FM radio

[Takumi]

sad, because Rob Thomas is really quite talented... the song he did with Santana is excellent.

But overplayed even to this day. If I could never hear it again, I wouldn't complain. It's a good song, but I think I've heard it at least a thousand times (not exaggerating) since it came out in the late 90s.

[triplemultiplex]

I got utterly sick of Led Zeppelin during my third year of college when one of the guys with whom I shared an apartment (living in University-run housing, so this guy was assigned to join the other three of us who knew each other) turned out to be utterly obsessed with their music and listened to it constantly. He never would have struck you as a Zeppelin fan, either; nerdy-looking soft-spoken guy from Chesapeake, Virginia, with a serious southern drawl, a father who drove a Vista Cruiser (seriously), and a brother they all called "Earl T.".....it sounds like a serious redneck stereotype, I know. This guy played Zeppelin so incessantly that I still have not listened to a single Zeppelin album all the way through even a single time since then, and this fall will be 20 years since I shared an apartment with that guy.

Nerds love Zeppelin.  All those Tolkien-esque lyrics.  Shit yeah.

No radio station can match the variety one can create with one's own library.  A few thousand MP3's taken from all my favorite genres and a media player set on shuffle wins.  No changing stations, no bad reception, no ads (well except a few of those old Bud Light "Real American Heroes"), no bills to pay and all the variety a randomizing algorithm can provide.

Digression:
How can such a shitty beer have such great commercials?  Bud has been churning out great ads for their piss water for like 20 years now.  They're not all winners, but if there's a hilarious light beer commercial, it'll be for Bud.  Damn them.

[cpzilliacus]

I got utterly sick of Led Zeppelin during my third year of college when one of the guys with whom I shared an apartment (living in University-run housing, so this guy was assigned to join the other three of us who knew each other) turned out to be utterly obsessed with their music and listened to it constantly. He never would have struck you as a Zeppelin fan, either; nerdy-looking soft-spoken guy from Chesapeake, Virginia, with a serious southern drawl, a father who drove a Vista Cruiser (seriously), and a brother they all called "Earl T.".....it sounds like a serious redneck stereotype, I know. This guy played Zeppelin so incessantly that I still have not listened to a single Zeppelin album all the way through even a single time since then, and this fall will be 20 years since I shared an apartment with that guy.

It was the AOR programmers that tired me (probably permanently) of Led Zeppelin, though I suspect that living with someone that hung-up on the band would do the trick as well.

That's not to say I always turn off their music if it comes on the radio. That really depends on what song it is.

Black Dog will result in an immediate station change if I have command of the radio.

In terms of the radio, back in the mid-1990s initially MIX-101.5 was one of the better radio stations in Raleigh, but they branded themselves as "the best mix of the '70s, '80s, and '90s." Only thing was, they never played any of the bands you'd expect to hear from the 1970s–Zeppelin, Boston, the Eagles, the Stones, etc. A few of us complained and they promptly changed it to "the best mix of the '80s, '90s, and today." (What the heck does that even MEAN during the 1990s? How do "the '90s" differ from "today" when the time period is from August 1995 to May 1998?) Their playlist became the standard "MIX" crap–constant Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, Blues Traveller's "Runaround," the Wallflowers' "One Headlight," that Celine Dion Titanic song, and a few other things repeated endlessly ad nauseam. Ugh. The funny thing is, since then it seems like every damn radio station with "MIX-" in the name plays all that same stuff as though it were still up-to-date and popular. As I say, ugh.

I never lived in North Carolina, so I cannot say for sure, but I think that station was once programmed by the same crowd that did the playlists for WRQX (Q-107) in the Washington, D.C. market.  Would hear it on I-95 while crossing most of North  Carolina in the  days before satellite radio.

I've taken a real liking to the E Street Radio channel on XM partly because I love Springsteen (on my iPod, 1,657 of a total 6,651 tracks are Springsteen, for 38.75 GB out of a total 86.10 GB) but also because they play some Springsteen-influenced or -related stuff. The occasional "Cover Me" show where they play other artists' covers of Springsteen songs can be a good way to find some new music.

Not that much of a Springsteen fan (I don't especially like "Born to Run,"  perhaps because of excessive airplay), but he recorded a track at about the same that is one of my absolute favorite rock and roll standards of all time - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).

[Dr Frankenstein]

Still on FM here.

Some DJs suck, but I love to hear knowledgable and interesting DJs.

I don't mind having to change channels as they get out of range. It lets me hear local radio on road trips and I like that. Forces me to discover new stuff, and I even like to hear the local ads and traffic reports. It's interesting.

