Time for a radio rant. At least it won't involve DC radio since, well, DC radio sucks. But I digress. On to the rant. My webcast station of choice the past year or so has to beWXPN. No commercials, pretty decent variety of music, maybe a little heavy on the singer-songwriters, but that's ok. Some of them are pretty talented and besides, which is worse, hearing the same fucking Puddle of Mudd song 6 times a day or Pat McGee every once in a while? No contest there. Anyway, lately XPN has been pissing me off somewhat. First they've been playing the same freaking some by some new chantuese songstress from Wales, Jem about twice a day. Then David Dye apparently only gets fed when he plays a track off of The Soul Sessions. But worst and most annoying of all has to be the constant playing of a new song by Bob Schneider that I won't even bother linking to here. Beyond the fact that said song is just boring, it annoys me for reasons I'll be more than happy to go into in person should anyone ever care to ask me.
So, with Stern on repeats this week (I guess he needs a break from ranting about how evil the Bush administration is and how it's appalling that the FCC is going after him because, you know, they haven't been doing that for the past 20 years or anything) I decide to check out Indie 103.1 this morning. I had briefly heard about this station somewhere before, but never had an excuse to check it out. What they're doing in a nutshell is further fragmenting radio demographics by playing what is (unfortunately) known as "classic alternative." Play some Clash, some Stone Roses, some X, Beastie Boys, Bad Religion, Bob Marley here and there, surprise everyone by playing the Buzzcocks (or even better, the Stiff Little Fingers), some obligatory Pixies tracks, and other influential "alternative rock" acts and mix it in with some newer format fitting bands that aren't Puddle of Mudd (read The Vines, The Hives, Toots and the Maytalls, Ima Robot, The Shins, Ryan Adams, etc...) and there you have your new format. It actually isn't too bad. And it's certainly better than anything I could hear on the air in DC. Alas, there has to be a somewhat darker side to this...Clear Channel is involved! Even stranger, they're involved with a Spanish Language media company. Immediately this makes me wonder exactly how "indie" the whole operation can really be. It also explains why they played the same new Morrissey single three times today alone (another side note...doesn't Morrissey look really old?).
If overplaying the new Morrissey single is my only complaint about the whole operation, they must be doing something right. The only place I've even heard the new Morrissey single has been on 103.1 and on XPN. The fact that there's no DJs also helps immensely, very rare is the DJ that I have heard that actually adds something to the listening experience. I guess they can occasionally provide some interesting information about the song or artist or maybe even tour dates, but most of the time I can really do without them [ maybe hang them? --ed enough with the Morrissey already!]. The mere fact that I can listen to a commercial radio station and get excited or surprised by hearing something is definitely a good thing. So check out 103.1. And XPN too.
So, with Stern on repeats this week (I guess he needs a break from ranting about how evil the Bush administration is and how it's appalling that the FCC is going after him because, you know, they haven't been doing that for the past 20 years or anything) I decide to check out Indie 103.1 this morning. I had briefly heard about this station somewhere before, but never had an excuse to check it out. What they're doing in a nutshell is further fragmenting radio demographics by playing what is (unfortunately) known as "classic alternative." Play some Clash, some Stone Roses, some X, Beastie Boys, Bad Religion, Bob Marley here and there, surprise everyone by playing the Buzzcocks (or even better, the Stiff Little Fingers), some obligatory Pixies tracks, and other influential "alternative rock" acts and mix it in with some newer format fitting bands that aren't Puddle of Mudd (read The Vines, The Hives, Toots and the Maytalls, Ima Robot, The Shins, Ryan Adams, etc...) and there you have your new format. It actually isn't too bad. And it's certainly better than anything I could hear on the air in DC. Alas, there has to be a somewhat darker side to this...Clear Channel is involved! Even stranger, they're involved with a Spanish Language media company. Immediately this makes me wonder exactly how "indie" the whole operation can really be. It also explains why they played the same new Morrissey single three times today alone (another side note...doesn't Morrissey look really old?).
If overplaying the new Morrissey single is my only complaint about the whole operation, they must be doing something right. The only place I've even heard the new Morrissey single has been on 103.1 and on XPN. The fact that there's no DJs also helps immensely, very rare is the DJ that I have heard that actually adds something to the listening experience. I guess they can occasionally provide some interesting information about the song or artist or maybe even tour dates, but most of the time I can really do without them [ maybe hang them? --ed enough with the Morrissey already!]. The mere fact that I can listen to a commercial radio station and get excited or surprised by hearing something is definitely a good thing. So check out 103.1. And XPN too.
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