Does anyone listen to the radio any more?

[Missy Hellfire]

Does anyone listen to the radio any more, or is it being superceded by mp3s and suchlike? I enjoy the radio, BBC Radio 4 in particular and tend to shy away from popular music stations. Also, with the advent of digital radio in Britain, there are stations such as BBC Radio 7 that re run many of the shows from way back such as The Goons and Around the Horn which are brilliant. Also, don't ask me why but if life is getting to me I only have to listen to the shipping forecast to know that all is right with the world!

I was just wondering if sitting down to listen to the wireless had become a thing of the past? Has video really killed the radio star? And if not, what do people enjoy listening to?

 

[Matthew Verge]

I don't think for one moment that radio is dead, or even dying, but I acknowledge it has taken a back seat to many more modern, or perhaps popular, forms of media. I, personally, listen to the radio constantly when in my car, and very often when in the house. Listening to the radio indoors is not as popular as it used to be, for some reason.

I work on fishing boats for a living (although not as a fisherman) and I can say with great authority that radio is alive and well there. It rarely shuts off, actually. When I worked in carpentry there was always a radio blaring at the construction site.

 

[scottyrocks]

I listen to my ipod a great most of the time, but when I do listen to the radio, I find that Im tuned to AM stations. Here in the metro NYC area, I usually have newsradio WCBS 880 on, although there are others I do toggle through. When I do have FM radio on, Im usually at WQXR 96.3 - its the one classical station left on the airwaves here.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think radio as I knew it when I worked in it -- local, community-driven, substantial -- is dead, and has been dead since the late '90s, at least in the United States. And it isn't coming back.

But I still listen to certain things -- baseball games, for example. I absolutely loathe modern baseball television coverage, the yawping-idiot/ESPN/rock-n-roll approach, and even though some of that has infected radio coverage as well, it's still possible to turn on a ball game on a summer afternoon and enjoy it.

Basically, I'd listen to radio more if there was more on radio worth listening to. Nowadays, aside from the occasional ballgame and the occasional thing on NPR, there's just nothing left on the modern airwaves that interests me. With my own little AM transmitter, I can program my own radio.

 

[Matthew Verge]

Perhaps this is the difference. In SW Nova Scotia, I can only receive a few stations. One comes from the town I live in. In fact, the studio is only a five minute walk from my apartment. The other comes from a town a couple of hours away, and the third big one is CBC radio. I love CBC, and I am tuned into it most of the time. There is also a French station because of the Acadian population, but I can't understand much of it, although I tune in for music sometimes.

The broadcasting on these stations is very local. Here in Yarmouth the radio has the tide schedule. Are there not normally radio stations in small towns in the US?

 

[LizzieMaine]

The broadcasting on these stations is very local. Here in Yarmouth the radio has the tide schedule. Are there not normally radio stations in small towns in the US?

The problem here is that when ownership restrictions were removed in the '90s, most of the small local stations were bought up by certain large media companies, the local programming staffs dumped, and the stations programmed with generic satellite formats. Even the few independent small town stations that remain have largely converted to automation, so there's rarely ever an actual breathing person behind the microphone.

I got out of radio in 1997, just as this trend was catching hold, and within a year, we had no *local* broadcasting at all.

I started in broadcasting at a 250-watt local station -- we did 5 am work announcements for the local sardine canneries: "There is work today at Stinson's. All first shift workers report to Stinson's."

 

[Antje]

At work we always have the radio on but on a channel that is nothing for me.
they have here in Holland radio 2 and they somethimes have theme's like the week of the 60's or the week of the 50's and if I know it is on then I will try listen as much as possible.

and between boxing day and newyear they have on the same channel
the top 2000 that is really great and I listen to it almost non stop

for the rest of it I somethimes turn on live365.com and look for stations that play old music

I think the most music I listen comes from records like the real old 33 records

 

[Fletch]

I think radio as I knew it when I worked in it -- local, community-driven, substantial -- is dead, and has been dead since the late '90s, at least in the United States. And it isn't coming back.

Broadcasting - to a general audience - is what's dead. Marketing killed it when sales people discovered target mass marketing - creating big groups that people could be convinced to buy into. The biggest single group in your audience profile is now the only group: winner-take-all, get the most of the most, and don't mess with the rest.

But I still listen to certain things -- baseball games, for example. I absolutely loathe modern baseball television coverage, the yawping-idiot/ESPN/rock-n-roll approach, and even though some of that has infected radio coverage as well, it's still possible to turn on a ball game on a summer afternoon and enjoy it.

Of course that's possible only thru a gap in marketing strategy. Radio ball is the way it is because it's not TV, and TV ball is the way it is because media people now target market everything - of general interest or not.

Sports TV in general has been "manned up" seriously in the past few decades, in an effort to construct a more seductive cultural image and cash in on it. Men are the largest single group who watch sports, so in a marketing-dominated age, sports become more and more about men.

Radio was a way to build community, back when we still believed in one "community." But if you can't say "community" without an adjective in front of it, radio can't reunite you into one community.

