The Radio!

In this modern age, the medium of broadcast radio is taken for granted. Coupled with that, much like many other forms of entertainment where creativity is involved, it has been polluted by the capitalistic forces that control the medium. In spite of the negative forces that control radio, I still enjoy listening to it.

I started out this little mini-love affair with the radio at the beginning of this year, when I inherited my parents' minivan. The van, unfortunately, only had an am/fm radio, with a broken cassette player. Since I absolutely must listen to something in the car, I started cruising around the dial for things to listen to. I have been listening to a radio show for the past few years; Jim Rome's sports talk show. What sparked my renewed interest in radio lately are two things: one, the Don and Mike Show, and two, Pacifica Radio.

Don and Mike

The Don and Mike Show is the scourge of Infinity Broadcasting executives all along the eastern seaboard. I started listening to them sometime around early 2002, when my local sports station, "The Ticket" 1050 am started preempting Jim Rome's radio show, and I was forced to listen in on the Sacramento station, 1140 KHTK. D&M follow Rome on that station, and it was inevitable that I would listen to them. Their crass attitude was what attracted me at first, but what kept me listening was their honesty (at times, brutal honesty). D&M aren't the most educated or polite people on the dial, so obviously, what they say and how they say it usually guarantees that the feathers of some overly sensitive or secretive radio professional will be ruffled.

This is no more evident than the recent controversy involving Michael Weiner…err..Savage. Ironically enough, Don and Mike had little, if anything to do with this controversy, other than having a strong sphere of influence over their listeners. What happened was, a prank caller, who calls himself "East Coast Bob" (in spite of the fact he's from Sacramento) called up Savage on his MSNBC television show, and dropped an insult about Savage's dental work, to which Savage replied with a diatribe which offended perhaps every gay person in existence. Savage, in an effort to spin his blunder as best he could, claimed that he "set up" by Don and Mike, an accusation which was quickly proved false.

Don and Mike are no strangers to such controversy though; they have had numerous "feuds" with other DJs, the last one resulting in a suspension last year. But I believe this is because of the way D&M is; they are seasoned professionals in a radio business that is increasingly cutthroat and vicious. They have risen to the top of the heap. When they see someone threatening to undermine their years of hard work, they get defensive. Don and Mike aren't perfect. In fact, I would probably be inclined to say that they are both complete and total jerks. But they are honest, passionate jerks, and that's what I love about them.

Pacifica Radio

I've known of Pacifica radio for a surprisingly short time of my life. I only started listening sometime last year. But really, what better time to start listening? Pacifica are the champions of "free-speech radio", and they operate free of any outside corporate influences. It hasn't been a smooth ride, yet somehow, they have survived in the community since 1949. In a sea of conservative shock jock radio, or mind-numbing music playlists, Pacifica is an island oasis.

Don't kid yourself here; Pacifica Radio isn't, as Faux News might claim for themselves, "fair and balanced". Pacifica does present varying viewpoints, from radical revolutionary to right-wing conspiracy theories, but does have a reputation towards leaning to the "left" as it were (if you so choose to accept that model). But those viewpoints are more untainted and compelling than you'll find anywhere, and that gives them more credibility than any edition of the Bill O'Reilly show, or news and weather on the eight's. During the buildup to the Iraq War in early 2003, it was refreshing to hear the voices of individuals like Noam Chomsky and Scott Ritter, rather than the chicken-hawk drivel of the neo-cons, which filled both the radio and TV airwaves at the time. Now, think what you want about someone like Bill O'Reilly, but lets face it; he is a tabloid journalist at best. He's an award winning tabloid journalist, actually. Amy Goodman, host of "Democracy Now", may be just as biased towards her viewpoint as O'Reilly is towards his, but unlike O'Reilly, Goodman attempts to open up a dialogue between herself and her guests, rather than shouting them down in an attempt to make themselves look good.

Of course, Pacifica isn't all about politics. They play music as well! Granted, I can't really speak much about the music of Pacifica, because a lot of it seems, well, "urban-based", which just isn't my cup of tea. One thing did draw me to Pacifica, late one night last year as I was driving home from work. They were playing the music of experimental guitarist Fred Frith on the radio. That may not matter to you, but, it mattered a lot to me. Giving a voice to musicians such as Frith, to my eyes, gave Pacifica more credibility than any 3-some of "Yes" that the local classic rock dinosaur might play.

This section on Pacifica Radio is dedicated to Chris Bruney, who passed on yesterday.

Clear Channel and Conservatism

As much as I enjoy radio right now, the death of it is upon us. When its all said and done, Clear Channel may just be the company solely responsible for doing so. They wreck diversity on the radio, both music and talk. What CC does is fill the radio waves with similar sounding music playlists all over the country. DJs are basically powerless in their say on what gets played on their show, a sharp contrast to the days of the old on FM radio, when the DJs themselves would dictate what was played during their timeslots, due to their own tastes, or the demands of the listeners. Now, I doubt that radio stations have "request shows" at all. All the music is pre-programmed into a computer, so forget about your favorite DJ bringing a record deserving of exposure. In fact, some Clear Channel DJs don't even live or work in the same market they broadcast in! A DJ may have a pre-programmed show with minor tweaks to a certain market, for example, they might say "What's up in Oakland Today!" then record "What's Up in Sacramento Today!" etc. The show gets shipped out to other stations, with the listeners under the impression that this DJ is local, homespun talent. Clear Channel will even go as far as to fly out these DJs to the market they broadcast in for promotional events.

But on the talk radio front, things are much more sinister. Clear Channel, as well as Infinity, ramrods their conservative agendas on the American public. People like Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity aren't popular because people really enjoy them, but because literally, there isn't any other alternative. Guys like these are on something like 300+ radio stations nationwide, including all the major markets (as opposed to who I mentioned earlier, Don and Mike, who have a syndication network of about 40 stations, and most of them in Podunkville Iowa). Is it any surprise that in a recent survey of the most "recognized" radio personalities, names like O'Reilly, Savage, and Hannity were all at the top of the charts? Several years ago, these guys were nobodies; but because of their rhetoric, coupled with a company who wants to promote their type of invective, they suddenly become nationally known personalities (and keep in mind, that's all they are, personalities; any similarity between them and actual news is purely coincidental).

No ramble about the radio would be complete without a mention of The Who's brilliant 1967 album, "Sell Out". You'll find no better scathing criticism of radio as a whole than this album. Intermixed with songs that mimiced many of the styles of the time, such as psychedelia, acoustic pop, and the granduer that would become "prog rock", you find band produced jingles for products such as Heinz Baked Beans, Coke, and Charles Atlas (with of course, DYNAMIC TENSION). If one were to play this album to someone with an advanced experience of pop radio circa 1967, they would swear they were listening to an actual broadcast. Almost ironic is that The Who's BBC Sessions album would actually include DJ intros, and band produced jingles. The Who, at that time, were a parody of themselves even.

So where is all this going to go? Well, I'd like to think that one-day, people would get sick and just turn it off. But with the state that the nation is in, that seems highly unlikely.

Special credit given to "Felix" for helping me to revise this.