From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxa!mhuxh!mhuxm!pyuxjj!rlr
Newsgroups: net.music
Title: Re: Rock Radio
Article-I.D.: pyuxjj.391
Posted: Mon Jan 10 23:32:31 1983
Received: Tue Jan 11 03:33:10 1983
References: alice.1388

To address alice!sjb's article:

There are a number of reasons that simple majorities should not dictate
radio programming policy.  There must be dozens of jazz radio stations
across the country who have folded or changed format to avoid folding,
all because of the pressure of the almighty dollar.  It's not enough
for station management to have merely good ratings--they demand great
ratings!!! And how does one get these great ratings?  By doing what
TV networks do to grab high ratings---appeal to the lowest common
denominator!  Thus, the rest of us who are not hypnotized by AOR (or MOR--
middle-of-the-road---the other end of format radio) must find alternative
ways of hearing the music we like.  Alternatives that are few and far
between even in large metropolitan areas, and non-existent elsewhere (except
maybe in college towns).

I thought I answered the question about what's wrong with
heavy metal once before, but those are just my opinions, and everyone is
entitled to listen to what they want (or what they are told to want).
Seriously, I think that, for the most part, we net users are an
intelligent population with diverse tastes.  A number of people have
stated that heavy metal is only one of a variety of different musical
styles that they enjoy.  But we are talking about myopic station
managers who think that only their brand of music is rock. ("Naw, can't
play that new wave stuff, not noisy enough.  Black music?  Are you kidding?
Black people don't play rock 'n' roll!" [LIKE CHUCK BERRY OR JIMI
HENDRIX] )  It's annoying to listen to a station that calls itself a "rock"
station when it won't play Prince, or the Buzzcocks, or ...   A radio station
is supposed to turn you on to new sounds and play new, exciting music,
and not just keep the masses in line with AOR and MOR clone formats.  In the
sixties, the radio stations played rock, soul, etc., and inspired numerous
musicians with their diverse sounds.  What kind of inspiration does the
same format over and over provide?

Adam, there aren't enough classical stations, and there aren't enough jazz
stations, and there aren't very many real rock stations.  There are plenty
of AOR stations, though, and they stifle the rest of the musical spectrum.
And being an audience of kids isn't the problem.  The same age group,
15-25 years ago, didn't have media-controlled music.  They defined the sound
they wanted to hear, and "big business" wouldn't listen.  Now business has
seen the big bucks in this music, and they seek to formula-ize and control it
so that they can be assured of making their profit.  Kids are SUPPOSED to
rebel against the status quo, at least on a personal and maybe musical level.
Heavy metal isn't rebellion--it is the status quo.  Punk was supposed to
be something new for a new generation, but a large number of kids didn't
want it.  Could it be that these kids have nothing to rebel about?