Trends

The Radio of the People

June 21, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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Believe it or not, there are several different types of radio stations that are by the people and for the people. This is not the “natural aristocracy” nonsense that the founding fathers thought up, either. These are actually publicly funded, or funded through their membership, instead of having constant advertisements bombarding their listeners. And they actually have people doing things that are not just about glorifying the modern feudal system, too. In 1967, the first public radio station came to life with the creation and slight allocation of federal funding for NPR. While there is a need for the donations of the listening public, this is actually useful, since it keeps the programming truthful and relevant to the people who are actually going to be using it.

Public radio can be affiliated with colleges and universities (most especially state schools and other public programs), and can switch up their format from news and talk to music, and vice versa. The face that public radio needs donation from its listeners keeps it from getting too cocky. So long as the station knows that the people who listen to it have all of the power, things go a whole lot more smoothly. But public radio is not the only way there is. There is also community radio and tourist radio, for those civic minded, responsible individuals who want to take a “speed of light” interest in how their community functions.

Tourist radio is typically multilingual and repetitive, often on a continuous loop over and over again. While this may not be a huge amount of involvement, it can be some pretty responsible charity work to participate in. Community radio is a lot like public radio, with one small difference about it. In a community radio situation, the partial government funding tends to be of a local nature. It is also true in a community radio situation that generally, volunteers are necessary, in order to operate the station and bring the messages to the viewing public.

While the formats can vary enormously between different stations, these are all the radio of the people.

Student Radio

June 11, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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Not everybody knows this, but some students at all levels of their schooling have their own radio stations. While it isn’t all that glamorous, it can be a very good hobby or part time job, for the students who want to get comfortable with public speaking and get some actual radio experience. There are more than just college students doing the whole radio thing. In a decent number of cases, there are high school students (and even some elementary and middle school students) doing radio stations. While there is typically a music format at any level where students are involved, it is also a common practice for the students to report on the local events at the school. These events include the news in the area and any of the various school functions that are coming up in the near future.

Student radio stations can be at any level of school, even down to the elementary level. Those must be some pretty motivated kids, to be willing to do all of that work. In most cases, the students actually have a sort of extra curricular club or organization that handles things related to their radio station. They obviously need to get approval from the FCC, and have the permission of the school to use the necessary equipment, space and whatnot. So when the shows start coming on, with the kids acting like crew and radio personalities, it must be very interesting for the kids who had to go through some efforts to get the ball rolling. At that stage of the game, those kids have got to feel like a million bucks, for having gone all the way through that kind of an ordeal.

Now, at the college level, things are a little different. College stations tend to be listed on digital and online radio directories, so that they can be heard all over the world. What a trip! And they have a lot more editorial and musical freedom, since they are legal adults and can play all kinds of different independent styles of music without much interference from faculty.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Internet radio, Radio broadcasting, Student, Trends

America’s Limited Radio

June 5, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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In a country that literally invented radio, you would think that there would be an incredibly huge number of different radio stations for your discerning ears to choose from. Unfortunately, you would only be half right. The United States of America only has ten national radio networks (with stations that are set up and marketed as being local), if you can believe that. Honestly, it will still be true whether you believe it or not. We have all of the bases covered, of course. And we also have great file sharing resources for music like Ares Galaxy from the open source Ares website. Each of the “important” genres are covered, without any kind of issue. But it is interesting that, with so much radio potential, our country concentrates so much on the local side of music, sports and news distribution over the radio. Seriously, just ten? That is only one per 30 million people! That is just shy of embarrassing. Hopefully these are some incredible networks.

As far as news goes, we have ABC Radio Networks, the American Radio Network (which is operated by CBS), NPR, and Public Radio International. These brands (even NPR, as sad as that is) are about as “huge and corporate” as you can get, without having to actually wear a suit and hold a briefcase in order to legally listen to them. However, there are some more entertaining options out there, for us poor Americans.

For instance, there is Radio Disney – for some reason, Disney just does not feel like the multi-billion dollar conglomerate that it is. That is some pretty sweet branding, right there. We also have the Z-Spanish Radio Network, which provides tons of content in, well, Spanish. It would be a little disappointing if a network with a particular language in its very name didn’t work in the language in question. We have a massive radio network called Westwood One, which has thousands of different stations. And if that were not enough, we also have the first radio station in the country, Pacifica Radio. Pacifica Radio is one of the world’s largest experiments in Public broadcast radio. Maybe our radio options aren’t so limited in America, after all.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Pacifica Radio, Radio broadcasting, Trends

The Main Flavors of Country Music

May 5, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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Country music is quite possibly the most popular genre of music in the world. Whether this says that there are a lot of rednecks and hill jacks in the world is up to the individual’s discretion. While some kind of country music most likely began the first time somebody in the back woods picked up a method of making music (possibly an empty moon shine jug), the official origins of country only go back to the 1920s. Considering how much country music has evolved and added on across the decades, there are a whole bunch of different sub headings to country music’s main incarnation. While it can be tempting to simply assume it is all dogs dying, pickup trucks and women who should really be with men who appreciate them more, these are stereotypes that are only true about 75% of the time in country songs. As Elvis would say, don’t be cruel.

The main genres of country music can be split into two separate sections in the United States: hit country and classic country music. When you’re dealing with a lot of Kenny Rogers or Dolly Parton, that is the essence of classic country – their songs have stood the test of time and become legendary. Even the Achey Breaky has turned into something of a classic, as it nears 20 years old (and retains its status as a universal call to the line dance). But when you think about songs that are popular right now, or have been popular over the past few years, that is the domain of the hit country genre. There are a few different style, such as new country, urban cowboy, honky tonk, bluegrass and western swing, but they all fit neatly into the two main headings of either today’s hits or classic country.

