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It's a shame what's happened to radio

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

#261

Post by Modified3019 »

ryandrake wrote: post #248
scioto wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back in the later 70s a Chicago three-letter AM radio station used to speed up songs so they could stuff in more commercials. And the DJ would do the parent’s talking when there’s no lyrics, even to the point of talking through the entire Love Unlimited Orchestra’s Love’s Theme instrumental.

I never understood the business reason for doing this. Do they really think listeners will switch away if they go 500 milliseconds without hearing a human voice?

It’s the opposite, they do it to fit in more commercials, because apparently people don’t switch away when they talk over songs.

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

#262

Post by NuclearPM »

carlosjobim wrote: post #185
NuclearPM wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple has a special app just for classical music, which is the highest level of musical culture. Really? Why?

Not the app itself of course. What I meant to say is that classical music is the highest level of musical culture.

That’s what I was asking. Why do you think that is true? Seems like the most subjective thing possible.

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

#263

Post by customguy »

JohnFen wrote: post #169
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…

> 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 it fun. I'm old enough to remember when radio was king, but if that's what a good DJ does, then I suppose I've never heard a good DJ. Personally, I preferred the DJ who talked as little as possible and had good taste and variety in the music they chose to play. Bu…

Once upon a time in Southern Germany, there was the one and only C-Team...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GRBn7Vn2U0&t=775s

Obviously it loses a lot if you don't speak German, but they were very funny and silly and interacted with their fans a lot, to say the least.

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

#264

Post by addaon »

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.

I assume they'd also mandate headphone ports, since without a wired headphone to use as an antenna I don't know how you'd do cheap FM in a cell phone.

Which, if the motivation is to provide emergency notification, I also assume means mandating that users carry wired headphones?

Sliding down this slope looks fun...

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

#265

Post by mr_toad »

paganel wrote: post #91
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…

You can still listen to the radio while driving, many people still do that, I still do that. I agree though that in essence streaming is a very alienating experience.

The rush hours are the worst. You're lucky if you hear two songs in 30 minutes it's so crammed full of ads.

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

#266

Post by mark-r »

ryandrake wrote: post #213
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.

Also, most commercial radio DJs would talk and talk and talk all the way up to the point in the song where lyrics started, and then right after the last lyric, they'd start yacking again. A lot of music that was on the radio in the 70s, 80s and 90s had great instrumental intros and outros that you just totally missed because some garbage DJ had to get in one last "TODAY'S HITS, YESTERDAY'S LEGENDS, ONLY ON IDIOT ROCK…

I believe talking through the intro was an actual skill that was taught to DJs, and the closer they could cut it the prouder they'd be. I've always hated it, and there have been occasions when I've switched stations because I couldn't take it anymore.

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

#267

Post by mark-r »

mobilene wrote: post #183
JohnFen wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 it fun. I'm old enough to remember when radio was king, but if that's what a good DJ does, then I suppose I've never heard a good DJ. Personally, I preferred the DJ who talked as little as possible and had good taste and variety in the music they chose to play. Bu…

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's a local station that advertises the fact that they don't do requests. I'm sure the reason they don't is because they can't - the playlist was mapped out long ago and there will be no deviations. The main DJ voice is some guy reportedly from Vancouver who records the voiceovers for this station and probably 40 others just like it. What he lacks in spontaneity he makes up for in snark.

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

#268

Post by mark-r »

gumboshoes wrote: post #243
euroderf wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might get all-music at night. But in the mornings radio listeners want to hear talking.

I don't want to hear morning show hijinx. I will gladly listen to well-produced news and features.

I never used to like the morning show hijinx either, until I discovered that a friend hosted such a show. I tuned in every morning after that. He retired a couple of months ago, and I think I've only listened to the show twice since then. His replacements are OK but there's no draw anymore.

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

#269

Post by corny »

kazinator wrote: post #27

In my neck of the woods, Vancouver, Canada, nothing happened to radio. It was shit in the 1980s and it's the same today. Wait! Except for one major improvement. There is a station CJNY ("The Journey") at 106.3 FM, which is run by Indigenous people: https://www.cjnyfm.ca/about/

I admit to not listening to radio anymore but I was surprised to hear that there are still some music stations with local DJ's in Vancouver.

This article also claims that radio is slowly gaining listeners.

https://www.vancitylookout.com/p/in-the-face-of-algorithms-a...

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

#270

Post by TitaRusell »

customguy wrote: post #263
JohnFen wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 it fun. I'm old enough to remember when radio was king, but if that's what a good DJ does, then I suppose I've never heard a good DJ. Personally, I preferred the DJ who talked as little as possible and had good taste and variety in the music they chose to play. Bu…

Once upon a time in Southern Germany, there was the one and only C-Team... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GRBn7Vn2U0&t=775s Obviously it loses a lot if you don't speak German, but they were very funny and silly and interacted with their fans a lot, to say the least.

I don't know how it worked in Germany but in the Netherlands the government had a monopoly on broadcasting. Their public radio stations did not play rock and roll and was not in tune with "youth culture".
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