Wednesday, August 10, 2005

The times, they are a-changin'

I know radio formats and personalities are in a state of upchucking, er, upheaval, but there's still something strange about hearing the guy who spent a couple of decades at the local alternative station (now a Spanish station) on what used to be the classic rock station introducing Devo's Are We Not Men?

Anyone follow that?

2 comments:

Neel Mehta said...

A recent issue of Rolling Stone (still occasionally relevant) talked about the rise of Jack FM in various cities nationwide. We've had one in Las Vegas for about a month now. They keep more discs in circulation, and you never know what they'll play (anything circa 1978 until now).

But the clincher: no DJs. Maybe radio has finally discovered that the human touch is altogether unnecessary. On these big-time stations, they no longer have a say in what gets played anyway. I'm glad to see that they'll go the way of the travel agent.

bdure said...

Depends. No DJ is better than a bad DJ. But good DJs -- or even those who are endearingly bad -- can make a radio station special.

In our case, the veteran DJ who's now at the former classic rock station is a local legend, with good reason. He loves music history and hasn't lost his enthusiasm.

The DJs at the BBC and RTE talk a lot more than their U.S. counterparts, but it's not irritating. Well, generally.

I listen to XM and enjoy it, but it's a little sterile.