Gasp...radio out yonder here sucks big time

[gnahc79]

You'd think with the Fillmore and scores of musicians in the Bay Area (San Francisco, San Jose) that there would be a half decent indie radio station.
But nooooo, I have to listen college radio, which is ok (I was a WMSR dj back in the day...ok, 2 yrs ago). However, reception sucks and since DJs rotate every hour and the format isn't as strict..you get to hear ballroom dancing one hour and punk/ska the next.
There isn't really a point to this post...just lamenting my lack of radio in the car. At least I can listen to 97x online at work. Some consolation I guess.

[slow-dog]

I've never had a problem getting KZSU 90.1 on the peninsula, and they're a solid college station. When you're in the city, switch over to 90.3, which is the USF station (KUSF?). Can't remember what the frequency is, but in the East Bay you can get the Cal station, and usually 90.3. Otherwise, yeah, you're right--it's dreadful.

[Phil]

Originally posted by gnahc79
But nooooo, I have to listen college radio, which is ok (I was a WMSR dj back in the day...ok, 2 yrs ago). However, reception sucks and since DJs rotate every hour...

Hey! I was a DJ at WMSR about two years ago. Man, there sure seem to be a lot of us out there. I know there are a few on the boards. Any others? Aaaah, the most glorious radio station on earth.

[Kevinmack9]

WMSR representing

[dcXhc]

I feel your pain.

Try living in DC. We have two "rock" stations - One, owned by Infinity, has adopted the "Extreme Rock" format. The "Most Wanted" list includes: Sev, POD, Hoobastank, System of a Down, Puddle of Mud, and two (yes 2) by Linkin Park. The other station, owned by Clear Channel of course, has an identity crisis and can't decide whether it wants to be a Classic Rock station or an Extreme Rock station. Hence, it plays only really old or really bad stuff. College radio has no broadcasting range here either.

Thank God for the 10-disc automobile CD player.

[The Sheck]

This is becoming an all-too familiar trend I fear...In Minneapolis the situation is the same. FM Commercial Radio sucks. The new station Drive 105 is marketing itself as "Where The Music Matters" yet plays 80's rock songs every other tune and calls them "alternative". You k now who I'm talking about. INXS, Edie Brickell, Big Country...it's quite sad.

I remember taking a trip to Austin, TX a few years back and listening to the radio the whole way down thinking I'd hear some cool tune that was only heard regionally, but soon learned that radio in Austin was the same as it was in Minneapolis.

I miss REV 105. REV is kind of like WOXY, but they would spin Reggae, Old School R&B, and Hip-hop along with the rock. Sigh...Why can't radio be more like that?

[turkeyisland]

This discussion brings to mind an article that was in the WSJ a couple of weeks ago. It turns out that the evil behemoth that owns those "KISS-FM" stations (I believe it was Clear Channel) that appear to be in every major U.S. city are all based out of Los Angeles. None of the purportedly "local" DJ's even come from area where these stations broadcast. Instead, the company relies on info and stats gathered for these markets, such as Cincinnati, and then has the L.A. DJ's drop in these references to create the illusion that the DJ is located in that local market. Some DJ union is up in arms because the KISS fake-DJ's record every break for a day's programming in just a couple of hours, and they are paid just a little more than minimum wage to do so.

One final note: there's an amusing anectdote concerning how this scam was discovered. One of the "fake-local" KISS installations in Portland broadcasted an interview with N*Sync that was done live in the studio. Well, the interview may have been live, but it was being done in L.A.! Scores of fans showed up at the Portland studio, only to become irate when it was revealed that the band was not actually there.

[gnahc79]

Dude, Phil, it's CJ Chang. Remember back in the day when Andy Smith and I had that crack of dawn saturday (or was it sunday) morning show?
CD101 in Columbus is good, although they have more 80s and early 90s stuff.

[Murphy]

Originally posted by Phil


Hey! I was a DJ at WMSR about two years ago. Man, there sure seem to be a lot of us out there. I know there are a few on the boards. Any others? Aaaah, the most glorious radio station on earth.

Former MSR board member. But it was a bit longer than two years ago, kiddies ;) I was just thinking of this the other day, that we should have an WMSR alumni thread. Funny!

