The demise of FM rock

[bull]

Last spring our local FM hard rock station, 101 KUFO, switched to a news/talk format without any warning. KUFO played a lot of AC/DC, Metallica, Ozzy, that sort of thing, but toward the end of its run we strarted hearing some softer stuff like Mellencamp and Journey which was a bit odd. Stranger yet of course was turning it on one day and getting nothing but talk show hosts, news, traffic and weather.

Turns out that this kind of thing seems to be becoming a national trend: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/11/alternative_rock_radio_the_sad_unwarranted_decline_of_fm_rock_stations_.html

[TK73]

Seattle is good:

102.5  KZOK   classic
99.9   KISW    hard
104.9  KSGX   hard

You guys got one of our best: Ricker.

[FLG]

Same here curtis,

Krock got killed, they played a lot of everything rock related..went to talk, now its pop.

Than 101.9 (which was more light) eventually filled in the void, played heavy on ocasion but most was punk...regardless I was happy..they switched to talk. Last day the dj was literally crying...was a sad day for me too because the only rock station left is classic, which I like but not all day.

Its sad...20 stations playing pop and rap crap...1 station playing rock.

[bakerhillpins]

Same thing over here on the east coast. Event the local college station went to crap.  There is only 1 left that is worth listening to. Guess we are just getting old and our tastes are not what is selling. On the plus side maybe we will be able to here it in elevators now. 

[Old Moparz]

When large corporations that have nothing to do with music & other entertainment took over broadcasting companies because of deregulation, all they were interested in was pure profit & their own interests. If the accountants see that a talking head, regardless of what they actually say is right or wrong, sells more advertising than rock music, that's what you will hear.

Only 6 when it used to be in the 100's.
http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main

Now be a good sheep & shut the hell up.

[TruckDriver]

In Wisconsin, except for WIBA out of Madison http://www.wibafm.com/main.html, they all suck here. All the rest are nothing but top 40 rock from the past 40 years. They all play the same old 300 - 400 songs from that time, and even then, its only the popular songs of back then. So you get sick and tired of listening to the station real fast cause you hear the same songs over and over again. They will talk about old bands coming out with a new album, yet they won't play anything from them. So, when I drive somewhere, I either listen to no radio, or country, or maybe one of those rock stations, but I keep it quiet.

At home, I listen to any one of these online stations -

Out of Munich Germany, they have the BEST variety of rock I have ever heard. They play stuff we know in America, and stuff we never hear over here, that just rocks, old stuff and newly realesed stuff! You very rarely hear repetition of songs, and they play everything from soft rock to metal. Very little German spoken too. I have discovered a lot of new bands I have to buy cds from listening to this station
http://www.munichshardesthits.com/

If you love the harder rock & Heavy Metal, then you will like KNAC.com. They have a excellent variety of music here too. And a excellent place to find rock band news.
http://www.knac.com/

[ODZKing]

Ugh, 35 years in radio.  It is sad to see the business I once loved go down the tubes like it has.   
FCC to blame but I could go on about this all day.
Sirius/XM folks. You can listen to anything you want.

[The70RT]

Rock is still strong in northeast Kansas. I can get at least a half dozen stations. I don't ever see KC abandoning rock but you never know. They built a new concert hall called the Sprint center and have rock concerts quite frequently. They have to advertise on the radio to sell tickets. I have my radio on all night and sleep to rock. I wouldn't know what to do if it all goes away.....had to use my phone and listen to slacker to find good rock when I was in a motel out of town. On the road I had to use satellite a few times as well.

[chargerboy69]

We still have all our rock stations here in Fort Wayne.  There was a FM top 40 station which turned to talk radio and tried to compete with the AM station WOWO, but it did not last long.

Being a talk radio junkie I do not mind several talk radio choices.

[4cruzin]

I have always been lucky here in Michigan as I have 6 rock stations to choose from.  Some harder than others but can usually find something decent to listen to.  When Chryco came to visit, he was definitely impressed with the stations that I had but really liked the harder one out of Lansing  . . . Q106.  I hope it never ends but if it does, I will just plug in the IPod.  I would consider satellite radio but I don't think there is a very good choice of rock stations on that either?   

[Todd Wilson]

When large corporations that have nothing to do with music & other entertainment took over broadcasting companies because of deregulation, all they were interested in was pure profit & their own interests. If the accountants see that a talking head, regardless of what they actually say is right or wrong, sells more advertising than rock music, that's what you will hear.

Only 6 when it used to be in the 100's.
http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart/main

Now be a good sheep & shut the hell up.

Thats why MTV and VH1 dont play videos anymore. They want stupid ass'd shows targeted towards the younger age groups and then sell advertising and make millions.


We still have a few good stations around the Wichita Kansas area and I listen to 95 KGGo out of Des Moines Iowa on my iphone all the time. They play great songs all the time!

I do enjoy talk radio and spend a  lot of time on AM listening there. Got to give all my vacuum tube radios something to do.


Todd

[Ponch ®]

Sirius ftw!

[elacruze]

I grew up around Detroit in the '70s and '80s. At one point we had 5 or 6 good album oriented FM rock stations. Now, nothing...a couple pretenders owned by Clearchannel.

I bought stock in SIRIUS. Even in these hard times their subscriber base is growing.