And yes, XM does have the same repetition issues as public radio stations, so unless I can find a station that continuously airs those odd prog rock songs everyone's forgotten, I'm very unlikely to pay just to get better reception and less ads for something I'm only going to listen to in my car.

I also have a serious problem with certain car manufacturers phasing out AM/FM two years from now...

[US81]

I like driving places and finding any local programming. "Community" (amateur) radio amuses me, when I can find such a station. Really obscure eclectic soundtracks, the local high school football game, the off-beat call-in show, etc.     I am not as much a fan of the homogenization of FM/AM radio. 

If on a good road trip, once an hour or so, I'll hit the scan button to find out what's out there. But these days I always have audio books and music CDs/mp3s as my back up.

[A.J. Bertin]

I also have a serious problem with certain car manufacturers phasing out AM/FM two years from now...

I do too. That really pisses me off. However, I think what will happen is that cars will still offer AM/FM - maybe not as a standard option but as something extra.

[corco]

Listening to local radio is one of the most fun parts of driving through a new place, particularly if I can't get out of the car- it's a great way to glean information about the local culture, particularly if you can get a live church broadcast from a local church on a Sunday morning.

[Alps]

I never travel with CDs (used to), satellite radio, etc. I rely on FM stations, and if I can't find anything in the rock/alt genre, I'll take whatever's close (country, typically). Now, this upcoming trip may change that, since I'll be up in Northwest Territories - the radio selection is going to be sparse...

[cpzilliacus]

I never travel with CDs (used to), satellite radio, etc. I rely on FM stations, and if I can't find anything in the rock/alt genre, I'll take whatever's close (country, typically). Now, this upcoming trip may change that, since I'll be up in Northwest Territories - the radio selection is going to be sparse...

Satellite radio apparently works pretty far north, according to this map.

[Truvelo]

Satellite radio apparently works pretty far north, according to this map.

A pity it doesn't go a few thousand miles further east

[KEVIN_224]

No radio station can match the variety one can create with one's own library.  A few thousand MP3's taken from all my favorite genres and a media player set on shuffle wins.  No changing stations, no bad reception, no ads (well except a few of those old Bud Light "Real American Heroes"), no bills to pay and all the variety a randomizing algorithm can provide.

Digression:
How can such a shitty beer have such great commercials?  Bud has been churning out great ads for their piss water for like 20 years now.  They're not all winners, but if there's a hilarious light beer commercial, it'll be for Bud.  Damn them.

what about the Miller Lite radio spots with "Dick"? 

Anyways, over much of the past two weeks, I've been dubbing a shit ton of cassettes to my laptop, changing them over to MP3 files. Then they can either go onto a little player, should I decide to buy one. I also have the option to transfer that to CD-R discs. Why am I doing all of this? Simple: Durability and freeing up some shelf space. Some of the cassettes went back to 1987! Talk about "quality"! Ha ha! 

It was so fun to listen to all the old station IDs and airchecks I made from WTIC-FM 96.5 of Hartford, CT. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, they were 96 TIC-FM, the top-rated station in the Hartford/New Britain/Middletown radio market. The top-of-hour IDs were done by the late Ernie Anderson, a.k.a. the "Golden Throat" voice you always heard on ABC television in the 1980s. SIGH! Locally owned stations, before the era of CBS and Clear Channel owning almost everything. 

[1995hoo]

I never travel with CDs (used to), satellite radio, etc. I rely on FM stations, and if I can't find anything in the rock/alt genre, I'll take whatever's close (country, typically). Now, this upcoming trip may change that, since I'll be up in Northwest Territories - the radio selection is going to be sparse...

Satellite radio apparently works pretty far north, according to this map.

I've taken my XM-equipped car up to Cape Breton Island and the only problem I had there was that heavily-treed areas and mountains (in the Highlands) were more likely to interfere with the signal than is the case in the 48 states. Car and Driver reported that the signal became intermittent about halfway up the Dempster Highway en route to Tuktoyaktuk.

....

If on a good road trip, once an hour or so, I'll hit the scan button to find out what's out there. But these days I always have audio books and music CDs/mp3s as my back up.

My Acura plays DVD-Audio discs. I have software to burn my own such discs and it's a great way to carry huge volumes of uncompressed music on fewer discs. On average I can fit about six CDs worth of stuff on one DVD, meaning I have the equivalent of 36 CDs in there at a time. Obviously the number varies–more Beatles albums will fit on one DVD than Springsteen albums, for example, because the Beatles' albums are shorter.

I know some people talk about .mp3, but I don't like to use lossy compression if I don't need to do so. (If a concert bootleg is available only in .mp3, that's better than nothing, of course.)

