After my (not so) radio-friendly send-off a couple weeks ago, the homie babygirl started getting on me about radio and trying really hard to legitimize radio to me, rationalizing its place and purpose and trying to get me to understand why radio needs to be as crap as it is. Well this one's for you, babygirl. Because I owe you more of an explanation for my "Fuck radio" stance than just "Because it sucks."
Truth be told, I didn't really want to intern for Z90.3. I seriously haven't listened to much radio since maybe middle school, before I stepped into the wonderful world of bootlegging. And when I would peruse the airwaves, all I heard was a bunch of T-Pain nonsense that I'd gladly switch off immediately. But living in the conservative hotbed that is San Diego (meaning they hate black people and hip-hop), Z90 is one of the only legitimate doors into the hip-hop/music business available to me. With seemingly no other outlet, I dove right in.
What I was expecting was flashing lights. Incessant payola transactions, mad perks, fake-ass cutthroats, a bunch of white-collar bastards who didn't know shit about real hip-hop, and wannabe celebrities with their heads so far up their asses you'd swear they were mining diamonds for their chains up there or something. What I found was a small team running a small business, a tight-knit group of realer-than-real peoples that surprisingly knew something about good hip-hop. So when I say that I hate radio, I don't mean that I hate the people who are in radio because for the most part, they're regular-ass people working a job and I respect that.
And it's not just the music or the content either. Yeah, it does play some part in my dislike for radio. I mean what hip-hop head wouldn't be mad listening to a bunch of R&B and Pop on the hip-hop station? But the experience has opened my ears to mainstream music to some degree and I can appreciate, at times even downright like some of the stuff that's played. And yeah, I get the value of the host and the show between the music. Big Boy and Tatu of Big Boy's Neighborhood are hilarious and I'll suffer through a lot of T-Painful hooks to hear what they're gonna say.
It's not the people and, for the most part, it's not the music or content. It's the business. Maybe I wasn't ready to see music as a business so close-up. Maybe I wasn't ready to find out that the entire playlist was preset, right down to the daily countdowns for which listener requests actually have little-to-no input. Seriously, I had a girl call in, request a song, then call back two hours later, bitching because we hadn't played her request like we said we would because we always say we will. I wasn't ready to straight-up lie to listeners, telling them that we got those so-and-so tickets they're looking for just to keep them listening even though all we got is a free burger to Carl's fuckin' Jr. or something. What happened to keeping your fanbase happy? How much listener loyalty does blatant lying build? I'm just frustrated with this facade that radio is fair business and it's just playing what the listeners are asking for. The station pretends to care about its listeners but it goes to great lengths to alienate them with only a superficial nod of acknowledgement here and there, as if a couple of movie tickets are gonna keep their faith true and their radios locked.
And really, I thought radio stations were supposed to promote music. When did this get flipped? When did stations start promoting themselves before the music? Hell, when did the stations start using the music to promote themselves instead of the music using the stations to promote itself? We set up shop at concerts many times seemingly against the wishes of the concert promoter so we can associate ourselves with artists like NERD that we don't even play on our station. The sting of post-modern fakeness abounds. Every week, the director assures us that what we are doing makes a difference to the station, but what kind of difference does the station make to us? If all it's gonna do is preset our tastes, brainwash listeners into requesting Flo Rida because that's the first song that comes to mind because it has been in heavy rotation for the whole year so far and thus get the song played more and thus brainwash listeners more heavily, what's the point?
And seriously, Katy Perry? Wtf? Why, because she's fucking a sorta rapper? What's next, Jonas Brothers? Country's real popular in SD, are we gonna start playing that? Where's the line? The playlist is already rife with watered-down hip-hop. Are we gonna completely push hip-hop out the way?
Maybe I'm being too naive to give a shit about a couple of listeners. Maybe I don't want to blemish my pristine image of music. Or maybe I really am that fucking bitter about the playlist. Maybe I just got a stick up my ass. In the end, it comes down to a gut feeling and my gut was getting ready to blow chunks after working only six months in radio. Fuggit.
PS. Finished Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass on the Nintendo DS. Best Zelda since Zelda 64. But that should mean I'll be posting more regularly again.
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That is a pretty sobering account of the radio business, and pretty much hurts radio's chances of ever being on my good side without major reconstruction.
But I was intrigued by your comment at the end of the fifth paragraph. So far, it seems as if radio has proceeded on its preset path for a good amount of time, and with no signs of stopping (at least, as a result of pressure from listeners), I get the impression that people who are consistently listening to radio are being effectively placated by giveaways or other bullshit, unless they actually enjoy the music without question. Do you think the radio will ever been revolutionized as a result of a shift in listener tendencies?
I think there is some hope for improvement. With growing interest in sites such as Pandora, where you can input your interests and receive a personalized radio station, I think radio will eventually be forced to change its model. Until then, it is all iPod in the TSX for me.
P.S. Have you played Twilight Princess for Wii? I've logged about 32 hours on that, and I'm not even near halfway finished. At least, I hope not - the story is too good and the gameplay is too amazing.
P.P.S. If you haven't already, you should try Pandora (www.pandora.com). It should introduce you to some new music, but even if it just plays songs you already like, it is a nice confirmation of your interests, assuring you that your taste in music is consistent!
DLip-
Actually, the part of the audience that actively calls in to get prizes is only about 1% of the cumulative listenership. The promo director's theory is that the core audience enjoys the music enough to sit through it until they get to hear the radio personality between the songs, which is what they're really listening for. I can see that to some extent because I do that when I'm listening to Big Boy's Neighborhood.
Radio people know they have to change radio somehow but they're unsure how. As people become less and less interested in just music, radio has to adapt and offer something besides/beyond music which is what they're trying to do. That's the tendency I see: the music-lover niche being overtaken by ..... something else.
Well, I played Twilight Princess on the Gamecube which is pretty similar and I was a little disappointed. Though solid, it seemed like a Zelda64 rehash to me.
I go on Pandora here and there but my listening tendencies I think don't mesh well with someone or something else dictating my playlist.
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