[BB1]

Get satellite radio or Pandora off the internet via your iphone and jack it into you internet ready new car.
Who listens to FM anymore, get with the times ya old fart.

[jb666]

FM radio, in the Boston area, has turned to complete shit. It's 75% talk, 20% rap/R&B and 5% "rock". And this "rock" is limited to 70's rock.. All of the GOOD stations are long gone..

I haven't turned FM radio on for months. Pandora rules my speakers when the IPod isn't playing one of it's 5500 songs.. 

[bull]

In Wisconsin, except for WIBA out of Madison http://www.wibafm.com/main.html, they all suck here. All the rest are nothing but top 40 rock from the past 40 years. They all play the same old 300 - 400 songs from that time, and even then, its only the popular songs of back then. So you get sick and tired of listening to the station real fast cause you hear the same songs over and over again. They will talk about old bands coming out with a new album, yet they won't play anything from them. So, when I drive somewhere, I either listen to no radio, or country, or maybe one of those rock stations, but I keep it quiet.

We've got 105.9 The Brew that plays 80s rock, but rarely do they play any one-off stuff like Y&T or Damn Yankees, etc., unless that Dee Snider show is on. He plays a lot of good, obscure stuff from that era. The Brew plays the hell out of VH, Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses though. And like you say, they will NOT play any of the new stuff from the afore mentioned bands. No newer Ozzy, no newer VH, no newer Crue, no Chickenfoot, etc. It HAS to have originated in the 80s and it has to have been a popular hit or they won't play it.

[TruckDriver]

Check out that German station then Curtis. They play Y&T & Damn Yankees quite a bit. And they play a lot of the non-hits too. Give it a listen for a week or so.

[hemi71x]

If you could afford the subscription to X/M or Sirius radio, you will find lots of stations to your likeing.
I have had X/M for the past 5 or 6 years, and am now going to have to not renew next month, due to making cutbacks in where my money is going these days.
I probably will be missing satellite radio, and will be playing CD's all the time.

[bull]

Check out that German station then Curtis. They play Y&T & Damn Yankees quite a bit. And they play a lot of the non-hits too. Give it a listen for a week or so.

It just seems wrong for an American to have to look to Germany for American rock.

If you could afford the subscription to X/M or Sirius radio, you will find lots of stations to your likeing.
I have had X/M for the past 5 or 6 years, and am now going to have to not renew next month, due to making cutbacks in where my money is going these days.
I probably will be missing satellite radio, and will be playing CD's all the time.

The concept of paying for radio also seems wrong. How much is it?

[BananaDan]

Same here, NYC metro area FM radio sucks big time.  We lost a really good station recently, leaving us with one classic rock station and a few smaller reach rock stations in NJ that depending on where in NJ you are, you may not be able to get.  It is sad that the biggest media market in the country has total crap radio.  These days, I mostly listen to AM news radio or AM sports talk/news radio.  I am contemplating getting an aftermarket radio for my Jeep so I can hook up my iPod, but every time I've put aftermarket radios in my cars in the past, I have gotten rid of the car within 1-1.5 years, making the radio purchase a waste of money. 

[TK73]

Had Sirius for 6 months.  Was cool for a lot of stuff but no Industrial stations...

[chargermike]

denver has kbpi 106.7. the morning dj is willie. he has 5 chargers and a couple more mopars. he is also on pinks all out. they play alot of good shit. like rage-pantera-avenge sevenfold- plus put on the best rock and rods car show at bandimere speedway. allways talking mopars and cars.  tune them in

[bobs66440]

Same here, NYC metro area FM radio sucks big time.  We lost a really good station recently, leaving us with one classic rock station and a few smaller reach rock stations in NJ that depending on where in NJ you are, you may not be able to get.  It is sad that the biggest media market in the country has total crap radio.  These days, I mostly listen to AM news radio or AM sports talk/news radio.  I am contemplating getting an aftermarket radio for my Jeep so I can hook up my iPod, but every time I've put aftermarket radios in my cars in the past, I have gotten rid of the car within 1-1.5 years, making the radio purchase a waste of money. 

The local rock station here in Poughkeepsie used to be good, but the freakin commercials are relentless! It's mostly commercials with a couple of songs thrown in here and there, especially during rush hour when you are listening. 

I just put a new Alpine stereo in my truck. It has am/fm/cd and a jack for mp3 and a USB port for a flash drive. You can fit like, a bazillion songs on one of those. And it was around a hundred bucks from Crutchfield (it doesn't support iphone/ipod though)! Sure, it's not the best sound ever, but it doesn't break the bank either. Maybe consider that.

[ODZKing]

The concept of paying for radio also seems wrong. How much is it?

Basic, which is a lot of channels is around $12.00, another unit is another 8.00.   May be a bit more now but it is right around there. 2 units = $20 and change.  The further ahead you pay, the cheaper it is.
If you want premium additions it is more, but I thought that too.
Then, after having it for a while my wife and I agreed it is worth every penny.  Especially traveling, no looking for stations. We have one in each car and when we travel with the Charger, mine goes with me.
The bigger markets have traffic as well, NY, LA, Boston, Detroit etc.

[John_Kunkel]

I gave up on free over-the-air radio years ago, too many mind-numbing commercials and other blather. Even SIRIUS has too much talk, I prefer CD's of my choice.