[yossarian]

You're right. I understand why 99% of radio sucks, but in SF you'd really think we'd have something better. In my car, I flip between crap like 97.3, 104.5, 104.9, 105.3, 101.3, 106.5, 92.3, and then I give up and go back to my cds again.

Lots of great concerts here, at least.

Kevin

[SteelTown Boy]

be fortunate that you're not in Pittsburgh,where it bling-bling Top 40,angry white boy rock that poses as "alternative" classic rock and mullet rock.

[coreyhemp]

I guess living in cincy kinda spoils you, because up till a couple years ago I was under the impression that you could find good radio stations (like WOXY) in pretty much every big city. But then you get out of Ohio a little and realize the dooming fate!!

When I was in San Diego, I listened to a lot of 94.9 which was included in the Rolling Stone article with 97x about the last 4 good radio stations left in America. It was a very good station...a lot like WOXY, but seemed to focus on The Cure, Social Distortion, and The Specials.


BTW...what is WMSR?

[IPrayForSound]

Miami Student Radio...good station depending on when you listen.

[drworm8]

Originally posted by dcXhc
I feel your pain.

Try living in DC. We have two "rock" stations - One, owned by Infinity, has adopted the "Extreme Rock" format. The "Most Wanted" list includes: Sev, POD, Hoobastank, System of a Down, Puddle of Mud, and two (yes 2) by Linkin Park. The other station, owned by Clear Channel of course, has an identity crisis and can't decide whether it wants to be a Classic Rock station or an Extreme Rock station. Hence, it plays only really old or really bad stuff. College radio has no broadcasting range here either.

Thank God for the 10-disc automobile CD player.

So which one's DC101? My God, that station sucked when I went to visit our nation's capitol about a year ago.

Radio is pretty much the same everywhere....it all sux balls, even in great musical areas like San Fran and Austin (surprisingly depressing for the famous SXSW town). Cincinnati folks should feel fortunate.

[lawdog]

I think the overall point of this thread is, depending on your geographic location, either:

(1) Thank <insert supernatural deity of your choice here> we have 97X to listen to, or

(2) You melonfarmers are damned lucky that you have 97X to listen to.

Think about it. Take 97.7 out of the Cincinnati market, and what do you have. A shitty Alt Rawk station that plays way too much Linkin Park*, and a Classic Rock station that plays way too much Led Zeppelin*.


* And by that I mean, any Linkin Park at all.

* Nothing against Zeppelin, mind you, but it seems unneccesary to play Stairway to Heaven once every two hours.

[drworm8]

Originally posted by lawdog
Nothing against Zeppelin, mind you, but it seems unneccesary to play Stairway to Heaven once every two hours.

Yes, thank you. It's a classic, but come on.......once a week is enough if you ask me.

[LanneyD]

Originally posted by Phil


Hey! I was a DJ at WMSR about two years ago. Man, there sure seem to be a lot of us out there. I know there are a few on the boards. Any others? Aaaah, the most glorious radio station on earth.

I was never a WMSR DJ, but I had many friends who were...does that count?

Plus, I remember listening to Phil and one of his cohorts do a relationship call-in show every week the 97-98 schoolyear.

(by the way...for those of you who never heard WMSR, it was on the TV...couldn't get it on radio.)

[SteelTown Boy]

ah,the days when i did weekends at WXUT-Toledo in the 80s

btw the live How The West Was Won shows the Zep at their mightiest live.

and yeah,they could do to ease up on STH

[MissKitty]

College radio alumnus here too--but not WSMR! I spent several of the best years of my life at WWSU--the ten million microwatt voice of Wright State University. :D

[onest2.0]

WFAL representin! The baddest radio station heard through cable access in all of Bowling Green, Ohio.

[Spectre]

Hey, another Wright State alum! I'll have you know I'm the guy who came up with that slogan, waaay back when I was PD at WWSU. "Ten MILLION microwatts of searing hot FM power!!!" was out call tag, since we were broadcasting from a (stolen) 10-watt exciter sitting on a (stolen) stick on top of the library building. Good luck if you could get it across the street at Bob Evans :-) Of course, this was back when the station was pretty much the only thing in that part of the basement there, before the new student union went in and ruined it all...sniffle...

Of course, I've since worked for WAZU, WWSU (later and still WMMX), WTUE, WONE, WKSW, WGTZ, WING-AM and WING-FM, and most recently WLW. I'm such a radio whore...

[MissKitty]

Your name isn't Pete, is it?

