Commentary

An old flame, reignited

Considering most of my life centers on the five mile radius around a college campus, I don't spend a lot of time in my car. However, a four hour drive this week trapped me in my car with a bunch of old CDs and the radio as my only entertainment. During this trip I reclaimed a former love for traditional, old-fashioned broadcast radio.

I listened to NPR, a news favorite I always seem to miss in the morning and early evening. I listened to stories about bizarre murders in New York, Bush's troop withdrawal, and an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker - how much better can it get? After the news, I spent the rest of my drive flipping through a bunch of unfamiliar radio stations and was pleasantly surprised by the variety of NEW music playing. Even the ads were interesting.

After reading plenty of stories about how radio listenership is declining, I have to say that I will likely try to catch much more of it when I can. Granted, I don't spend a lot of time around radios, but after this trip, I think I will be trying to listen as much as possible in the future.

6 comments about "An old flame, reignited".
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  1. Robert Schuman, April 14, 2008 at 10:49 a.m.

    Why do you equate radio listening to driving? Those of us who went to college in the late 60's and early 70's had "stereos" in our room constantly tuned to interesting music stations.

    Today, you have hundreds of fascinating radio stations available on the web to stream. The real question is, with all these stations at your fingertips why has it taken you so long to discover the magic of radio?

    The only radio stations that are losing audience are the playlist-pop stations that relied on great masses of audience in a local market. There are many who are not, particularly college stations around the county.

  2. Scott Curtis from Studeo, April 14, 2008 at 11:38 a.m.

    The only radio worth listening to is local independant radio and satellite radio. I stopped listening to traditional stations about 2000 with the invent of napster. Oh what lovely days in my dorm, burning disk after disk of music I'd always wanted to check out but never had the time or money to seek out and buy. Since that time I've been unable to find a band on the radio that I cared about or hadn't already heard about.

    Today I subscribe to Sirius and I find a new band every single time I listen for an hour. The Dodos, Manchester Orchestra, Spiritualized, Neutral Milk Hotel, Trail of Dead, Be Your Own Pet, Tokyo Police Club, Bright Eyes... when was the last time you heard any of those bands on FM? Some of those are my favorite bands and others I discovered through Sirius. For a real fan of music FM is dead.

    Regarding Sirius, for music, I typically stick to left of center or occasionally wander over to alt-nation. I had not been interested in radio for so long, now I've fallen in love again. I will never go back to traditional radio. The playlists are bland, they never break new artists (unless you live in LA or NY) and there are SO MANY COMMERCIALS! Music stations on satellite radio have zero commercials. I recommend you check it out. That is, if you are a serious music fan. No pun intended.

  3. Jon Baker, April 14, 2008 at 11:43 a.m.

    Hey,
    I bet you felt "alive" with the radio on! Kids today use music as wall paper. It's just accessed when needed or in the background. Hopefully the folks close to them mention the great songs out there. Sattelite Radio is great, don't get me wrong, but sooo formatted. Your FM or AM friend tells you if a storm is breaking nearby, how to avoid a traffic jam, or where they ate last night between songs. Just like friend.
    My son is in college now, and they play records at his house. Yup, vinyl, with all the snaps and pops that made your recording unique. I just bought a 8 track recorder this year. Anyone remember driving through a tunnel for the first time, when the music kept playing

  4. David Whitehead, April 14, 2008 at 1:41 p.m.

    Gotta second the notion that the only radio worth listening to is either local, independent or web-based.

    If it weren't for web radio I'd never hear anything new, because I'm sure not hearing it on local radio. If you spend the time to customize it, Pandora.com is also a great way to get band suggestions as well.

    And Amanda, if you exclude the college station near your locale, I'm betting you won't be so charmed by radio after a week. ;)

  5. Scott Curtis from Studeo, April 15, 2008 at 12:21 p.m.

    What's the format of Wait, Wait...?

  6. Kelly Ann, April 17, 2008 at 2:02 p.m.

    Radio will never lose its momentum, just like other media, it will evolve and adapt to the needs and wants of its audience and for that very reason, it will continue to exist. As for college radio, I'm personally a big fan and think it shouldn't be excluded. For those who choose to believe that student produced material isn't of any value or doesn't meet the expectations of "real world" products and services should come visit Ball State or Valparaiso University. Those are two universities that run impressive and very succesful, college radio stations and because of those stations I'm very charmed...

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