[gwbas1c]

> this is not replacing your favorite station

My favorite radio station was replaced years ago by an automated playlist. They just kept playing the same 5-6 songs that were popular on the station in the 1990s.

It was fun for about 2 hours before I realized the station was devoid of all the personality that made it worth listening to when I was younger.

[WalterBright]

The playlists of nearly all radio stations are far too short for me. I finally just quit listening to the radio.

Comcast has a bunch of channels with various music categories. They all repeat after about 2 days. So much for that.

With all the zillions of songs available, I don't get why they do that.

[SquirrelOnFire]

You've got to find the rare radio stations with public support and human djs. kexp.org is a great one based out of Seattle with a wild variety of shows and decades of history. Are all the shows to my taste? No. Have I ever heard something being played that was total crap? Honestly, maybe? Because there's genres I don't know enough to gaugue quality, but I haven't twigged to it.

[runarberg]

The dial on my receiver is permanently on 90.3 FM. Such a good radio station. I remember one fun drive a couple of years back was themed around “Don‘t let the robots win”[1]. Perhaps it is already time to re-use that theme.

1: https://www.reddit.com/r/KEXP/comments/1459ahb/dont_let_the_...

[butlike]

The major radio stations are ads. You have the actual ads for cars/lawyers, then the pop music which is ads for the marketable personality. IF the radio station is popular and caters to an older crowd, it will play the hits of that generation to keep listeners glued for the actual car/lawyer ads.

It's the same concept as interviews with stars of the film before the film drops. You watch an ad before the interview, then you watch the interview, which is itself an ad of softball questions for the movie. You then turn into late night television, which in turn is also an ad with ads (for whichever celebrity wants to come on and rep their new project).

[zx8080]

Money probably? That's the number of song licensed to maximize profit without hurting 80% listeners.

[BLKNSLVR]

My local: https://threedradio.com/

("My" meaning local to me, not that it belongs to me)

[tzs]

Have you tried KING 98.1? They seem to have a vast playlist.

[Waterluvian]

Radio stations are like baseball games. I listen for all the unusual moments, not the core baseball game. That’s actually the filler.

[therealpygon]

It’s like people don’t realize that the “hits” played on radio are entirely manufactured by the music industry. They literally provide lists of songs for the radio station to play that month in order to generate interest so that then people either go play or buy or whatever those songs making them more likely to reach #1 that month. It’s entirely manufactured and people try to point to it as being “real” radio. It’s why you are only likely to hear this months new hit and one or maybe two of the previous month or two “hits” from the same artist in the rotation, if they are popular enough with the focus groups to be promoted. (Outside of their older songs.) Then they play it on repeat to make people think they like it, because everyone else is liking it and it’s making its way to number one!

People are so easily manipulated and then they will go argue with others about it.

(Point of clarification, that’s not to say people can’t like songs. However, if I gave you a hundred similar songs from unknown artists and didn’t tell you which is which, it’s questionable whether people would have any interest in said popular song.)

[samtp]

You should find some better radio stations. There are tons of independent stations the play excellent non top 40 music and have been for years.

This is like saying the the movies that people like are manipulated but only focusing on what is played at big box theaters.

[tempaccount5050]

You're missing the point. Radio was consolidated into Clear Channel and took away what made radio radio. Local radio. Like what made Chicago jazz different from New York jazz etc. Not internet stations that may as well be podcasts. Regional culture.

[samtp]

You are missing the very simple point: there are tons of independent stations the play excellent non top 40 music and have been for years.

Just because you don't choose to tune into them doesn't mean they don't exist. And it also doesn't mean that those who do should lover their standards for what constitutes good radio.

[tempaccount5050]

On actual radio waves?

[evmaki]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_independent_radio_stat...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_radio_stations...

^ One of those might be in your area :)

[malnourish]

Minnesota has a number of independent and college stations reachable throughout much of the (populated) areas of the state.

[adw]

kexp.org in Seattle and San Francisco for a start.

[samtp]

Yes.

[therealpygon]

Case in point. “Independent stations are totally better and I’m going to go argue on the internet when it’s something completely unrelated to small independent stations, unlike the mass media market stations the vast majority of people in the world ACTUALLY listen to.” Bravo, you are very unique and original, you special snowflake you.

You should go DJ at one of those independent radio stations and play some rather filthy uncensored songs, and let me know exactly how your programming “didn’t get manipulated”. I’m sure you won’t get fined…probably…which makes it totally the reality that independent stations are totally independent without any sort of manipulation. Sheep, meet shepherd.

[samtp]

> You should go DJ at one of those independent radio stations

I have for years.

> and play some rather filthy uncensored songs, and let me know exactly how your programming “didn’t get manipulated”.

What on earth are you talking about.

Honestly your reply comes across as extremely insecure and just weird.

[therealpygon]

Insecure people tend to think such things when called on their ignorance. Can’t be helped. What can be helped is trying to understand what is being said before attempting to discount it with an example that is just as manipulated in other ways, in order to maintain their ability to broadcast and not be fined. Beyond that, it’s pretty clear that the comment and the prior comment it supported was in reference to mass market radio, not tiny broadcasters with audiences reaching wholes of thousands. But sure.

[samtp]

Yeah and my entire point is that the quality standard that artificial intelligence developers should be aiming for is not soulless corporate mass market media. Because our world world is already swimming that nonsense. So there's absolutely nothing novel in finding a new way to create beige bs.

Once again, I have no idea what you're talking about when talking about fines or manipulation, I'm talking about quality. But it seems pretty damn clear at this point that you have never listened to any local independent radio station.

You should really try it out sometime. It's a lot better. And it'll save you from calling people snowflakes because you feel insecure about what type of radio stations they like.

[gwbas1c]

> It’s like people don’t realize that the “hits” played on radio are entirely manufactured by the music industry. They literally provide lists of songs for the radio station to play that month in order to generate interest so that then people either go play or buy or whatever those songs making them more likely to reach #1 that month.

"My favorite radio station" (see my above post) was a mix of "the list" and songs that they would curate themselves, plus great personalities. (We had Opie and Anthony for a few years.) A lot of the older songs were timeless classics in the 1990s, like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

I appreciated hearing some of "the list" because it was an easy way to hear new music in the 1990s without spending lots of money on CDs that I probably wouldn't like.

---

That being said, there was one really annoying song (that I can't remember the name of) that made it into the mix for one or two months, and once it came off "the list," Opie and Anthony did a bit making fun of it.

[bluGill]

> A lot of the older songs were timeless classics in the 1990s, like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

The music industry allows those as well to "create variety". And they of course are perfectly happy to sell you a [possibly remastered] Pink Floyd CD.

[gwbas1c]

Pink Floyd is happy to sell you a remastered CD. They hated the first CD pressings because they weren't mastered correctly.

[loudandskittish]

My first thought when I saw the headline was, "Did anyone even notice a difference?"