Running RIP thread for musicians who died in 2022

[Twirling Time]

The ability to tap on almost every song ever recorded for $10 a month has a little to do with their downfall.

There are enough songs on YouTube that I can rip for free that have more to do with it. Almost makes circa-2002 Napster look stingy.

 

[justgladtobehere]

The ability to tap on almost every song ever recorded for $10 a month has a little to do with their downfall.

But tight playlists have been dominant for 30 years, if not more. They are not a result of the internet. The decline in the value of radio stations has nothing to do with the programming choices.

 

[Hermes]

But tight playlists have been dominant for 30 years, if not more. They are not a result of the internet. The decline in the value of radio stations has nothing to do with the programming choices.

My argument is that if the people like me who use Spotify in our cars didn't have that option, we'd listen to radio and demand radio stations that played diverse playlists. Spotify takes away all these customers and only leaves the people who want to hear the latest hit four times per hour. I'd argue the minute we could play CD's in our cars, radio of any quality was doomed.

I guess I didn't realize it's been common for so long. Living out in the sticks and in a small town with an independent (and it still is back in my old hometown!) they played whatever the hell they wanted to play.

When I go home, I find that they still don't repeat a song for days. It's not filled with B-sides or anything, but it's still quite listenable…except for Detroit Tigers baseball.

I was aware of the tightening up in the 2000's. I still listened to great radio stations in the other places I lived post 2005, but they'd always change format within a year because they were unsustainable.

 

[Neutral Corner]

Radio playlist consultants can go blow a dead rat.

 

[maumann]

HA!

"We're bringing in a consultant" was every radio station's equivalent to stepping on a flaming paper bag of dog poop on the front porch. I'm certain people from newspaper chains know the drill. It's pretty much the same in all forms of business: "We bought this shiny thing, but we don't have the first clue how to make money with it!"

The consultant -- who probably never pulled a board shift in their life, and I know that from one personal experience -- is certain you'll become the No. 1 station in the market if you change the call sign/add a catchy slogan/switch the jingle package/blow up the current format/hire a new morning team/run more contests/build a new studio/change the color of the business cards (yes, we went to purple and green at one place).

They've got surveys and Powerpoints to show how to target 18-45 women, because every advertiser wants to target 18-45 women. "They want a friendly sound and lots of variety!" No ship, Sherlock. I still want to meet the consultant who says, "Be really angry and play the same record over and over."

The most variety! Your trusted source for news and weather! Listen at work! Seventy minute music sweeps! Commercial free Sundays! (My personal favorite was naming a radio station after some generic first name: "JOSHUA FM!" Like listeners will tune in because they know a guy named Joshua.)

So Orlando sounds just like the same station the consulting agency screwed up in Cleveland, or Sacramento, or Austin. The only way to fix it is get another consultant!

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I still want to meet the consultant who says, "Be really angry and play the same record over and over."

Right-wing talk radio has done well with that format.

 

[I Should Coco]

I wonder how those few independent rock stations — such as WXRT in Chicago — do with their online broadcasts or apps.

Because just like newspapers, commercial broadcasting is financed by advertising, and I'm not sure the geographically targeted ads of an old-school radio station work for online listeners one thousand miles away.

 

[Neutral Corner]

You want some variety, a station that plays all sorts of cool stuff and deep cuts? KPIG.com. $5 to stream for a month, $25 for six months.

Check this out.

https://www.kpig.com/playlist.htm

 

[justgladtobehere]

My argument is that if the people like me who use Spotify in our cars didn't have that option, we'd listen to radio and demand radio stations that played diverse playlists. Spotify takes away all these customers and only leaves the people who want to hear the latest hit four times per hour. I'd argue the minute we could play CD's in our cars, radio of any quality was doomed.

I guess I didn't realize it's been common for so long. Living out in the sticks and in a small town with an independent (and it still is back in my old hometown!) they played whatever the hell they wanted to play.

When I go home, I find that they still don't repeat a song for days. It's not filled with B-sides or anything, but it's still quite listenable…except for Detroit Tigers baseball.

I was aware of the tightening up in the 2000's. I still listened to great radio stations in the other places I lived post 2005, but they'd always change format within a year because they were unsustainable.

The problem is everyone thinks their playlist is the best. That doesn't mean a few hundred thousand people would also listen to it.

Also, people listen to the radio in small increments. It doesn't matter if 'Ew that Smell' is repeated twice a day when a person is unlikely to hear it twice.

Radio licenses are dirt cheap. I'm still waiting for somebody to buy one up and create a revolutionary format that 'corporate radio' has failed to conceive of and implement.

 

[Hermes]

The problem is everyone thinks their playlist is the best. That doesn't mean a few hundred thousand people would also listen to it.

You'll never, ever, ever hear that from me. That's an art.

Anybody who has ever tried to make a room full of people happy with a playlist at a party quickly learns that. To do that for tens of thousands of listeners, to balance tastes and playing hits while also expanding people's musical horizons? That's an art. It's also why I appreciate Apple Music's handpicked curations over Spotify's algorithmic approach to creating playlists.The perfect balance of old time disc jockey and modern technology. The rest of the world has picked Spotify, though.

 

[dixiehack]

Speaking of Ralph Emery and songs that are lost to corporate radio forever, I recognize maybe a third of these songs:



80s country had the build quality of 80s domestic autos, but I still like it in small doses. Don't think I'll spring for this five-album set (or three 8-tracks!) but it might not be a bad jumping off point for a new Spotify list.

 

[maumann]

Speaking of Ralph Emery and songs that are lost to corporate radio forever, I recognize maybe a third of these songs:



80s country had the build quality of 80s domestic autos, but I still like it in small doses. Don't think I'll spring for this five-album set (or three 8-tracks!) but it might not be a bad jumping off point for a new Spotify list.

Wow. K-Tel for Country Music! A handful of hits, but mainly a bunch of followups that bubbled close to the top 10 for well-known artists that you might hear eight bars of in a mid-concert medley or as filler material on a "Greatest Hits" album.

Then again, what did you expect for $22?