Radio Station Stupidity

[Guest Mattdotcom]

For a few years now, my local radio station has been doing some mind-boggingly stupid stuff I came here to share. Go ahead and tell your's, too.

 

 

Every weekday, the station devotes it's lunch hour to "retro" (read: 80s and early 90s) music. Nothing too bad, except their slogan, "Today's Best Music!" is played before "The Heat is On" or any other song begins. Still, nothing big. Until: The Retro Weekend. This "event" occurs once every few months. Still playing those "TODAY'S Best Music" promos. And then, the first week of July...it happened: The Retro Week. Here, we found out two things:

 

1. They have maybe two "Retro Promos" and a hundred "TBM" promos.

 

2. They don't have enough music to fill a week. I don't listen to the radio much, but I swear I heard "Atomic Dog" 3 times.

 

That's just scraping at the iceberg lettuce. Don't get me started on how they were giving away copies of Chicken Run yesterday. ripes, that movie's gotta be two years old.

[Guest MaxPower27]

Little things like that piss me off, like one station here in Florida, 99X, they play a promo for a Papa Roach concert coming to FGCU (a college). Then, normally, I'd expect to hear Papa Roach, after the promo, but then they play New Found Glory. Little shit like that pisses me off.

 

They did the same for a Tool concert we had down here, they played a Tool promo, and then played Green Day after the Tool promo. Doesn't it make more sense to play the band that you're advertising?

 

Also, they have a promo "No Old Crap on our station!" Then they play R.E.M. from 1989. Mind boggling.

[Guest DokDoyle]

Also, they have a promo "No Old Crap on our station!" Then they play R.E.M. from 1989. Mind boggling.

Every radio station is going to play "Older" music (most top 40 station nothing over 5-6 years old)

 

and depending on the song, REM ain't crap anyway

[Guest MaxPower27]

No, Dok, you're missing the point. They pride themselves on NOT being the station that plays old crap. The other station here 92.5, plays Rush, Sabbath, Van Halen, etc. 99X says that they play only new music, then bust out shit from before 1994.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

No, Dok, you're missing the point. They pride themselves on NOT being the station that plays old crap. The other station here 92.5, plays Rush, Sabbath, Van Halen, etc. 99X says that they play only new music, then bust out shit from before 1994.

92.5 is better, just judging from what you've written. Much, much, much better. I mean, as far as "old crap" goes and all........

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

WAAF tries to pride itself on playing music other stations don't have the balls to play, then they play your standard Top 40 Billboard Rock Chart music.

 

Don't get me started on how WBCN calls itself "Boston's Alternative Rock," and then plays Eminem followed by Outkast...

[Guest MaxPower27]

Yeah, I used to live in Massachusetts, Corey, so I miss AAF with a fucking passion.

 

92.5 is the better station, but I can only get 99X in at work, so I have to listen to it all day. I don't mind Rush/Sabbath/Old Ozzy/Van Halen every once in a while, 99X plays U2 (I hate U2 (the band)), REM (hate), and junk like that, so it gets annoying.

 

Both get a cookie, though, for playing Mandatory Metallica 99X @ 7PM and 92.5 @ 8 PM. Sooooo Good!

[Guest hardyz1]

The only half decent station I can get at work calls itself "modern rock" then they play Vanessa Carlton, Michelle Branch, Jewel, Sheryl Crow, Avril Lavigne, Eminem, Fatboy Slim (mostly the awful turd knows as "Praise You") and Five for Fighting. But they do air the Bob and Tom Show in the morning, so that's a major plus.

[Guest TheyCallMeMark]

Heh here we have KISW "Classic Rock That Really Rocks" and for the most part, it's stuff from 1994 or sooner in addition to new stuff put out by artists who were actually around before '94, but goddamn at least once every hour they play some goddamn Linkin Park or Staind or some shit.

[Guest Redhawk]

At least you don't live in Seattle. Our major "Today's Hit Music" station is KUBE 93 FM. I swear, they pick about seven songs that are popular at the moment and just play them ALL DAY LONG. If you turn on KUBE at ANY point in the day, you can't go 15 minutes without hearing either Ja Rule or Nelly.

[Guest redbaron51]

I have 97.7 HtzFM which is a great radio station.

 

Morning Mob

Hair Metal Hour

Music Notes at 6

Midnight Metal

 

and it has Metallica Monday's Tragically Hip Tuesdays, Pink Floyd Friday's.

 

Anything that is classic rock, hard rock, metal, punk, emo, prog and even pop music like Puddle of Mudd, Korn, Staind are some of the popular bands, plus great canadian bands as well.

 

Usually if a concert is near by, they usually hype it, and lately they are hyping Dream Theater and Joe Satriani(Dream Theater and radio!?)

