It's a shame what's happened to radio • Hacker News Board

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

#201

Post by unixhero » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 2:59 PM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #121

waveforms wrote: post #12

The removal of FM radio from cell phones was a big mistake. It should never have allowed. Radio is very useful in emergencies. Lately I have been getting back in to internet radio, mostly via Elisa in KDE. Here is my favorite internet stream: https://hawaiireggaenetwork.com/

If you mandate FM for this reason what else will you mandate? Morse code scanning for SOS? Cellphones got cellphone emergency broadcasts before they lost FM radio, so they still show emergency broadcasts.

FM is a technology that was a solved problem. It didn't have to go.

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

#202

Post by boogieknite » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:01 PM UTC

imglorp wrote: post #181

mobilene wrote: post #138

I'm the OP, and I'm surprised to find this article on HN at all, let alone the front page! Many comments are focusing on music but the thing I tried to get across in the article was that good radio wasn't primarily about the music, it was about fun and connection. A good DJ kept you from just turning the radio off when you heard that same hit the fourth time today -- you wanted to keep listening because the DJ made i…

I miss DJs with taste and encyclopedic knowledge of their music would challenge their listeners, educate them, expose them to new things. Variations on themes, new artists, connections with old ones. Now, I guess they read the blurb and hit the button on the canned program. Shouts to Pierre Robert (rip), John DeBella, Cyndy Drue, etc at WMMR and WYSP (rip). They still let Jacky Bam Bam play the real stuff sometimes;…

yes and also my spouse and i have the opposite where we enjoy listening to 89.5 whenever we pass through Seattle. we find the amateur students who try to sound smart and cool really endearing and entertaining

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

#203

Post by kanbankaren » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:06 PM UTC

spaghettifythis wrote: post #112

Here in NZ we have a wonderful publicly-funded ad-free radio station RNZ! (Radio New Zealand.) The main channel "RNZ National" is a mix of news bulletins [1], panels featuring interesting people [2], and episodes of the numerous high-quality podcasts they produce [3]. The really channel one is "RNZ Concert" through - it's just msuic. They have a best-in-class audio team who record concerts (e.g. choirs, orchestra, or…

Hey,

I can receive RNZ on shortwave on the East Coast of USA! About 10,000 miles away if we count the signal bouncing multiple times between the ionosphere and the ground.

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

#204

Post by technothrasher » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:06 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #196

mobilene wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In commercial radio, DJs haven't selected the music in 40 or more years. I used to show up for my shifts to find a printed playlist from a software product called Selector. I had to follow it.

There was that time I was tripping on acid at 2am and was offended by hearing the same Doobie Brothers song that plays during my drive in and my drive out and called up the college radio station thinking, "I'm either going to talk to the janitor or the program manager", turns out the program manager picks up the phone and I ask him, "Who picks this music out?" and he says "I do" and that it's programmed on the comput…

Your Miles Davis comment triggered a memory of college radio. In school in the early 90's, I had a 3-6am show Wednesday mornings, and mostly said and played whatever I wanted, as nobody was really listening anyway. One week, the guy who did the Friday night 6-8pm slot called me and asked if I could sub for him. I was way down on the call list, but nobody wanted to sub on a Friday night. So I took his slot and did my normal show. I immediately got a bunch of complaint calls that I was crap (which was fair, I was), and one guy who kept calling in over and over demanding I play Miles Davis.

On the other side of the coin, I also had a 10am Saturday news slot, which was just a quick 10 minute read of my pick of the top stories off the AP feed. I was on the city bus discussing the slot with my buddy who did the sports right after me, and the bus driver overheard us and said he listened to the station on his bus route, and loved us on Saturday mornings more than the other news readers. He was my only known fan in my very short lived radio "career".

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

#205

Post by kanbankaren » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #121

waveforms wrote: post #12

The removal of FM radio from cell phones was a big mistake. It should never have allowed. Radio is very useful in emergencies. Lately I have been getting back in to internet radio, mostly via Elisa in KDE. Here is my favorite internet stream: https://hawaiireggaenetwork.com/

If you mandate FM for this reason what else will you mandate? Morse code scanning for SOS? Cellphones got cellphone emergency broadcasts before they lost FM radio, so they still show emergency broadcasts.

What a ridiculous comment!

