NPR is running a story today about a new format on FM radio (neoRadio) that's gaining some popularity. The novel idea? They play more music! (And apparently be like college stations and public radio stations.)
It got me to thinking, in light of the histrionics about how divided this country is, that whether you believe civil war is about to start or not (I don't for later stated reasons) one thing that may be dividing us up more than anything is the lack of decent radio station to which we can all turn. We no longer really tune into radio, and if we do, it's usually to a single station that has a tiny playlist, or we listen to NPR all day or talk radio. As a result, the single most ubiquitous collective media in this country for the last 8 decades is more or less become an assortment of caves which many of us never enter and all of us come out angry at the other caves' dwellers. (there's a Plato reference here that a more erudite writer might nail, but not me. At least I wrote erudite!)
Now, I'm no radio historian, but it seems that 20 years ago radio stations were not nearly as specialized, and as a result it was more likely that people would be listening to the same one. More importantly, they were more likely to be trying to play the latest Springsteen song or Run DMC tune than hitting us with commercial after commercial. We even listened to AM stations for music on occasion, though mostly this was oldies.
But at some point, the radio dial became Balkanized, and now, music radio has become just plain bad. And when it became bad, when people got into their cars they went for something that wasn't so bad. Some folks, like my brother, turned to Talk Radio, others, like myself, turned to NPR. Now there comes a certain point when you just can't reconcile what you hear on NPR and Talk Radio. Somebody's lying (I'd say, look for the ones with actual real fact checkers to judge who's telling the truth. But that issue will be repeatedly and thoroughly addressed.) and the other side's got every reason not to believe a word the other guy says. Thus, we have Michael Moore and Bill O'Reilly going at it, it's no wonder we think we're so far apart.
So, why is radio becoming so Balkanized?
Of course radio was always somewhat specialized. In my hometown of Greensboro, there was Rock 92, playing classic rock, 102Jamz playing hip-hop and R&B, KissFM to play pop, WTQR playing country, etc, and in many ways they still occupy the same slightly more narrow genre. But nowadays Radio is in-your-face about being specialized, and more often than not, that specialization is not the result of a station's very own Andy Travis, Venus Flytrap and Dr. Fever coming up with their own unique playlists to fit within a wider genre. Rather it's the decision of market analysts and corporations running the stations from distant towns.
As a result of this, the rather particular tastes of the American music lover aren't usually satisfied by radio. The truth is, that while radio has become more intensely formatted, Americans have become much more diverse in their taste. I think this is the result of a several things. First, the introduction and ultimate adoption of Rap into the mainstream in the 80s and 90s linked that music with openly political white music. Thus, RunDMC gave birth to Mike D, while Chuck D gave birth to Rage against the Machine. And the introduction of Rap reintroduced Jazz which reintroduced retro, which allowed bluegrass to come back, which buoyed and was buoyed back by Alt. Country which means you see CD collections with Drive By Truckers, Tribe Called Quest, Wilco, Coletrane and Woody Guthrie, and Benfolds Five.
Second, Rock died, at least as an adult version of the sort of culture dominating music that today is only the domain for Pop bands. Stadium Rock is dead, and thus nobody is waiting around for Aerosmith tickets. Okay, that's not true, they are, but the fact that people are
still waiting around for Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen to sell out stadium concerts is pretty good evidence that Stadium Rock is dying.
There are other reasons about which I know too little to fully describe articulate - the effect of payola, the development of smaller, more independent labels able to introduce new sounds, etc. But the basic point is that where radio has zigged, the collective music taste of America zagged and disbanded, meaning radio can't gobble everybody up as easily.
And, yes, radio became banal and vapid, to use two adjectives I'm sure are not tossed around during morning drive time. There's a reason why folks like Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura pass as intelligent on talk radio, just down the dial is Billy Bob and John Boy. The only worthwhile result of the FCC's otherwise craven attack on free speech is that it may force some of these fools out of the business or at least to pay some penance for the bad taste they have wrought upon the American public.
Finally, not too long ago, I was somewhere outside of the reach of public radio, and without mix tapes. I have at times (since I stopped moving the dial past 92 outside of searching for Carolina basketball and Football games) thought that maybe I'm being too much of a snob by totally ignoring commercial radio. But, after searching the dial, I was comforted by remembering why they call it commercial radio. 2-3 minutes of commercial breaks later, I realized it's not that I'm a music snob, it's that when I turn on the radio and leave the comforting voice of Bob Edwards, I like to hear actual music, not commercials. And that's why I left the mainstream, the mainstream is so intent on commercials it makes that self-indulgent, esoteric-as-a-raison-d'etre idiot of a college DJ's two minute tangents seem worthwhile to catch some Modest Mouse or a deep track from Otis Redding. Commercial radio plays the same songs day after day and gives us commercials that treat the listener like a mindless slave to bad taste and Car Dealer rebates.
The truth is, I sometimes catch myself listening to NPR and give myself a good adolescent brow-beating, thinking I should just go ahead and hook an IV of metamucil up, by a volvo and join AARP to get it all over with. At 29, that's a said path to take. I'd love to have a radio station that played music I liked, and even some I hadn't heard. And I'd like it even more if it were to bring Americans back to the higher side of the FM dial for music. WE NEED MORE MUSIC, LESS TALK. At least, if the talk is going to be Michael Moore against Bill O'Reilly.
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