[roadman65]

I have found satellite radio to be good on long distance travels.  You do not have to search for radio stations each time you enter a new market.  Few years ago, I did a road trip from Indianapolis to Sault Ste. Marie, MI and was able to listen to the same station all the way.  Then this past year going from Houston to Houma, then north to Texarkana and west to Dallas to head back to Houston, I had the same radio channel on the whole time.

The only drawbacks, are when traveling under long underpasses and tunnels, but its only a small price to pay.  After all FM radio is sacrificed in the NYC tunnels, so all cannot be perfect.  However, I am glad to hear the old WPLJ and WNEW air talent on stations like Deep Cuts as I was raised on those two stations living in North Jersey back in the 1980's.  Veterans like Pat St. John, and Carol Miller have shows on the Sirus system and even Earl Bailey and Dan Near as well as old MTV talent (back when MTV actually played videos) like Alan Hunter and so on.

Locally, Sirus does not pay unless you like Howard Stern or gets a kick out of hearing women do lewd things on the radio.  To me Howard Stern does not do anything for me, so I can afford not to subscribe.

[cpzilliacus]

Locally, Sirus does not pay unless you like Howard Stern or gets a kick out of hearing women do lewd things on the radio.  To me Howard Stern does not do anything for me, so I can afford not to subscribe.

Howard Stern was funny when he first  started on Washington D.C.'s WWDC-FM (DC 101) in the early  1980's, but his routine (at least in my opinion) quickly became repetitive and boring, and I listened to something else.

I am a satisfied SiriusXM customer, but I don't see any need to pay extra to listen to Stern.

[DandyDan]

I hear promos for I heart radio... but I cant see having an app to listen to another crappy station from Omaha...

You wouldn't believe how crappy the radio stations in Omaha are.  I went through the trouble of getting XM radio installed in my car to avoid it, except now that it's broken and I'm looking for a new car, I'm cursed with having to listen to all the boring repetition again.  And the one true rock station, instead of playing music at night, will repeat it's morning show, not that it's anything special.

[cpzilliacus]

I hear promos for I heart radio... but I cant see having an app to listen to another crappy station from Omaha...

You wouldn't believe how crappy the radio stations in Omaha are.  I went through the trouble of getting XM radio installed in my car to avoid it, except now that it's broken and I'm looking for a new car, I'm cursed with having to listen to all the boring repetition again.  And the one true rock station, instead of playing music at night, will repeat it's morning show, not that it's anything special.

Did your XM radio "break" by starting to "forget" that it is associated with a paid-up account?

If yes, you may be able to get the defective component replaced by SiriusXM at little or no cost.

[Brandon]

I hear promos for I heart radio... but I cant see having an app to listen to another crappy station from Omaha...

You wouldn't believe how crappy the radio stations in Omaha are.  I went through the trouble of getting XM radio installed in my car to avoid it, except now that it's broken and I'm looking for a new car, I'm cursed with having to listen to all the boring repetition again.  And the one true rock station, instead of playing music at night, will repeat it's morning show, not that it's anything special.

Did your XM radio "break" by starting to "forget" that it is associated with a paid-up account?

If yes, you may be able to get the defective component replaced by SiriusXM at little or no cost.

I had it "break" the connection with SiriusXM last week.  I am up to date on payments so I made a call to customer service.  They had to reset the connection.  Once done, it was "unbroken" and reconnected to the service.

[cpzilliacus]

I had it "break" the connection with SiriusXM last week.  I am up to date on payments so I made a call to customer service.  They had to reset the connection.  Once done, it was "unbroken" and reconnected to the service.

Mine started doing that every time I shut the engine off.  It's an Alpine radio, which had worked flawlessly for well over a year.  I could call them to reset, but it "forgot" the reset every time. 

SiriusXM sent me different receiver part, which was swapped-out at no charge to me.

Now it works fine again.

[NJRoadfan]

Funny, the Sirius tuner in my car seems to forget that I don't have a subscription and work anyway. I wonder who is paying the bill?

[kendancy66]

I got utterly sick of Led Zeppelin during my third year of college when one of the guys with whom I shared an apartment (living in University-run housing, so this guy was assigned to join the other three of us who knew each other) turned out to be utterly obsessed with their music and listened to it constantly. He never would have struck you as a Zeppelin fan, either; nerdy-looking soft-spoken guy from Chesapeake, Virginia, with a serious southern drawl, a father who drove a Vista Cruiser (seriously), and a brother they all called "Earl T.".....it sounds like a serious redneck stereotype, I know. This guy played Zeppelin so incessantly that I still have not listened to a single Zeppelin album all the way through even a single time since then, and this fall will be 20 years since I shared an apartment with that guy.

