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It's a shame what's happened to radio

blog.jimgrey.net

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Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#51

Post by unethical_ban »

parpfish wrote: post #2

There’s a human connection element to old radio that streaming will never replicate. And I worry that it’s gone from modern automated radio too. It used to be if you were driving down the road and heard a song you liked Hearing a song you liked on the radio hit harder then playing it yourself because you knew that there was another human nearby at that moment in time that had picked it out and played it. You were phy…

Yes, and I agree with a sibling comment that livestreaming is the modern equivalent, if not in ease or quality but in spirit. It's also why, despite having many movies in my library, I enjoy turning on TCM to watch old classics. I know that thousands of people at any given time are probably watching the same piece of history I am, right then.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#52

Post by altmanaltman »

parpfish wrote: post #2

There’s a human connection element to old radio that streaming will never replicate. And I worry that it’s gone from modern automated radio too. It used to be if you were driving down the road and heard a song you liked Hearing a song you liked on the radio hit harder then playing it yourself because you knew that there was another human nearby at that moment in time that had picked it out and played it. You were phy…

I don't know. I mean if that is the criteria then livestreams surely fix this because there is another human at that moment in time also and you can even interact with them. Or do you like the passive interaction that they should just play music and shut up

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#53

Post by unethical_ban »

chubot wrote: post #46

Hm I actually heard some great and rare metal on FM radio in Philadelphia the other day -- and I was SURPRISED because I thought radio was dead too I just Googled and it turns out it was https://wkdu.org/ 91.7 FM, Drexel University college radio! Woohoo something is alive out there !! And I just found the playlist of the exact show I listened to, on Thursday July 16th - https://wkdu.org/playlist/71388

Nonprofit radio stations are the last vestige of the old days. NPR, college-run stations, and public access.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#54

Post by whartung »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #35

I was still listening to Jim Ladd and Uncle Joe on Sunday nights… maybe 15-20 years ago. They’d play a whole album, say Dark Side of the Moon and tell all the stories about it, sometimes even with recorded interviews they’d done. Today there’s KCRW locally and it’s good though getting blander.

I have Jim Ladds book, autographed. My friend went to a book signing and got it for me. It’s signed “They say it’s your birthday — Jim Ladd”.

I also saw him when he toured with Roger Waters for “Radio KAOS”. “Good night Jim.” “Good night, Billy.”

I really enjoyed him when he was at KMPC/KEDG with JJ Jackson. That station struggled to find its way, starting early on with Pat “Paraquat” Kelly and Cynthia Fox, along with Guy Kemp at night (kind of a comedy/zoo shtick — I found his show really funny). I remember calling in once when Joe Satriani was just getting airplay, and the guy who answered was yelling “Are you hearing this? Are you HEARING THIS!?”.

Live radio.

It was nice with Ladd because he had his freedom, but a wider playlist.

MARS-FM, KROQ, KNAC, Pirate Radio, 91X (from Mexico, when you can get it, but they had some power).

But, a notable memory was 1989. Tiananmen Square.

Geno Michelini, KLOS, Five o’clock funnies fame, announced the breaking news of what was happening in China, and followed it up with Rush’s “Red Sector A” from “Grace Under Pressure”. I still get a little choked up thinking about.

Live radio.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#55

Post by protocolture »

A whole bunch of local stations got bought up by a web sales optimisation company. They do a really good job tbh. They leave the radio station in tact but just advertise their ability to make websites + google seo + advertise via radio and billboard in one package. If it keeps the station going its a nothingburger.

Theres also a local christian radio station I am only aware of because the guy fixing my fence was blasting it on his stereo. They were taking donations the entire time. I am sincerely not interested but they seem to deliver what their listeners want too.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#56

Post by JuniperMesos »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #34
JuniperMesos wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I ever used the FM feature on my phone, except purely to test out whether it worked. I wouldn't make phone purchasing decisions based on whether or not it had a FM radio. A regulation requiring it in the ostensible name of safety would make phones somewhat more expensive and I'm skeptical that it would even help improve safety in an emergency significantly.

How much would an additional frequency cost to add to a sophisticated radio?

I think this is a complex electronics engineering question that the people working at smartphone manufacturers probably looked at in depth when they decided whether or not they would lose money for getting rid of the feature.

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#57

Post by 1bpp »

newsomix9xl wrote: post #48

Is it disk jockey? As an IT nerd I am a disk jockey. Radio guys are disc jockeys. Like as in spinning discs. Can someone be a disc jockey and not know they are not disk jockeys? Not sure. Or maybe I'm mistaken Human DJs at still around on college radio.

But the human ones are probably jockeying disks now anyway :)

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#59

Post by oasisbob »

prmoustache wrote: post #58

What's up with US radio names sounding like amazon chinese electronic devices autogenerated brands with just a string of random letters? Weren't they allowed to have "normal" names like anywhere else in the world?

Branding was usually based on FCC callsigns. But not always... many people in the US grew up with some Z100 or morning crew brands too.

Other countries have similarly arbitrary brands based on either band spectrum or regulatory regimes - eg Channel 4 / Radio 4

Re: It's a shame what's happened to radio

#60

Post by userbinator »

jeffbee wrote: post #45
SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most smartphones do include most of the FM radio circuitry in the chip used also for Bluetooth connectivity for example Who told you this? They are wildly different frequencies and encoding.

Twenty years ago this would have been wrong with a kernel of truth. Today, it's just wrong. There were chips that integrated all this but they weren't that popular in the West and ultimately nobody cared. https://www.mediatek.com/press-room/mediatek-announces-world...

MTK still has the largest marketshare of smartphone SoCs worldwide and they still use their combo RFICs.

https://pccentral.net/q1-2026-smartphone-soc-market-share-me...

https://www.androidheadlines.com/2025/03/mediatek-leads-glob...

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