Why is local radio so ****?

Question

Most radio is poor, but local radio stations only seem to own 3 cd singles, by very bad artists/bands....Why don't they play better music?

Answer 1

Ready for the real answer?

Most radio stations are owned by the mega-corporations. These are run by Wall Street "suits" who really know NOTHING about broadcasting other than getting money out of it. Therefore, they create narrow, repetitive playlists to try to attract advertising dollars.

Radio stations pay fees to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC for songwriter royalties. They actually ARE free to play anything they want. They are not limited by the record labels.

Internet radio pays these fees plus the performance royalties

per listener, per song. These are the royalties you read about

most often.

The poor radio you mention was created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, possibly one of the worst pieces of legislation to ever hit the broadcast industry.

Answer 2

With the exception of RadioBoy and a couple of others, every other answer to this question can be disregarded. They are all full of bad information.

The only thing to add to his excellent answer is that what you perceive as repetition isn't as bad as you think. Try an experiment (on a weekday, as weekend programming often differs). Take a day and write down every song over a 6-8 hour period. That will give you a good "clocking” of the station.

You'll find that there is repetition of the most popular songs with newer and older past hits and a few "new" songs on a "try-out," we used to call it "Hitbound." This is done because most listeners do not listen for long periods of time. But when they do tune in, they want to hear their favorites. So, the stations program to those who listen less often (because they are the majority) and it really irritates people like you who listen for long periods of time.

We know you longer-term listeners don't like it. I personally have been listening to this same complaint for 40 years, but the only stations that pay any attention to your complaints are the album stations that are not as popular as they once were. And even those stations have a "tight" playlist (Stairway to Heaven;" "Sweet Home Alabama" etc.)

Without getting into a long discourse about Average Quarter Hour (the ratings most advertisers use, representing how many people listen in an average 15-minute period - with duplication of the same people) and Cume (the total number of unique listeners in a week with no duplication), let's just say those are the basics of "The Ratings." See, your eyes are glazing over already aren't they.

The stations are trying to boost their AQH without losing Cume. It's a bit of a tightrope. The stations, though they try to keep good relations with labels, do not pay for, nor receive pay for airplay - nor care what the labels think. Labels don't get rated - listeners do.

Now, however, in addition to the traditional (and fairly reasonable) writers/publishers fees paid to ASCAP, BMI & SESAC, the labels and artists want radio to pay royalties.

In the past, there has been a very tidy synergistic relationship: you stations play our records, we labels/artists benefit from the airplay in the form of exposure and you stations don't have to pay for the privilege. But times are tough and there's this thing called Downloads & File Sharing that is ruining the record industry. So they are looking for any possible way to increase revenue - including charging stations to play their songs. (BTW, please don't do it. Use reputable sites and pay the 99 cents.)

What the labels are missing is that radio may say, "OK, we'll pay you royalties, but you pay us our going rate for a :60 commercial (times the length of the song) everytime we play the song and we'll announce it as advertising and bill you." This would amount to way more than the royalties and the record labels would ultimately lose that battle.

To answer your question, it's more than three CD singles, and the quality of the music is dictated by what's available and what people want to hear. There's this thingy on your radio somewhere that changes the channels, you might try that ;<)

There's another one that turns it off. And people like you are doing that more and more often as both businesses spiral down the chute.

BTW: the only way radio can save itself, especially among younger listeners, is to be as local as possible. They've gotten away from that in recent years and it's killing them. This is a part of what radioBoy refers to a the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that allowed big companies to own multiple stations in the same city - many more than had been previously allowed.

- a guy named duh

Answer 3

Because they can't afford to broadcast anything good. ;)

Answer 4

There is one more thing I would like to add that lead to radio's demise.  Corporations are definitely the major factor and your "local" stations are really not local and are mostly operated by computers.

They do something called "voice tracking" which means that they mention some local stuff in your area but these "local" dj's are really not local at all, they record a 4 hour slot in about 45 minutes time and then the corporations distribute this to your "local" affiliates.  Everyone gets the same music and the  same "callers" (paid people that do this for a living) all across the country but it sounds local sometimes unless the computer crashes and then you'll notice that all of the corporate owned stations by that corporation will go off the air all at once.

Listen at midnight to some of these stations and you'll hear the "changeover" to the next days programming.  Sometimes songs just get cut off in the middle and then suddenly another song starts right in the middle.

The only real local stations that you'll find in your area are college stations or non profit stations but there are fewer and fewer of those available.  When you stumble across a station playing something other than a set format you have probably come across one of those stations or as someone mentioned earlier a local "pirate" station.  That's about the only place left to find truly interesting music and a much wider variety of it as well.

Look below 92 on your FM dial for these rare college stations.

What ruined radio truly are the consultants that big corporations paid to do surveys of the audience and they determined what should or should not be played.

That's why if you like classic rock you get ZZtop, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and the Eagles, hit repeat for the next hour!  They play the top 3 or 4 tracks from each of those artists and that's it.  Thanks to consultants, I never leave the lower dial or just put in a CD, it's just not worth it anymore.

Satellite Radio offers a little better variety but it to is programmed by consultants and again after listening for a while you'll hear the same stuff day after day.  It's really pitiful.

There is more to it than this but the primary reason is the handful of consultants determine what everyone listens to.  Not me anymore.  Thank god for the internet and the millions of stations out there for music and sites like You Tube to discover new music.

Answer 5

There isn't any money to get good djs, music, features etc. But sometimes those adverts provide their own entertainment he he.

Answer 6

And they sound so amauterish, especially our local BBC radio station.

Answer 7

Because they are trying to do it on the cheap.

Radio stations have to pay royalties every time they play a record.

Therefore they fill up with endless chatter to avoid playing many records.

Answer 8

proberbly they cannot afford rights of the some major labels. Most local radios are small and have limited income. I have had enough of hearing every song on a loop. Maybe the laws should be changed so that radio stations can play any song they desire (within reason)

Answer 9

Don't listen to it then! It's quite simple.

Local radio is far superior than its National equivalents. No overpaid "stars" with big egos.

(Ready for the big 'Thumbs-down' on this answer?)

Answer 10

because some douchebags actually listen to that c**p.

Answer 11

My local station is excellent thank you very much.

Pirate FM.

Answer 12

i have awesome local radio stations.. maybe you arent looking hard enough

Answer 13

Nobody forces you to listen to it

Answer 14

Because its aimed at stay at home mums or factory workers !

Answer 15

Satellite Radio.

Get with the times bro!

Answer 16

Most local stations sign a deal with record companies to keep their royalty costs down so the radio station is forced to play the music of a certain record label more. That is why you get so many of the older songs on there, they are just trying to fill the time with cheap songs that do not cost any royalty.

Answer 17

I live in a big city where they play Z100- still, too many commercials.

Answer 18

is that real radio?