay.

 

[Ron Etaylor]

If you were to look at radio station ratings, you'd find that in most cases, the stations that play the same songs over and over have the highest ratings. Ratings=cash and radio stations are businesses(you listen for free, but it costs money to run the stations).

 

[Brent_H]

I would like to know how we got to assuming Clear Channel owns XM? I have read numerous news articles about satellite radio and have never come across this. Ultimately, satellite radio could lead to the demise of FM radio, so why would Clear Channel run themselves out of business? With all the FM stations they own, they will never make as much with satellite radio as they do with FM. Think about it. XM is just one "station" so to say...sure you charge a higher advertising rate for a national audience, but if they are charging even half that rate in every other major market in the country, they will obvioulsy make more money that way. What is it.....2000 some stations they own? Yeah, do the math. Even with the $10 monthly fee for XM, the revenue could NEVER match what Clear Channel is pulling in right now..................IMHO

 

[Jim_F]

I'm convinced that radio has been broadcasting from hell since circa 1976.

How else could you explain shock jocks?

 

[Philip_G]

I think clearchannels owns a small bit of cirrus, not XM. I could be mistaken, but someone I hate owns part of cirrus

 

[Alex Spindler]

Clearchannel's CFO is on the board of directors of XM Satellite Radio.
http://www.clearchannel.com/document...aysRandall.pdf

 

[DwightK]

CC is a stakeholder in XM just as is GM. Not that it matters. XM radio is fantastic and the only thing it is missing is NPR. And yes I mainly listen to comedy, xm cafe, Phil Hendrie, and Art Bell, but have all the world and classical, and many other stations in the queue.

Listening to XM as I type this. I have the Skifi so I move it from the car to the truck or home depending on where I am. Woo. Skifi will be coming out with a boombox version in the near future that I can plug in the head unit and truelly go mobile. Can't wait

 

[Philip_G]

CC is a stakeholder in XM just as is GM. Not that it matters.

AHhhh so that explains why XM radio is coming standard on a lot of the new GM vehicles, I saw a pontiac ad last night and thought there had to be a reason

 

[Danny Tse]

ClearChannel is doing something good....

Britney Spears' tour didn't use CC as the tour promoter, so CC radio stations don't play Britney Spears' songs.

 

[Evan S]

There is a local station here in Hartford, CT. that is very good. WCCC (www.wccc.com). They play a hard rock format and are very cool. Their ads often advertise the fact that they are local, their contests are won by winners here in CT (not Iowa or Texas), and they have a DJ all the time to take requests. Sunday nights are blues nights and every night at 8pm they play a 30 minute set of "the 80's at 8". Every Saturday night is "New Rock" Saturday night where they play the newest songs from national and LOCAL artists.
They often sponsor free concerts as well from new, up and coming bands.
One thing that gets me however, is that if WCCC is NOT affiliated with Clear Channel, how can they get these bands to come in for free? They've had some major acts like Staind and Sevendust play free concerts. Wouldn't these bands choose NOT to play these venues knowing they will get blackballed by Clearchannel?
I am wondering when the day will come that due to industry and financial pressure, WCCC will sell out and go corporate, or worse...change formats.

 

[DeathStar1]

I must be lucky. The only station I listen to at home, 95.5 WPLJ(Because it's so damned hard to find on the dial), is not owned by Clear Channel. I didn't even know about it untill the DJ's started bashing them up over a fraudulent contest they where running. Heh, that said, I only listen to PLJ because of the morning show, their Flush the Format on Friday, and a few of the DJ's.

They can have the music. If you listen to that station for about 3 hours a day, you'll probably hear all of their songs at least once. When I want to listen to music, I'll tune into the Jersey Shore statin, 101.5 or CBS Fm. Are those two Clear channel Owned?

Also, a dumb question. Isn't Clear Channel considered a monopoly? If so, how come they where allowed to do so much damage?