Cellphone emergency broadcasts turned out to be not reliable during the Hawaiian Island fires.

RDS in FM has a special mode for emergency broadcasts and some countries use them. As FM signals easily cover a 50-75 mile radius, the coverage area is huge versus cellular emergency broadcasts requiring the towers to be powered on which have also failed during natural disasters.

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

#206

Post by xhkkffbf » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:15 PM UTC

bsenftner wrote: post #143

mobilene wrote: post #138

I'm the OP, and I'm surprised to find this article on HN at all, let alone the front page! Many comments are focusing on music but the thing I tried to get across in the article was that good radio wasn't primarily about the music, it was about fun and connection. A good DJ kept you from just turning the radio off when you heard that same hit the fourth time today -- you wanted to keep listening because the DJ made i…

Radio also was your connection to your city and the city's youth communities. Which are now fragmented, subcultures, and frequently dominated by someone trying to make the scene into their living. As far as I know, nothing has filled that community void, and community itself is dying.

You do realize that the radio stations and everyone who worked at them used their radio "scene" as a way to make a living, right?

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

#207

Post by TomK32 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:17 PM UTC

mobilene wrote: post #138

I'm the OP, and I'm surprised to find this article on HN at all, let alone the front page! Many comments are focusing on music but the thing I tried to get across in the article was that good radio wasn't primarily about the music, it was about fun and connection. A good DJ kept you from just turning the radio off when you heard that same hit the fourth time today -- you wanted to keep listening because the DJ made i…

BBC 6music has a lot of great DJs, Chris Hawkins being my favourite with plenty of banter for a 5am show. While it's just a Friday late night show: Ashley Storrie on BBC Radio Scotland and don't be surprised if you hear the same listeners sending in messages on both stations. But then, they aren't commercial stations with less pressure. Whenever I have to listen to an Austrian (where I live) station I get bored. Even the public funded stations have commercials or, even more annoying, un-labeled advertising for the lottery.

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

#208

Post by devilbunny » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:18 PM UTC

mobilene wrote: post #138

I'm the OP, and I'm surprised to find this article on HN at all, let alone the front page! Many comments are focusing on music but the thing I tried to get across in the article was that good radio wasn't primarily about the music, it was about fun and connection. A good DJ kept you from just turning the radio off when you heard that same hit the fourth time today -- you wanted to keep listening because the DJ made i…

Since you worked in radio, at WZZQ no less, you probably would enjoy the story of the earlier WZZQ.

https://www.pbs.org/show/wzzq-the-movie/

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

#209

Post by TomK32 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

Loughla wrote: post #119

petepete wrote: post #89

I'm so thankful for the BBC. I listen to Radio 4 through the day when I'm working on things that don't need my full concentration. It's the alarm that wakes me at 0630 and I often listen to the news before bed. Adverts drive me insane. It's a national treasure and I'd pay the licence fee again just for R4 + Sounds.

I listen to podcasts all day while working and I am JEALOUS of your access to radio 4 and sounds. There is so much just insanely killer content coming out of the BBC in those avenues.

bbc.co.uk still allows listening to all stations live and yt-dlp has no problem to download shows, you just got to find your way to the correct page that doesn't trigger a redict to bbc.com e.g. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qng7/episodes/player

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

#210

Post by floren » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

smelendez wrote: post #68

Marsymars wrote: post #14

But some weird happenstance I've only recently started listening to radio, and I find it pretty good? The commercial stations are basically all unbearable, but my metro area has a half-dozen public/community/campus stations that can be enjoyable or interesting. I just drove home, and spent 20 minutes listening to a host on the radio talking to a researcher about evolved preferences for non-mates in humans. It was pre…

I enjoy the radio. I have a few stations I’ll cycle through at home and in the car. But all nonprofit/college /etc. Most US commercial radio is very bad. I don’t really understand why the playlists are so small, and why they don’t even occasionally play lesser-known songs by the big acts. Like, why don’t classic rock stations play deeper cuts by Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, etc. instead of the same hit singles over and o…

Yeah, for a long time I thought I disliked Rush because I only heard "Tom Sawyer" and "Closer to the Heart" on the radio. Turns out the best shit doesn't get airtime.

At least my hometown classic rock station would do a bunch of Zeppelin at 10pm, so I got exposed to their broader range.