It was the AOR programmers that tired me (probably permanently) of Led Zeppelin, though I suspect that living with someone that hung-up on the band would do the trick as well.

That's not to say I always turn off their music if it comes on the radio. That really depends on what song it is.

Black Dog will result in an immediate station change if I have command of the radio.

In terms of the radio, back in the mid-1990s initially MIX-101.5 was one of the better radio stations in Raleigh, but they branded themselves as "the best mix of the '70s, '80s, and '90s." Only thing was, they never played any of the bands you'd expect to hear from the 1970s–Zeppelin, Boston, the Eagles, the Stones, etc. A few of us complained and they promptly changed it to "the best mix of the '80s, '90s, and today." (What the heck does that even MEAN during the 1990s? How do "the '90s" differ from "today" when the time period is from August 1995 to May 1998?) Their playlist became the standard "MIX" crap–constant Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, Blues Traveller's "Runaround," the Wallflowers' "One Headlight," that Celine Dion Titanic song, and a few other things repeated endlessly ad nauseam. Ugh. The funny thing is, since then it seems like every damn radio station with "MIX-" in the name plays all that same stuff as though it were still up-to-date and popular. As I say, ugh.

I never lived in North Carolina, so I cannot say for sure, but I think that station was once programmed by the same crowd that did the playlists for WRQX (Q-107) in the Washington, D.C. market.  Would hear it on I-95 while crossing most of North  Carolina in the  days before satellite radio.

I've taken a real liking to the E Street Radio channel on XM partly because I love Springsteen (on my iPod, 1,657 of a total 6,651 tracks are Springsteen, for 38.75 GB out of a total 86.10 GB) but also because they play some Springsteen-influenced or -related stuff. The occasional "Cover Me" show where they play other artists' covers of Springsteen songs can be a good way to find some new music.

Not that much of a Springsteen fan (I don't especially like "Born to Run,"  perhaps because of excessive airplay), but he recorded a track at about the same that is one of my absolute favorite rock and roll standards of all time - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).

I understand being sick of "Born to Run" the song, but on the album "Born to Run", I never get sick of Backstreets and Thunder Road. (which just happen to have road references and metaphors)

[cpzilliacus]

I understand being sick of "Born to Run" the song, but on the album "Born to Run", I never get sick of Backstreets and Thunder Road. (which just happen to have road references and metaphors)

In 1983, Billy Idol released his Rebel Yell disc, which included a track entitled "Blue Highway."  One of my favorite "highway" songs.

[thenetwork]

Funny, the Sirius tuner in my car seems to forget that I don't have a subscription and work anyway. I wonder who is paying the bill?

I had the same thing happen to me in my car.  I had the radio swapped out when I bought it because some of the tuner buttons wouldn't work.  I had free Sirius/XM for a little over 2 years!  They recently sent me mail stating I have a 3-month free trial window, but I cannot get my radio to activate with either the original radio code or with the current radio's code.

[Scott5114]

And the one true rock station, instead of playing music at night, will repeat it's morning show, not that it's anything special.

Morning shows are probably the worst thing about FM radio. Maybe one song is played every fifteen minutes, and the rest is generally two clowns trying to be funny by prattling on about dumb shit. The national "Bob and Tom" show is one of the worst offenders; it's 25% immature observations about things like breasts and 75% these guys guffawing about it. And pretty much every station has one of these, for some unknown reason. What is it about the morning time that makes programming executives think "Okay, people want this kind of programming, not what we do the rest of the day"?

Since I have to listen to people talking, I end up putting it on Morning Edition so at least I learn something from it.

[A.J. Bertin]

And the one true rock station, instead of playing music at night, will repeat it's morning show, not that it's anything special.

Morning shows are probably the worst thing about FM radio. Maybe one song is played every fifteen minutes, and the rest is generally two clowns trying to be funny by prattling on about dumb shit. The national "Bob and Tom" show is one of the worst offenders; it's 25% immature observations about things like breasts and 75% these guys guffawing about it. And pretty much every station has one of these, for some unknown reason. What is it about the morning time that makes programming executives think "Okay, people want this kind of programming, not what we do the rest of the day"?

I've often wondered the same thing. As much as I enjoy listening to FM radio, I just want to hear music in the mornings - not talk. That's one of the times when I usually switch to SiriusXM (I have a temporary 6-month subscription that I paid $28 for).

[hm insulators]

There's a radio discussion forum that I actively participate in: http://www.radiodiscussions.com/smf/

Does anyone else share this hobby?

I just joined that one not too long ago.