[Guest mw679]

Oh God, AAF has gone down the drain so fast....I miss listening to John Osterlind in the afternoons. He was their best DJ for the longest time. Now he's on the AM station talking politics in the mornings, ugh....Anyway, yeah, BCN sux balls, always has, always will. I find myself listening to the classic rock stations a lot more than the others. Rock 101 of of NH was good for a while but they seem to have fallen off too, I don't know I listen to my CD's more than the radio, too much mainstream garbage being played constantly. Hearing Nickelback 7 times a day really wears on you after a while....

[Guest Sebastian_the_Bastard]

The only halfway decent station I get is WKQZ 93.3. They mostly play alt. rock and kind of old rock... but every now and again they play a good song.

 

On Sunday night's they play punk rock for about an hour or two, and that's always great.

 

-Sebastian

[Guest treble charged]

There are about 3 radio stations around here that I like listening to:

 

-X-FM: 'The New Rock Alternative' is how they bill themselves, but they'll occasionally play some Clash, or The Police. They also have mandatory Marley every weekday at 4:20 (I don't get it), which I really don't care for. This would be my favourite radio station to listen to, however, it doesn't come in at my house anymore.

 

-The Bear: This one calls itself 'Ottawa's Best Rock Mix'. They play most of what X-FM does, but also plays older stuff, such as Van Halen, as well as older and newer stuff from bands like Aerosmith and Bon Jovi. I really don't mind this station too much, and it comes in at my house, which is a plus.

 

-K-Rock: They call themselves 'Today's Best Rock and Killer Classics'. They're playlist is basically that of The Bear, but they also play even older stuff such as the Guess Who. This one comes in at work, so I listen to it while there.

 

They're all ok, and it's good to have 3 different stations to chose from while driving, for variety and such.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

I can listen to any station, with only prolonged country and the Christian station as a whole standing out as exceptions. The Soft Rock stuff wears on me also, the kind of stuff they literally advertise as such.

 

I seriously have 15 stations set on my stereo in my room.

 

Z93.3 - Rap, R&B

Power 94.3 - Used to be Dance, now Rap, less R&B than Z93

95SX 95.1 - What would be considered our Top 40 station, dance on weekend nights

96Wave 96.1 - What would be our contemporary rock station, plays locals too

98Rock 98.1 - Classic Rock, insults contemporary rock in its adverts

98.9 - The BEST Rap station

Alice 100.5 - 80s, 90s, and today

Oldies 102.5 - Pretty obvious

Q104.5 - More classic rock

Cool 105.5 - Motown, Funk

89.3 - I guess it's NPR, classical on a consistent basis

AM 1340 - sports radio

AM 1450 - News/Talk radio

 

Okay, so it's 13 stations. Like I said, no Christian or large amounts of Country.

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

We've got 103.9 here, and every friday at midnight they do a 2 hour show called Concrete Jungle, which is a retarded name, but it's all metal bands, and NO METALLICA~! They played some friggin' Napalm Death on that mofo last week.

[Guest starvenger]

I've just about given up trying to find a decent radio station in Houston. I listen to the retro station (106.9?) since it unabashedly plays 80's music and I'll listen to 96.5 (a Triple A station) for the morning show, but that's about it.

 

The "alternative" station here, 94.5, not only does the usual "10 minutes of non-stop ads" but goes above and beyond the normal amount of shilling that the DJs usually do. It's pretty nauseating. I really miss listening to Edge102 (their streaming media player sucks).

 

Anyways, I figure at this point it's better for me to buy some books on tape and learn some Mandarin, since all the Chinese people here speak it and I only speak Cantonese.

[Guest Big McLargeHuge]

The Big Two Rock stations here in SF are:

 

Live 105.3 - Modern Rock and Alt Rock. I believe they established themselves as Alt Rock in the mid to late 90s when it was pretty much dead. The oldest bands they play are Metallica and the Big Four Seattle bands. Only listen for the bands already mentioned.

 

107.7 The Bone - I hate this station...for the most part. It's a classic rock station which means I hate it already, but sometimes they bust out Metallica, Van Halen, GnR,the Stones or Hendrix. Rarely though. They're usually playing Styxx, Journey and other crap. No punk (that I've heard) or metal (with the exception of Metallica). They have a Led Zepplin hour on Fridays called Get the Led Out ( ) that I tune into from time to time.

 

95.7 The Drive - Just changed formats from Top 40 to older Top 40. More 60s and 70s music. I don't mind really as they're the only station who play the Beatles. Mostly for Nostalgia purposes.

 

There's another, but I can't remember.

[Guest BottleRocket]

I don't listen to music on the radio here in the Washington, DC area. I mainly listen to talk radio since the "rock" stations play music that does not agree with my tastes.

 

WHFS 99.1FM used to be pretty cutting edge, but have since become like every other commercial modern rock station in the country. Their yearly outdoor festival has also become a joke with such modern rockers like Eminem headlining.

 

In terms of talk radio, I flip between the following stations...

