Anyone still listen to radio?

[Griff]

I still do. I listen to music, news, and baseball. Thing is, this clearchannel/iheart radio near monopoly kinda bugs me.

http://www.iheart.com/find/country/U...inghamton-154/

I think I count 8 local broadcast stations all controlled by the same organization. The one that stings is KGB, it was built in the late 80's by local guys as an independent station to answer the (different Conn. based group of) hacks who had turned WAAL into a classic rock station. After KGB was bought out by clearchannel, it ran for a few years very much as it had run before. Now we are beginning to see the corp assert its control. Packaged programming with Rover's misogyny in the morning and canned nights leaves very little local feel. Does it matter? My sense is that it does. During the run up to the Iraq disaster I was listening to a lot of FOX sports programming which spent a remarkable amount of time pimping the war. It mattered then, it matters now.

[DanaC]

i listen to BBC Radio4 mainly. A nice mix of news, current affairs, entertainment, documentaries, drama, sit-coms, sketch shows, science shows, panel shows, phone ins etc.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4

Check out the range of progs here Some of them maybe accessible but I suspect most are only accessible from the uk

[Griff]

I listen to BBC on occasion. Pretty good programming, but hardly local.

I was just reading the wiki page on clearchannel, turns out they were gutted by Bain capital which would explain the canned programming on their 850 radio stations. We do have a new alt rock station started by some of the old KGB guys, I believe, pretty good format although a bit heavy on the hipster music but ya gotta pay your bills.

[glatt]

I listen to NPR in the morning getting ready for work. It has a blend of local and national. And if I'm shuttling kids around town in the car, I'll listen to the radio for the 10 minute trip. I'll just punch the channel buttons until I find an ok song. I don't even know what the stations are. If there is nothing good on any of the 6 buttons, then I listen to whatever CD my wife has left in the player.

I don't like the radio monopoly. I was shocked when the local alternative station got bought by Clearchannel or whoever and switched to Spanish a decade or so ago. They completely abandoned their entire audience overnight. It was really shocking.

[Spexxvet]

I listen to NPR and 2 sports talk stations, mainly. Less often I listen to an alternative music station, and if I'm up late Sat. night I listen to Star's End on U of Penn's station.

[Undertoad]

During the run up to the Iraq disaster I was listening to a lot of FOX sports programming which spent a remarkable amount of time pimping the war.

I assure you this is just confirmation bias. Fox Broadcasting and Fox News Corporation are on separate arms of the corporate structure diagram, and shared much less DNA in 2003 than they do now, which still isn't that much.

[Undertoad]

The Internet has overwhelmed traditional broadcasting in recent years. You can get almost anything from it, including audio. Almost all the NPR shows are available from it and you can listen on demand, and pause, and shit like that.

Start here if you are willing to install iTunes:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/

[Sundae]

I listen to BBC Radio 5 every day.
I'm not great at retuning my radio ( says Dani), so although it's not my bag in the evenings when it becomes a sports station, I appreciate it in the mornings. It has a general interest Breakfast Show and My Call which is a call-in about topics in the news from 09.00-11.00 for my days off.

Luckily I don't have to put up with Wake Up To Money any more, as my shifts at this store start later.

I listen to radio far more than I watch television. Well, obviously as I don't have a tv at present. But this was the same when I lived in Aylesbury. I don't really miss the tv, although I will be watching Harry Enfield's programme about BBC2 when I get online at home (BBC i-Player).

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I assure you this is just confirmation bias. Fox Broadcasting and Fox News Corporation are on separate arms of the corporate structure diagram, and shared much less DNA in 2003 than they do now, which still isn't that much.

Ha ha! I must have missed the anti-fracking rants that would have gone against the corporate ownerships political agenda and would also have bothered me. Individual radio hosts having achieved national status are not about to start biting the hand. Conversely, they may well double-down on beliefs they have that align with Murdoch culture.

Originally Posted by Undertoad

The Internet has overwhelmed traditional broadcasting in recent years. You can get almost anything from it, including audio. Almost all the NPR shows are available from it and you can listen on demand, and pause, and shit like that.

Start here if you are willing to install iTunes:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/

Strangely unavailable in real time in my car.

[Undertoad]

Murdoch wasn't owner until 2005. And wait are you sure you were talking about Fox sports?

Strangely unavailable in real time in my car.

I suppose you'll have to go satellite radio, it's not real time but only a four-second delay.

[Griff]

I can't say for sure which shows they were at the time, could be a flawed memory. At the time it seemed rather brazen to whore out a war when supposedly talking about ball games.

I guess, I'm having trouble breaking free of the free locally produced radio paradigm and as far as I know paid satellite is not local radio. I mostly listen to Pandora/local radio at home and radio/cd on the road. Operations like Pandora and Spotify would seem to have increased choice while unified corporate control has reduced choice.

[Happy Monkey]

In the car, I listen to either NPR or my rotation of CDs. I used to listen to a talk station, but it got turned into sports.

[Carruthers]

Much prefer the radio to TV.

I listen to BBC Radio 4 (speech based) when it starts up at 0530 and if other things didn't get in the way, I'd listen to it all day, Woman's Hour excepted.
During my insomniac hours it transmits the BBC World Service which provides a wide range of programming.

If nothing appeals there, it's over to BBC Five Live which transmits the appropriately named 'Up All Night'. Rhod Sharp, who runs the programme several nights a week actually does it from his home in Marblehead, Massachusetts. I suppose that if you are going to speak to the UK between 0100 and 0500 then the East coast of the US is the place to do it from.

The BBC, live from Marblehead.

Occasionally listen to NPR/WBUR and 6PR (Perth, W. Oz) online.

I draw the line at the 'pop and prattle' commercial stations. Yes, it's my age...

[DanaC]

I drew the line at pop and prattle stations in my 20s :p

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Carruthers

Much prefer the radio to TV.

Definitely. I'm just not a big tv guy.