Where on the radio?

[shopgirl61]

AM or FM do I find the classics? swing, jazz, big band, billie holiday etc...

I can't stand driving long distances and listening to the crap on modern radio

 

[JimWagner]

You aren't going to have much luck with AM or FM, especially on long trips. XM does have channels dedicated to what you are looking for and since it's satellite based you won't lose the channel on trips.

 

[David Conwill]

Somewhere on the FM band. Wherever your MP3 player with the FM-broadcast device is tuned.

Finding good music is a major problem. With rare, and pleasant, exception, local radio isn't local anymore (aside from the advertisements), and it's all been programmed via focus group to hit the broadest range of consumers.

I haven't had a radio in my Falcon for a couple months now, and while I miss music, I don't find I miss the local programming a bit.

-Dave

 

[57plymouth]

I don't have an iPod, but my modern conveyances have CD players. I burn a few CDs and rotate them around with my favorites of the moment.

My 57 Plymouth has only the factory AM radio. I am usually able to find a Christian station that plays some sort of sermon. If not, I turn it off.

I had Sirius for several years and liked it. But, when I quit working to stay home with the daughter, I didn't use it enough to keep paying for it.

 

[David Conwill]

I don't have an iPod, but my modern conveyances have CD players. I burn a few CDs and rotate them around with my favorites of the moment.

I had a CD player in my last modern car, but the problem I found was that I never had with me the CDs I wanted. With my iPod (iPhone, actually), I can carry my entire music collection with me.

My 57 Plymouth has only the factory AM radio.

My Falcon has what appears to be a Mercury or Edsel radio in it. I haven't gotten it working yet, but when I do, the plan is to wire in a subtle aux jack, so I can simply run the iPhone through the original amp.

I had Sirius for several years and liked it. But, when I quit working to stay home with the daughter, I didn't use it enough to keep paying for it.

My father-in-law has XM, and I enjoy it, although like all stations, some of the XM stations seem to fall into a rut of only playing the same 20-30 songs in a loop.

I've always thought satellite radio would be better to have in the house, than in the car. Especially if what you want to listen to is something like the old-time radio shows. But that may have more to do with the way I consume music.

-Dave

 

[57plymouth]

I used to listen to the radio shows all day. But then, I was spending 7-9 hours in the car per day when I worked for a living. After a year, I had heard all of the radio shows so they were all repeats to me. There were two Golden Era channels on Sirius when I canceled, and they were in a rut of the same 30 songs or so in a loop.

 

[skyvue]

Live 365 has free smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, etc.) apps that stream their stations and even work pretty well in cars, in my limited experience.

So you could stream Radio Dismuke or Cladrite Radio or other Live365 stations that play such music.

 

[W4ASZ]

I have landed on 530 kHz in the AM band a few times and caught a few good tunes on CMBQ, Radio Enciclopedia, out of Havana. No commercials there.

I am fortunate that my local AM station runs the Music of Your Life feed, which includes a lot of good vintage music.

The FCC - (I've mentioned them again !) - killed clear channel AM, and with its death went any chance for the medium to run at anything like full potential. This is why people have to generate their own programming for their classic sets. Even the WWII U -Boat crews running on the east coast had it better than we do ; they enjoyed the Jassmusik from WBT in Charlotte as they pursued their duties.

 

[Big Man]

There is a somewhat local NPR station (91.7, I believe) that plays Big Band music on Sunday's at 2:00 PM. Last week they featured Tommy Dorsey. I can just barely pick up the station, so it has that "scratchy" sound which somehow makes the music that much better.

 

[LocktownDog]

There's at least one good jazz station out of Sac. Mostly modern stuff (which is fine too :eusa_clap ) but they used to have regular programs of vintage jazz. Also check the program schedule for Capitol Public Radio. Big Man's right ... there are show played of the old crooners and swing bands. I know the NPR station out of Reno plays them on Wednesdays and Sundays.

 

[Chas]

Sirius has a jazz/swing station, I believe.

NPR out of Seattle plays a show called "Swing And Beyond" on Friday nites; Amanda Wilde hosts, she does an excellent playlist and knows the material. My show is on iTunes as well, so I'm sure it's workable.