 

--WTNT 570AM (Imus, Liddy, Beck)

 

--WMAL 630AM (Dr. Laura, Rush, Chris Corr)

 

--Sports Talk 980AM (Rome, John Thompson)

 

--WJFK 106.7FM (Stern, Don And Mike, Sports Junkies, Ron And Fez, and whoever replaces Opie And Anthony)

 

Personally, as former music director and general manager of a college radio station, I much prefer that format to any of today's commercial music stations that are owed by the mega-corporations.

[Guest Tha Cunnysmythe]

2. They don't have enough music to fill a week. I don't listen to the radio much, but I swear I heard "Atomic Dog" 3 times.

You should be glad. That song r0x0rs. Parliament are Gods.

[Guest JangoFett4Hire]

Rock 101 of of NH was good for a while but they seem to have fallen off too....

I actually work in radio (right now I am employed by the 50,000 watt flamethrower that is WBZ NewsRadio 1030...) anyways, i did a stint in NH for about a year at WGIR AM/FM. I ran the soundboard for the Buzz, Pats Games, various syndicated crud over on the AM side. Anyways I never got how anyone could listen to Rock 101. They had no continuity whatsoever. I understand mixing in classic rock with neu-metal, but going from Jethro Tull to Linkin Park kind of baffled me. And their on air stuff sucked. AJ/Crozby was the only decent DJ they had...but what was up with that grudge match feature they had? Cool concept, pitting 2 bands against each other, but they were always mismatched- Rush vs AIC? Aerosmith vs Korn? Dude, do it right, it's unfair doing a cross generational match... ok, i'm taking it too seriosuly. Anyways, The Buzz blows, Chad wishes he was Nik Carter, and Frances was hot, she's now on the Lander show on Mix 98.5 (Boston's Vanessa Carter/BNL/DMB affiliate). OK, I'm done bashing my former emplyer now! NINJA ===?

[Guest mw679]

Anyways I never got how anyone could listen to Rock 101.

 

 

I listened to Rock 101 in work, I don't know, I think I just liked the variety that they had. Also, I loved to listen to Frances when she worked the 10-3 shift in the mornings, I never knew what she looked like until after she left the station, but I had a feeling she was hot, she even sounded hot! Something about that voice....Anyway, after she had left, there was still a few pics of her on the website and I was like "Damn!" Yeah, I haven't listened to them for a while, the morning buzz did suck, that's why I tuned in at 10, basically I work until 3:30, so I never really heard any of the other DJ's you mentioned, but I'll take your word for it seeing as how you worked there and all. I never could understand the grudge match either...I do remember that segment from the few times I did listen later in the day...and the artist I wanted to hear would NEVER win! It'd be like, AC/DC vs. Pearl Jam and this is when PJ was hitting it with "Last Kiss" so all the women would call up and request PJ just to hear that friggin' song, and 'DC would get left out in the cold. Damn, that would piss me off. Anyway, it is cool to haer about some of the insiders opinions.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

When I was in Chicago for Nationals, they had 92.7, a 24 HOUR DANCE STATION!!!!!!!!!!!

 

You can imagine how much I loved that.

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest evenflowDDT]

The Big Two Rock stations here in SF are:

 

Live 105.3 - Modern Rock and Alt Rock. I believe they established themselves as Alt Rock in the mid to late 90s when it was pretty much dead. The oldest bands they play are Metallica and the Big Four Seattle bands. Only listen for the bands already mentioned.

Yea, I used to listen to Live 105 a LOT like, five years ago. But in '99 when they picked up Stern in the mornings again, and I stopped liking a lot of the "new rock" that was coming out, I stopped listening to them except for "Subsonic", a dance music show hosted by my favorite DJ there, Aaron Axelson, on Saturday nights from ... well, who knows what the hours are now (they always change it, but now they're pretty good, I think it's 10PM-4AM, I usually start listening around 12AM while I'm typing up my Velocity recaps). I love "Subsonic" so much, and since I can't get to Amoeba or Frequency 9 (I think that's the store, it's near Amoeba and owned by local DJ's/group Mars & Mystre), and those songs are l33t (which of course, means they're not available on KaZaA ), it's my only chance to hear them. I've really been digging this one song recently, but since the playlist isn't updated until the middle of the next week, and I forget the song order by then, I can't for the life of me find what the song's called.

 

I sure as hell hope I can pick up Live 105 from Santa Cruz, but somehow I doubt it... at least I'll always have KFOG

 

I also listen to The Bone a lot, but what BMLH said is pretty dead on. I've never heard any punk (save for one or two Ramones songs when Joey died) on that station, and even though I used to say it's my favorite, I really haven't listened to it for a while at all. They didn't play THAT much Journey/Styxx/"wussy arena rock" though... but it was like clockwork, "Bohemian Rhapsody"/"Stairway to Heaven"/"Another Brick in the Wall Pt. II" in the morning and then you wouldn't hear them the rest of the day, because that's one of their big things is only playing songs once a day (which they do, although sometimes if the late-night DJ is lazy you'll hear a song at 11pm and then again at like 12:15 ).