What Has Happened To FM Radio?

I miss good radio. I actually collect vintage radio's and it's terrible to have these wonderful machines remain mostly silent because there is nothing out there worth tuning into. I came of age in the last great era for music (in my opinion) late seventies and early eighties. Punk, hard rock, disco, new wave...sixties and fifties music...Talk about variety! Now it's so sad for today's youth...how can one be a proper teenager without great music? Who will these kids grow up to be?

reply to post by marzabeth

Oh My Gawd, late 70s early 80s, what an emotional tumultuous time in my life, I had just went into the service enlisted, and there was always the most awesome awesome songs pumping out of a jumping radio, and whenever I hear --any-- of those bands, such as, REO Speedwagon, especially from my most intense time, Basic Training, and Technical School, I instantly time travel back there.

I wonder what a new enlistee's memory will be like, a generation from now, when he hears, "I want to be a victim, a victim of abduction, so you can tell me what to do..." (cringe)

Reply to post by marzabeth

I think great mainstream music died in the late 90's to early 2000's.

Grunge and post grunge were the last hurrah before the recycled crap took over.


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Originally posted by ReadyPower
The only station I would listen to in the Los Angeles/Orange County market was a talk station, 97.1.. a few years ago they changed formats.

I used to love listening to The Tom Leykis show He was hilarious, never knew what he was gonna say. "Leykis 101" was always funny as well. It was a sad day when 97.1 changed formats.

As for as the OP...i think alot of our parents said the same thing when hearing "our" music growing up. I know my dad sure did when he heard my Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin blaring. He always complained about it being noise. On the pop/Top 40 side FM seems to totally suck. You hear the same songs and retarded DJ's on every station. But then i've never been a big Top 40 fan anyway.

In SoCal, KCAL 96.7 FM and 103.3 are good for classic rock. KOLA 99.9 FM recently changed format to "oldies" so they play alot of classic stuff, rock, pop, Motown, R&B. 103.9 and 105.3 in San Diego are good for modern rock and metal that my two son's listen to also.

So actually i'm pretty satisfied with variety of the local FM stations when i'm in SoCal.

Where I live, we are mostly subjected to rap/hip-hip music. In theory, that wouldn't be bad, if it weren't for the fact it's the same friggin' songs played over and over and over. And GOD FORBID one of the artists in this genre produce a song that isn't "featuring" Lil' Wayne, Drake, Niki Minaj, Rhianna, or friggin' KANYE WEST! These people can't do one song without the rest of the pack chiming in. And I still have no idea what language Lil' Wayne is trying to speak. It sounds like "drunk Donald Duck" to me.

I'm not lying.....I'm about ready to shut down all radio access in my home because I'm going mad.

Yea FM stations sure are unbearable, but nowadays there are plenty of internet radiostations - amateur and professional, most are way better than FM stations.
Just like TV, i completely abandoned FM radio years ago, and with the huge variety on the net, i don`t miss them and i get everything i need (Except it`s still kinda impractical to listen to them in your car, but it`s still an option and of course you can make your own "radio" with hundreds of mp3s (I use wma) ).

Ditto on the curse of Clear Channel and the other few conglomerates cut from the same cloth. Fortunately, in my neck of the woods, I have multiple college radio stations to listen to and one local independent commercial stations.

For the college radio, I just have to know what programs to tune in to so I can avoid Hindu Pop and Saturday Polka's. There are still plenty of Indie bands out there. You just have to try a little harder to find them.

My kudos to my local shows Stone Cold Bikini, Chasing infinity and the Cream of Broccoli radio hour on WRUW 91.1. broadcast from Case Western University.www.wruw.org...

Support your local Left of the Dial music enthusiasts!!

That's why I listen to various talk radio stations but I don't listen to rush or his croonies, they are only interested in pushing their agenda. Most radio is the same 40 or 50 songs over and over or commercials. It doesn't matter if it's country, pop, top 40 or classic. Much like TV it's all the same crap with no true choice in variety.

This is why I think TPTB are trying to control us through media outlets and program us to accept a small amount of variety as the "norm".

reply to post by marzabeth


There is LOADS of new, varied and original music out there. Just because the mainstream stations don't play it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!

Saying that though, the BBC do give underground music a fair shot. They have specialist shows evenings and weekends (although they stick to the commercial playlist during the day), and even have an entire station dedicated to urban music.

I have noticed the same phenomenon, as I spend much time in my car on the freeways of Houston, TX. It used to be that even ten years ago, there was plenty of variety on all of the stations. There were also TWICE the English format stations as well, but I won't go into how we're all going to be speaking Spanish soon. For a couple years, I had Sirius and loved it, but I got tired of paying for it, so I went back to FM. It's gotten so old, listening to the same 20-30 songs in a loop, and I've gone to AM. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm about to be 30 in another year? I just don't know.

I think I have to agree with the Clear Channel conspiracy theorists. It seems that they have wrecked everything. In fact, for the last two years, there was a really nice Americana country station here in North Houston, and they played lots of independent artists. Now, it seems as though Clear Channel must have gotten a hold of them too, because they no longer play independent country. It all sounds like the Nashville top 40 list.

If we go digital with FM, as they have tried to make us do with HD radio, I think it will be the same as when digital TV became mandated for the US. They boasted that it would be a clearer signal with a higher quality picture and more channels. What good are more channels, when I can't catch anything without pixelation or blipping of the audio. The reception is terrible. They said that it was so the emergency crews would have the analogue channels cleared of traffic. I suspect that someone invented digital transmission antenna television and could not sell their inferior product to the public willingly, SO why not pay your favorite politician to pass a bill to make it the law that everyone HAS to use your product! If digital trans mission is so much better, then why didn't the emergency crews got priority to use it? That will eventually be the reality of FM radio.

While clear channel definatly has something to do with it. I also think that this is a reflection of society, people just want the songs that they know now, nobody cares about listening to a whole album, they want the singles, and the big names, the Biebers, Kanyes, Taylor Swifts and so on. Nobody wants a long introduction or build up, no guitar solo, just a catchy hook and a few verses with a basic concept.

Its sort of like the fast food mentality.