Audio Cheez Whiz
I seem to have hit a nerve out there by even mentioning that KISN-FM has been replaced on the Portland radio dial by something called "Charlie." Lots of disgruntled listeners commented on that post -- along with just a couple of "gruntled" ones, who like the new format.
I since came across an article in The New York Times pointing out that this is a national phenomenon. And it's not just oldies stations that are disappearing -- even "alternative" rock stations are being uprooted for automated playlists and talk formats. Music on the free radio may be headed the way of the recorded music industry -- becoming obsolete with the advent of satellite pay radio, and the computerized gadgets with which we can program an entire soundtrack for our lives without corporate help.
It's no coincidence that the robot '80s and '90s radio stations like Charlie are promoting themselves as being "like an iPod." The problem is, they're like an iPod that's been loaded by your white trash cousin, who has lousy taste in music.
| Posted at 1:34 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (14)
This has to be one of the stupidest marketing concepts in radio ever.
If I owned an IPOD, I would put in the songs I liked, not the songs some marketing nimrod thinks I would like.
I have no interest in listening to someone else's IPOD collection.
Even if my white trash cousin had great taste in music, it's not MY taste.
I can't believe people will listen to this nonsense.
Posted by Gordo | May 2, 2005 2:32 PM
And my wife is even more devasted. KISN-FM was her favorite radio station. And meanwhile on KPAM 860, "America's favorite penny pincher" (her favorite too) Clark Howard has been replaced by yet another right wing nimrod.
Posted by Gordo | May 2, 2005 2:34 PM
er ... that should be DEVASTATED ...
Posted by Gordo | May 2, 2005 2:35 PM
oh, so sad, the all soundgarden/pearl jam/nirvana/alice in chains/stone temple pilots station in seattle has also left... oddly enough, it's now called JACK
Posted by barf barf | May 2, 2005 2:59 PM
Someone should tell "Charlie FM" that when you compare yourself to one of the hottest consumer products around, you are begging for people to start talking about how much you suck compared to an iPod.
Number one: my iPod has yet to play a single commercial. And it never will.
And so on.
Posted by Dave J. | May 2, 2005 3:30 PM
Cheez Wiz? Was Velveeta already taken? ;)
Flying to San Diego this weekend, I read an article (I think it was in Entertainment Weekly) about how the record companies are going to start charging us to watch videos on-line and how ticked off they were that they didn't think to get a slice of MTV's action back in the day. The story centered on a grandpa who happened to be president of some record company got ticked while watching his grandson play a 50-Cent video three times on Yahoo and his company wasn't getting a fee out of it. Some interesting stuff.
Tom Petty, during an interview following the release of The Last DJ, lamented the loss of radio's communal experience. Being able to pull up to a stop light and hear the guy next to you playing the same station and give him the devil horn salute. It's all been replaced by cd's and satellite. Now, of course. Tom has his own show on Clear Channel's XM satellite service, just to see how much I'll pay for what I used to get for free....
Posted by chris | May 2, 2005 3:35 PM
The story centered on a grandpa who happened to be president of some record company got ticked while watching his grandson play a 50-Cent video three times on Yahoo and his company wasn't getting a fee out of it.
Wow, what narrow thinking. I can't even begin to relate how many stupid albums I bought in the '80s because I saw that artists video for "free" on MTV. Hasn't that always been the whole freaking concept of radio, anyway? Give people product A for free, and then use product A to convince them to buy product B.
Posted by Dave J. | May 2, 2005 3:40 PM
Yep, pretty sad situation... 97.1 FM has always been our family favorite station.....
Posted by Steve J. | May 2, 2005 3:52 PM
>>I can't even begin to relate how many stupid albums I bought in the '80s because I saw that artists video for "free" on MTV.
You and me both, Dave. I think I still have my Hooters "Nervous Night" cd floating around somewhere. lol
Posted by chris | May 2, 2005 3:56 PM
Satellite radio rocks. I have a Sirius subscription for about $13 a month, and my favorite station plays great song after great song, as do many of the 130 others - stuff you don't hear on FM. If you listen to a lot of radio like me, then you don't know what you're missing. Plus, reception in the middle of nowhere.
Posted by Erik | May 2, 2005 4:08 PM
The "iPod" thing makes me cringe, no doubt about it. There are so many thing wrong with it, including the aforecommented "inviting comparison" element. (One that comes immediately to mind? The fact that "iPod" is becoming the new "Xerox," a blanket term used to describe all devices that serve a particular function, that just happens to be a name brand. Ugh. My Neuros is not an iPod, thankyouverymuch.)
Do you want the funny part? KKSN-FM's numbers in the (ratings) book that just came out? Way, way up over what they were previously. As the joke goes, "If you want to see a good book, change your format."
Okay, maybe the word "funny" is misplaced, there...
Posted by GreyDuck | May 2, 2005 4:58 PM
There goes the last DJ
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say, hey hey hey
And there goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
And there goes the last DJ.
-"The Last DJ", Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Posted by nader | May 2, 2005 5:35 PM
"One that comes immediately to mind? The fact that "iPod" is becoming the new "Xerox," a blanket term used to describe all devices that serve a particular function, that just happens to be a name brand. Ugh. My Neuros is not an iPod"
When the the music industry comes up with a better MP3 player than the iPod, then the iPod won't be the "blanket term."
I say good riddance to terrestrial radio and CD's.
Posted by Justin | May 3, 2005 6:45 AM
The Charlie format is a tiny (let me emphasize, tiny) step in the right direction with its 1000-or-so song playlist. But the programmers still don't get it. The playlist should be closer to 100,000 songs.
I have a CD collection that runs about 1000 disks, or about 10,000 songs. And I'm no where near getting everything I'd like to have. I have a 100-disk CD jukebox that lets me listen to Duke Ellington and Johnny Cash and Nirvana and The Temptations and Metallica and J.S. Bach and Bo Diddley and Genesis and The Ramones and Beethoven and... Well, you get the picture.
KINK is the only station around that comes close to being described as full-time musically eclectic, but even then, I'm not likely to hear a Judas Priest rocker or a Copeland symphony. I'd like a radio station that can give me traffic, weather, headlines, local announcements, "Born to Run", "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", "Take the 'A' Train", "Jeremy", and new stuff by new people.
Sorry, Charlie. You don't taste good enough to be Chicken of the Sea, and your taste isn't good enough to get me to reprogram my car radio.
Posted by Musically Eclectic | May 3, 2005 11:35 PM