Remember when radio stations played great music?
OK, before you accuse me of sounding like your dad, I'll rephrase that. Remember when radio stations played an exciting variety of music and artists and you never knew what they would play and when?
Well my friends if you do remember that, you've probably been around awhile. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll explain.
Years ago, privately owned radio stations and their local disc jockeys would choose the music or content they wanted to play, when they wanted to play it, whatever came to mind. And if someone called the station for a request and it felt right, they'd play that too. What? You mean they don't do it that way now? Well in a word, no. In fact let me add no, no, no, and more no.
These days, the majority of American radio stations are owned by mega corporations like Clear Channel and Infinity Broadcasting. These corporations hire programmers who decide exactly what songs to play and in what order they will be played. Then in many cases they do what is called, "Voice-tracking". Voice tracking is a process where someone records the programming in one city and then distributes it to the many stations owned by the mega corporation throughout the country. So what you hear in San Francisco may be exactly what you hear in New York City or Atlanta. Often they'll throw in content like local weather, traffic and sports to give the illusion that the DJ is local. Fooled ya!
Unlike the FM band, AM radio is made up of mainly news and talk stations and relies on listener involvement as its core strength. AM has been relying more and more on syndicated programming and I have nothing against that for many of the programs are very well done like Clark Howard's informative consumer action show and the Kim Komando Show, another very informative show about computers and the Internet.
But as for FM's move to mass music programming, many listeners have grown tired of the predictable playlists and have turned to ipods, podcasting and satellite radio. Not only does this mega programming squeeze out the possibility of new artists and their music from being heard, but it also makes many stations sound cookie cutter identical. Like a particular Top 40 song? No problem. Just switch to the four or five stations in any given market sharing a similar format and you can be assured it will be played, again and again.
Today's stations still classify themselves in formats like Country, Top 40, and Rock and some are even experimenting with what they call "whatever" playlists trying to mimic the popular ipods and podcasts. But the station's playlists are still preprogrammed into hard drives that spit them out along with the commercials in a precise, predictable, business like order. And although the powers that be tried in vain to slow or even stop the progress of satellite radio, it harkens back to the days when VHS and then later CDs came to be. The bottom line is that if the consumer wants it, it's going to happen.
What will eventually cause conventional radio listenership to decline won't be satellite or mp3 players. It will be the watered down, mass market approach these mega companies are taking. Because they've changed what was once exciting, unpredictable radio into what should now be called the, "FM Bland".
Hal Eisenberg is an award winning copywriter, producer, voice over talent, and owner of The Eisenberg Agency, a full service advertising agency specializing in creative ads that get results. Visit his web site at http://www.eisenbergagency.com; mailto: halacious@eisenbergagency.com.
CORRECT PRACTICE IS INDISPENSABLE!Your success or failure at the keyboard... Read More
The portable MP3 player continues to be the hot item... Read More
From the Telecaster to the Flying V to the Iceman... Read More
We call it music, ever noticed how vividly music triggers... Read More
Digital Music Download. Ever since file-sharing programs entered the hard... Read More
There are 3 pedals on most pianos. The one on... Read More
The MP3 movement started out with a huge audience of... Read More
The Rickenbacker 4003 electric bass guitar is one of the... Read More
In a recent post to my Yahoo group, I mentioned... Read More
All right, folks, here you go: My 12 reasons why... Read More
Ann Powers said: "Don't censor the music and artistic... Read More
Not since the heyday of Dance/Pop Artists like Taylor Dayne... Read More
The Search for the Right MusicEver since Georgi Lozonav, the... Read More
As industry insiders, we sometimes forget that when discussing the... Read More
Piano playing doesn't have to be boring. There's no law... Read More
The 'trois Gnossiennes' (1890) is a set of dance-like pieces... Read More
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has launched a... Read More
Anyone who has recorded vocals to tape knows there is... Read More
When you think of music in Atlanta you generally think... Read More
Sometime during the 1930's electric guitars were introduced onto the... Read More
Most of you have probably heard of the RIAA's quest... Read More
Propelled into fame as one of the Beatles, along with... Read More
Music licensing can be a very confusing subject. My... Read More
A New Breed of Aspiring Songwriters Is In The Making.... Read More
Music downloads are highly compressed audio files transferred onto a... Read More
You don't 'need' to play guitar enough.If you desire to... Read More
There are essentially two ways to learn piano - note... Read More
The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments... Read More
Learning piano chords can help you in all your piano... Read More
Pop/Rock Recording Artist Amber, who has scored seven #1 Billboard... Read More
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for music students is... Read More
Whenever I go to a Borders bookstore here in San... Read More
Three times in the last month I've been asked the... Read More
The idea that studying music improves the social development of... Read More
Cultures around the world since the beginning of time have... Read More
Britney Spears was born December 2 1981 as Britney Jean... Read More
The harp that once through Tara's halls the soul of... Read More
A student wrote me an email about the lesson "Ocean... Read More
A while back, I wrote an article that compared flower... Read More
In an interview given to Musik Magazine in 2000, Eminem... Read More
CORRECT PRACTICE IS INDISPENSABLE!Your success or failure at the keyboard... Read More
Many students ask me a question that goes something like... Read More
Just because you're holding your guitar doesn't mean that you're... Read More
Pakistan is blessed with talent and when we talk about... Read More
"I don't like to go into the studio with all... Read More
When I first began playing the piano and improvising, there... Read More
Disregard the popular image of rappers with their ghetto blasters,... Read More
This article gives the essential basics for how to play... Read More
You have to find radio airplay time if you're going... Read More
When a painter is getting ready to paint, a color... Read More
For the Creative Artist -- Good Health Insurance is Truly... Read More
Repetition is the key to learning something deeply. It works... Read More
Vision Music USA is a proactive and progressive music service... Read More
Getting ready for any type of guitar performance can be... Read More
If you are just starting out learning guitar one of... Read More
Like starting with any instrument, beginning clarinet is a process... Read More
When Akio Morita came up with the idea of the... Read More
I'll never forget the first time I played the piano... Read More
Ann Powers said: "Don't censor the music and artistic... Read More
I am not sure if anyone has been watching out... Read More
So now you've decided to record your songs. Good for... Read More
The Solid-bodied Corvette (not to be confused with the Corvette... Read More
The 'trois Gnossiennes' (1890) is a set of dance-like pieces... Read More
Yowza! Did you hear that hideous noise? It sounded like... Read More
Eric Clapton performs his slow-handed magic on his. Even with... Read More
The violin is a bowed stringed instrument and is the... Read More
Music & MP3 |