 

[Widebrim]

Local radio is not entirely dead, just depends what part of the U.S. you are in. Here in Los Angeles, there are a couple of community FM stations, aimed primarily towards the Black and Hispanic audience, and a couple of local AM Spanish-language stations which still have a finger on the pulse of the barrio. But pretty much gone are the days when you could hear on KIEV-AM 870, "And when you need an auto shop you can depend on, take your car to Bistagne Bros. in Glendale," or "Make your next stop Pizza Pete's on Glendale Ave., where you can get a slice of pepperoni pizza for only 35 cents." It's a shame, because when I'm in my '51 Packard, I can't tune into any music except Mexican and Korean (not really what you'd want to be eminating from a vintage vehicle...). I could put on the Disney station, but Jonas Bros. and Miley Cyrus don't cut it, either.:eusa_doh: So I end up listening to national talk radio, both conservative and liberal, until I get tired of it ten minutes later. I need to get a FM/Digital player for the Patrician, but then I need to figure a way to mount it properly under the dash...

 

[Missy Hellfire]

That's really interesting, here in the UK local radio is still a major thing and even the BBC has many regional stations that broadcast and deal with specific areas/cities/counties across the country. The problem that I generally have with the small commercial independant radio stations (the BBC does not have advertising) is that they try and sound like the big national mainstream ones and so a lot of individuality in the programming is lost.

I know a lot of people that have the radio on for background noise but only a handful of people tend to sit down and specifically listen to the radio. I know a few people who love to settle down with a cup of tea and listen to The Archers (an ages old soap opera on Radio 4) and others who listen to sports coverage and the news, but amongst the majority the radio seems mainly to exist as background nose and nothing more.

 

[JennyLou]

the only thing I really listen to on the radio is the news on NPR.

 

[Shangas]

I enjoy listening to talkback radio if I'm in the car...but apart from that, I don't listen to any radio.

 

[Matthew Verge]

Does the US have a radio station similar to the BBC, or CBC?

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"Here in the Swan River Colony, we have numerous community run radio stations that broadcast, Nostalgia, one can listen on line from anywhere in the world, although I tend to listen on the actual "Wireless" there are no advertisements which is a blessing, I also listen to ABC (australia) classic fm, again no advertisements!! and television is such rubbish nowadays, I am so out of the loop with it!"

"I also listen to mp3's through the aux jack of my wireless"

 

[Cigarband]

Speaking of the "Shipping Forecast"....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z2jwDcb9wI

 

[Widebrim]

Does the US have a radio station similar to the BBC, or CBC?

No, unfortunately we do not. We do, of course, have national networks, like ABC, NBC, and CBS, but nothing comparable. The closest we have to your CBC is perhaps MPR (public radio) which operates a 37-station regional radio network.

 

[Fletch]

Local radio is not entirely dead, just depends what part of the U.S. you are in.

...and what part of the socio-ethno-cultural mosaic you occupy.

Middleclass white folks are so thoroughly de-cultured in most places that they neither want nor need local radio. What could it sell them? Ideas? Even if you could sell them ideas, what the heck would they do with them? All they have in their lives is work, home, and maybe church - places where ideas are either beside the point or are pre-determined for you (NTTAWWT).

i'm going to take a clue from the marketing boys and declare that thinking for yourself, making your own music or writing or cultural content, has pretty much become the property of out-groups. No one else can really afford to do it, because the price of their lifestyle has climbed too high.

 

[C-dot]

I listen to Toronto's Q107, which plays all Classic Rock. Besides that its 680 News on the AM dial, or CBC radio 2, which plays classical.

There are some jazz stations, but the reception is so bad. I don't want to strain to hear when I'm driving (which, sadly, is the one of the only times I turn the radio on.)

 

[bobalooba]

Basically, I'd listen to radio more if there was more on radio worth listening to.

this is my opinion as well, there was really only one station I listened to which was a college station that played some great local music, punk music and the deejays were always great and wtty because they were college kids doing it for fun with nothing to prove, unfortunately I moved and their broadcasting range is only so far so I haven't listened to radio for a while.

If there were stations like this everywhere I would have the radio on much more often.

 

[John in Covina]

Habitually out for news. Here in LA I tend to listen to the radio everyday. Monday thru Friday I listen to the AM news stations, talk radio and the local FM rock stations through the day. In the evenings and weekends less talk radio more FM rock stations in the truck while driving. In the truck, music wise I tend to bounce around looking for what I like, when they play something that's not to my taste or unliked it's search time. Currently the cassette deck is on the fritz (worn out) but when it wasn't making screetchy type noises I would listen more to my personal play list.

Unfortunately, LA has no swing crooner vintage pop stations, that I am aware of, although they used to have a fun station that played Sinatra swing and Michael Buble but it was too good to last.

The next vehicle will take cd's and have HD radio plus the possibility of Sirius / XM radio may work it's way into my plans.

Radio, it's not tv.