rlr (01/11/83)
To address alice!sjb's article:
There are a number of reasons that simple majorities should not dictate
radio programming policy. There must be dozens of jazz radio stations
across the country who have folded or changed format to avoid folding,
all because of the pressure of the almighty dollar. It's not enough
for station management to have merely good ratings--they demand great
ratings!!! And how does one get these great ratings? By doing what
TV networks do to grab high ratings---appeal to the lowest common
denominator! Thus, the rest of us who are not hypnotized by AOR (or MOR--
middle-of-the-road---the other end of format radio) must find alternative
ways of hearing the music we like. Alternatives that are few and far
between even in large metropolitan areas, and non-existent elsewhere (except
maybe in college towns).
I thought I answered the question about what's wrong with
heavy metal once before, but those are just my opinions, and everyone is
entitled to listen to what they want (or what they are told to want).
Seriously, I think that, for the most part, we net users are an
intelligent population with diverse tastes. A number of people have
stated that heavy metal is only one of a variety of different musical
styles that they enjoy. But we are talking about myopic station
managers who think that only their brand of music is rock. ("Naw, can't
play that new wave stuff, not noisy enough. Black music? Are you kidding?
Black people don't play rock 'n' roll!" [LIKE CHUCK BERRY OR JIMI
HENDRIX] ) It's annoying to listen to a station that calls itself a "rock"
station when it won't play Prince, or the Buzzcocks, or ... A radio station
is supposed to turn you on to new sounds and play new, exciting music,
and not just keep the masses in line with AOR and MOR clone formats. In the
sixties, the radio stations played rock, soul, etc., and inspired numerous
musicians with their diverse sounds. What kind of inspiration does the
same format over and over provide?
Adam, there aren't enough classical stations, and there aren't enough jazz
stations, and there aren't very many real rock stations. There are plenty
of AOR stations, though, and they stifle the rest of the musical spectrum.
And being an audience of kids isn't the problem. The same age group,
15-25 years ago, didn't have media-controlled music. They defined the sound
they wanted to hear, and "big business" wouldn't listen. Now business has
seen the big bucks in this music, and they seek to formula-ize and control it
so that they can be assured of making their profit. Kids are SUPPOSED to
rebel against the status quo, at least on a personal and maybe musical level.
Heavy metal isn't rebellion--it is the status quo. Punk was supposed to
be something new for a new generation, but a large number of kids didn't
want it. Could it be that these kids have nothing to rebel about?mickey (01/11/83)
Adam Buchsbaum and Rick Rosen both seem to ignore the obvious cause of the current stuck-in-the-mud condition of radio stations. (Which is much like the MOR stations of 15 years ago, pre-conversion WKRP style.) The station managers of that era came from the late 40's and early 50's where the brand of noise known as MOR was the "rebellious" style, and the status quo was..... Now-a-days rock is in the same position, the station managers are the rebellious kids from the 60's, and they have to rub their brand of rebellion in our faces, never mind that it is now the status quo. Bring Back Big Bands. Ahhh- Now there was a REAL rebellion, the 20's. And look what it got us! The depression (now who says that wasn't exciting?) and the second War to End All Wars. Does anyone here remember Vera Lynn?
gh (01/11/83)
alice!sjb misses the point. The majority of the radio audience may be kids who
want heavy metal or whatever, but they only form the majority because that's
what's on the radio. What we should be talking about is the majority of
POTENTIAL radio listeners, the people who would like to listen to the radio if
only they could reliably find something on it they liked.
The problem is that too many radio stations reason as follows:
The potential audience out there is fragmented -- we can never appeal
to a majority.
Therefore, we should try to appeal to the fragment with the largest
appeal to advertisers, viz. teenage rock.
The result is that you get a lot of radio stations competing for their share of
one fragment, while other fragments get completely ignored. In practice, some
stations will realize they can do better by looking to medium-sized fragments
where there is less competition, but this only happens to a limited extent.
The fact is that, contrary to what alice!sjb says, outside the major
metropolitan areas, there AREN'T plenty of classical music stations, and one
has at est a single college station or non-profit public station, often of
less-than-stellar quality, that time-multiplexes classical, jazz, bluegrass,
"non-commercial" rock and talk programs. Jazz, in particular, for some reason
is frequently considered to be of interest only to the midnight-to-5am
listener.
Example: In the Providence area we have:
FM: 4 rock/HM stations, 1 muzak, 2 MOR (Manilow, Streisand, Diamond),
2 time-multiplexed college stations (one of them pretty bad).
AM: 2 C&W, 1 40s-50s music (broadcasts daytime only), 2 pop/oldies/talk,
misc religious and foreign language, 1 all-news.
We are fortunate that in some parts of the city one can get an all-classical
station and an excellent time-multiplexed public radio station from Boston (50
miles away), but reception is bad: usually mono only, and sometimes
unlistenable, especially the all-classical station.dpj (01/15/83)
I don't want everyone to play my kind of music. I want someone to play my kind of music. Several months ago, when I moved into this area (North Jersey) I sent a news item asking for advice on radio. EVERYONE who responded to my request said that I was out of luck except for one good jazz station (WBGO at around 88 for those who care) and some college stations which might be heard if I tuned my radio carefully to work around the high power stations near them on the dial. (For reference, my preferences include jazz, jazz/rock fusion, and the I think I like some of the stuff that approaches new wave, although I'm not sure 'cause I don't hear much of it.)