[Creature]

Try living in Toronto when all you get is CFNY: hard rock 'alternative' crap, and 20 minutes of ads every hour. Seriously, Woxy is the best alternative station anywhere. People who actually get it on radio are so lucky.

[chaos]

gnahc79, I think we're lucky to live in the bay area. Of course it would be wonderful to have a station like 97X, but aside from that, we have it pretty good. I have 6 college stations on my presets - there's usually something listenable on at least one of them. When your in the South bay, you've got KSCU, KSJS, and KFJC. Going north as KSCU fades out you have KALX and KZSU. And then there's KUSF right in the city. Personally, I think KALX rocks much of the time.

I used to live in Vancouver, where we had one pretentious college station and one public station. (The only good radio we ever had up there was a 97X-like station on AM in the early 90's.) Most markets have only one or two college stations, but we're exploding with them here in northern cal. So yes, Cinci obviously has the best radio, but compared to most markets we have it pretty good. On top of that, Live 105's been adding some good stuff lately - everything from Postal Service to Grandaddy. (Though like any "normal" commercial station they do overplay the hits and also play a bunch of crap.) Soundcheck and Subsonic are a couple of specialty shows definately worth listening to.

You live in Santa Clara - you should check out my show on KSCU Wednesday nights from 9-midnight. Lots of new muzik every week! :)

yossarian, you're only listening to commercial stations! Try:

South bay - 103.3 90.5 89.7
Peninsula - all the above plus 90.7 90.1
SF/Berkeley - 90.7 90.3

One last thing - college radio stations here aren't afraid to occasionally play a hit. I guess that's normal in the U.S. but in Canada you'd be repremanded if you played pretty much anything that any commercial station had ever played. Anyway, I may be a little biased being a DJ myself, but I do think college radio in this town is pretty cool.

[slow-dog]

Welcome Chaos!

You reviving the thread gives me the chance to point to this relatively complete list of Bay Area Independent Music Stations (http://www.razz.com/radio/).

And while I haven't bothered to check it out in forever, I had seen the Live 105 playlist in music stores and noted that there was some good stuff on there.

[chaos]

Hey thanks! I'm just a lurker on the forums, but I've been listening to 97X on the internet now for 5 years of its 20 year existence! :)

I noticed that that list of bay area stations is missing 87.9 - a small Mountain View high school station. Also the URL for KSCU is wrong - it's kscu.org. But still a good list. I've never heard 100.7 (I only scoured the non-comm band) - I'll have to try that one out.

[drworm8]

I have an Internet friend who used to program at KALX, Matt Levine. KALX is a pretty decent station in the Bay Area, I've listened online to his show a few times.

[tobedawg]

And while I haven't bothered to check it out in forever, I had seen the Live 105 playlist in music stores and noted that there was some good stuff on there.

LIVE 105 is actually getting better.. They have a new program director and their new slogan is "We suck less than Before".. They have the 11 0' Clock REWIND which is awesome!! They brought back Steve Masters from the Early LIVE 105 days who hosts it.. It's the best time to listen because they play The Smiths, New Order, ETC.. and some of the more obscure one-hit Alternative Wonders of the late 80's and early 90's..

This past weekend they did a RADIOHEAD weekend where they were giving away tix to see them at the Shoreline.. (I bought my Radiohead Tix yesterday.. Anybody else going to the Shoreline show??)

LIVE 105 is definately better than 104.9 (A Clear Channel station), but still has a ways to go.. I still hear Staind and Linkin Park, but still.. 11 0' Clock Rewind makes it worth the while and Soundcheck, the indy show on Sunday night is decent too!!

[Uncle Perv]

Georgia State University's WRAS 88.5 in Atlanta was a true alternative powerhouse for nearly 20 years. They seem to have taken a turn for the worse, but I still tune in anytime I'm within range.

[rockybeach]

Awww. I feel all special having 97X! Cincinnati may not be the "coolest" city in the world, but we certainly have the best radio station! I feel very priviledged to get it on normal radio. Lord knows what I would do. There was a radio station I loved about 5 years ago in Cincinnati (107.1). It wasn't as indie as 97X is, but it didn't have a morning radio show (it actually played music!) and that's what I loved most and it still played a good variety. Well, it gotten taken off the air and bought by KISS. *sigh* I still miss that radio station.