I posted this as a reply, but here's my hot take on radio

[Bandit]

Radio today sucks. It seems like all we get here in Detroit is 5 rap stations, 10 top-40 pop stations, 5 Dad-Rock-Top-40-from-the-80s-to-Now stations, 5 country stations, and 1 classical channel. In the last year they took the two remaining new/alt music stations and changed them to a top-40 and an 80s rock station which really sucks. I live in Detroit, Rock City, birthplace of so many successful artists and host to so many different styles of music from motown to techno to garage punk. I shouldn't have to exclusively listen to the same basic garbage that I can hear everywhere else in the US. I blame iHeartRadio and others like it for ruining local channels and vanilla-ing the music we get to listen to.

I've taken to listening to only NPR now because it's the only thing I dont actively hate when driving but listening to the same depressing world events gets to me after a while too. I know I could listen to Spotify, but sometimes I dont want to use my data to stream or I want to learn about new music.

Now get off my lawn.

[Vondon302]

@bandit As a fellow Detroiter, I feel your pain. Do I really need to hear Back in black again? I mean it was cool the first 1000 times but........

[Long_Voyager94]

Man, try living in WI.
We basically have 3 top 40 stations that play the same 10 songs on repeat all day. 3-4 "Country" stations that play the same 10 pop country songs all day. An oldies station that play a decent variety from the 70-early 00s. And a "Classic rock" station that plays the same tired 70s-90s rock songs.

[Jordan]

People still listen to FM?

[Long_Voyager94]

@jordan FM, CD, and music I have on my USB here.

No need for a smart phone and no need to pay for radio.

[Bandit]

@long_voyager94 The radio is broken in my TA so the 8-Track player is the only music source in it right now. Who needs music made after 1980ish anyways lol

[HoustonRunner]

@bandit I'm getting everything I can out of my 3 month XM subscription from the Suburban purchase. Getting all the football games on the weekend when I'm running errands is really nice as well.

[rctothefuture]

@long_voyager94 tell me about it. The only "good" station here in Milwaukee is 103.3 "The Fonz" they play oldies but it's not your generic, 5 different versions of "Now That's What I Call Classic Rock!". I've heard several Beatles B-sides, Jim Croce, and even Simon and Garfunkel stuff I've never heard before.

Their receiver sucks, but it's between them and 102.1 as I enjoy alternative. 102.1 has their "Sunday Brunch" which plays classic alternative which is cool. Their daily alternative is pretty bad, but I assume it's due to restrictions set by management.

Don't even get me started on our radio personalities. Bob and Brian (102.9 The Hog) are like 2 fat guys at the bar who shout dumb arguments and Google News updates and act like people REALLY like them. Dave, Daureen, and Gino from WKLH (96.5) aren't bad, they've just kind of settled into a corner and play the same stupid classic rock every day. The Pop stations are garbage, especially the KISS FM station (103.7). They have a Zoo crew that try SOOOOO hard to emulate the NY or LA KISS FM crews, it's down right cringey.

The only good station that no longer exists was 106.9, they played commercial free Pop and Top 40 with little ads and no DJ's. It was great!

[MybirdIStheword]

@bandit why would I want to sit through 20 minutes of commercials to listen to one song anyway?

[WhoIsTheLeader]

RIP ATL's ALT 105.7 That was the best radio station I'd ever heard but the lockdown killed them. Now it's a Spanish pop station that's only ok. They played around 50% recent hits and the other 50% left field stuff. And they gave their DJs a ton of freedom at night when you might hear some really obscure stuff. The airwaves are a lot less interesting now so I mostly just use my old phone as an mp3 player.

Well, gatech student radio is still pretty good on some days but on others it's too similar to NPR's world music culture stuff but not as good.

[WhoIsTheLeader]

@long_voyager94 I don't like 95% of pop country but I'll listen to folk and blues all day. It just seems so shallow.

[phenotyp]

@bandit does WDET still do that amazing overnight program? I can’t remember the DJ’s name, but she had the hands-down sexiest voice on the radio. She’d play all sortsa stuff, and even if I wasn’t into it, I’d still listen. I mean, if I’m pulling all nighters anyway, might as well try to salvage what I could.

Edit: shit! Remembered her name. Liz Copeland. I see WDET went through some shit after I left.

[BicycleBuck]

@bandit I haven't listened to radio in a long time. If I'm driving more than half an hour, I'm turning on Audible. Less than that and it's Pandora.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@bandit I never listen to radio anymore, unless its HAM...and the music there sucks.

[JGrabowMSt]

Video unrelated to reply.

I worked in radio for a number of years. It's dying, and not putting up much of a fight. Too many morning shows aren't funny, or are just syndicated from another region where the sense of humor is vastly different.

Music is taking a turn and that's not bad, but people just need to adapt. Use iHeart Radio, they have tailored stations for your favorite genres, and some are actual live stations.