I am done with music radio. AM and FM music radio blows. And it's not about the commercials... those don't seem to bother me. Often the commercials are the most entertaining part of radio. Music radio in Chicago is awful. Sorry to those of you who work in the radio business (I was part of it when I lived in NYC), but music radio is boring and lifeless. And not just in Chicago... NYC, San Francisco, and Portland have awful radio too. I could go on and on listing cities and states, but I'll save you from reading that.
I do not have XM or Sirius satellite radio. Since I do not have the long commute to work (I walk), I don't want I to spend the money on a satellite radio subscription. If I lived in L.A. I might. And I am not a fan of listening to the radio over the internet... I like to listen to the radio in my car. That's it.
What happened to music radio? How did it get so bad? When did radio stations start thinking that having a rotation of just 20 songs was a good thing? Is this horrible radio the product of this whole payola scandal? Does anyone really like the bands Staind or Creed... because they are one of those 20 songs.
I have always been a supporter of college and community radio - but in Chicago those stations have such low wattage you cannot pick them up. I wish we had a WRAS (Atlanta), KEXP (Seattle), or a KCRW (L.A.) - they are not the best radio stations... but they are a whole lot better than what most cities have.
For now, all I listen to is sports talk radio or NPR, and I can only take so much of that.
