http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/ ... on=single1

it'd be kind of hard to imagine new york without k-rock passing off jay-z and eminem as rock. i remember when i was younger and it allowed me to hear pavement's "shady lane" for the first time. of course, that was before major rock radio became trash.

i acknowledge the fact that there are plenty of peole who want to hear them, but do major cities REALLY need more than one hip-hop or confusing latino stations? at least to the point where it would be displacing the only alternative rock (does anyone still use that term?) station?

the answer appears to be yes.

"The ship's sinking, sir. I think it might be from all that water leaking in down below. We might want to fix that."

"Nonsense. If we keep sailing the water will flow out on its own."

"Right then. Carry on men."[/b]

Then WAPP came out for a summer or two, and switched to a country format. If you really tried, you could get WLIR in Jersey, but what the hell, we had WFMU, WFDU, WRSU, WMNJ, WBAI etc.

Oh yeah, Scott Muni was still incoherent and boot-licking on WNEW.

Radio is the dirtiest business since fucking insurance.

If they think they can make money, they will put 10 hip-hop stations in a market if one of them makes $1 more than a rock or country or whatevr station.

Especially with consolidation in most markets. The radio business is so dirty it makes me feel clean.

Almost forgot, I blame U2.

more than 1 rap station? yes.
more than 3 like philly? no.

Rolling Stone should do an article on the decline of their own integrety/relevance...

You mean I can hear music without buying cds?

The only station I listen to is the Berkeley college station, which I can sort of get for half of my ride to/from work. Every once in a while I'll venture out and listen to one of the major radio stations, only to be reminded of why I never listen to the major radio stations.

Tangent: why do radio stations always have a four letter name that starts with K or W? Why can't they call themselves whatever they want? Just curious.

As long as the RIAA or ASCAP doesn't catch you.

well technically, i guess they could. for example WGST her in Atlanta is now "Braves Radio 640, GST" in all its promos but the station is still liscenced as WGST. Which is the answer to your question. Radio stations are liscenced by the FCC and their "call letters" are a signifier of such. This is why a top of the hour statement of call letters, dial position, and ownership is known as a "legal ID"---you are identifying yourself to your market and to your liscenser (the Feds) who you are.

East of the miss. stations are dignified with a beginning letter of "W" west get a "K"

(Spoon or other radio folk----did i basically get this right?)

Not Spoon, but you pretty much got it on the positioning statements. If you ever listen to a sports broadcast on the radio, you've heard the announcers call for a 10 second station ID. This is required by the FCC within 5 minutes on either side of the top of the hour if I recall correctly.

Radio, as a business, sucks. Example: a Cumulus station thirty miles up the road from our station in a different city, unable to compete with the Clear Channel station in their own market, has since been attempting to take ours right from under our noses. We don't even compete with them or even have the same format (ours is Classic Country, theirs is new shit) but we happen to fall in the same Arbitron region. Therefore, they bring their massive amount of resources and vans and posters and assume control of events in town that we've been associated with for ten years or more. And are community members loyal to us? No, they just want their damn free t-shirt and don't care who gives it to them.

I hate everything about formats, studious homogenization and programming by demographic research. Yet I've worked in radio since 1984. I'm the radio equivalent of Julia Robert's character in America's Sweethearts and radio is Catherine Zeta-Jones.

pissy, do you check the boardhere? its a pretty sorry site but since you are in the biz, i figure it might do you some good; im not in the biz but you will hear my damn name in the next couple years for real. Shawty.

That Rolling Stone would print such an article is akin to Jim Morrison crawling out of the grave, whining about being surrounded by dead people.

Actually, I'm in college at Eastern Kentucky University (first NCAA birth in 26 years, baby! Go Colonels!) and am working at the local radio station here in town. I don't know if that actually constitutes being "in the biz", but I started off as a board op for basketball games and now find myself handling a large amount of the production duties plus filling in on air-shifts. And I can safely say that I've just about had my fill. My heart is in TV production and that is what I plan to pursue upon graduation. If I have to stay in radio for the time being, so be it, but when I see the morning guy at our station, after 30 years of being an extremely good country radio host and having put in quality time in some large markets, relegated to working in a tiny market for 25,000 a year, that tells me that things aren't exactly headed in the right direction for the industry as a whole. As I see it, for those in the industry right now, you are either overworked or out of work. I'm sure Spoon could attest to this.

Also, it's killing me, I know the guy on the right is the venerable Arn Anderson, but who's on the left? Is that Ole?

Nobody steps to The Enforcer.

Tully Blanchard --a god (now just a minion for god), but dude did come with a fine "sling-shot suplex" in the day and im sure he tore up every bimbo that ted turner and jim crockett could sniff out until he found "the lord"

Yeah, question the ID on a member of the Horsemen again and ill sick these dudes on you to work on an arm, a leg---whatever---its the Anderson Way:

Tully Blanchard...I'm an idiot.

Now is Tully ripping off Ted Dibiase nowadays or vice versa?