There is actually a Hispanic take on country music known as Ranchera. While opinions vary, it is extremely popular in Latin America, and keeps the spirit of the cowboy alive in the Spanish language. Ranchera is at home in Texas, the southwest and all throughout Mexico and her people.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Country music, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, United States

Beware the Spanglish

April 30, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

When it comes to contemporary music, there are a couple of different types that get a lot of air play between them. Interestingly enough, their main difference is language. Maybe pop is pretty much pop. There is even a kind of music called Tejano, which essentially consists of hits from artists out of Texas, the southwestern United States or northern Mexico. One tends to wonder if there is a particular language a Tejano musician is supposed to stick to, or if maybe they “layer” the languages of English and Spanish in their albums in the same way a person might layer on peanut butter and jelly atop some tasty bread. Apparently, there is a lot of equality between the two languages in Mexico and South America, with songs of both languages being played in a reasonably equal mix.

The obvious question is, which language do the DJs speak? Maybe they are mostly bilingual, and they each have the ability to switch back and forth at will. Wouldn’t it be oddly humorous, if a DJ were to say every first sentence in Spanish, with every other sentence being in English? Maybe not. In fact, it would probably just be annoying and borderline incomprehensible, since the languages have both different reasonable speeds and different grammatical structures about them. Another question that tends to come to mind is, do they play a top 40 that mixes up pop songs by merit, or do they have a top 80 split between 40 for English language pop and 50 for Spanish language pop?

The idea of stations that do not have the either or feeling of “it’s just one way or the other” is very liberating. They could be free to play a song, not based on some kind of cultural biases or sense of perceived racial equality, but just because it sounds really good to hear it. This is definitely the way a radio station should behave itself – when there is a good song, its ethnicity, and even its language really do not matter, when compared to the overall quality of the song.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: English language, Mexico, Pop music, Spanish language

Contemporary Hit Radio – an Odd Bird

April 20, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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The Contemporary hits style of radio (which is also often commonly referred to as Pop) deals with a very interesting demographic mixture. It target audience frequently consists of people between the ages of 15 and 30. While people in this age range do have some things in common (as in, they breathe air), the differences are extremely large. Consider that most 15 year olds have no financial problems more significant than consumption (such as getting a car, a new outfit, or some kind of electronic toy that looks serious), and roughly a quarter of late 20 somethings have filed for bankruptcy. It is an odd demographic mix to have, but Contemporary stations seem to like doing that sort of thing.

In fairness, Pop does occupy its own genre. This typically consists of music that is a hit right now, or has hit its peak popularity during the last 6 months to a year. There is definitely a tilt toward recentness and immediacy. Pop is also sometimes called “the Top 40,” because someone at some point decided that 40 was a good cut off point for the “snapshot” of the most elite songs of a particular moment in time. But it is rather hard to think of anything contemporary without simply wanting to slap a Pop label on it and move on with one’s life.

There is a sub genre of Contemporary music known as dance, and another sub genre known as rhythmic. The differences seem to be very subtle, and would appear to consist of a slightly higher bent toward dance songs and dance remixes in the appropriately named dance group. The rhythmic songs appear to have a slider wider base about them, as they can consist of hip hop, rap and dance music. Their play lists could have some slightly lower intensity songs, whereas dance pretty much needs to keep it amped up at all times. It is intriguing to note that the dance sub genre is literal, while the rhythmic sub genre pretends it is the only style of music that has a rhythm about it.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Contemporary hit radio, Hip hop, Trends

Rock is More Than Just Geology

April 4, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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There are so many different styles of rock out there. In fairness, it would seem that any style of music involving a non acoustic guitar is now considered to be worthy of the label “rock.” And one especially useful definition of rock consists of, “any style of music that makes people want to have sex.” So with that being the case, it might just be an especially open genre in the first place. There is modern rock, active rock (as opposed to volcanically active rock), alternative, adult alternative, classic rock, americana, heavy metal, and a few that are downright obscure (like bluegrass, industrial and house music styles). The more obscure a station is, the more likely it is to be run by college students. This is interesting, as one would think that college students would be more likely to want to do normal things – unless they see college as their last gasp of individuality and freedom, before they begin their lives as conformist working drones.

There is a peculiar distinction drawn between modern rock and active rock. Modern rock would seem to be on the cutting edge, focusing on music released within the past six months to a year. By contrast, active rock would seem to be able to go from what is a hit today, all the way back to hits from up to 20 years ago. It just seems odd that “modern” is less modern than “active.” Isn’t all rock music supposed to be active? Is that not a vital facet of the entire genre?

Classic rock pretty much speaks for itself. Although it is very interesting to note that there is a more hardcore version of a classic rock station known as an AOR (or Album Oriented Rock), will actually forsake doing just released albums. If a good cut of a song exists, AORs will play it, even if it was never actually released. It’s almost underground, which is kind of cool in a sort of “music store in an abandoned subway tunnel” kind of way. Heavy metal is another genre that thrives only in college.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Album Oriented Rock, Classic rock, Rock music

Classical and Jazz – the Bedrock of Civilization

March 28, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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There is a large psychological gulf between classical music and jazz. Classical (also known as “serious” music to those who are into that particular scene) is for the contemplative sort. Honestly, it is hard to imagine someone listening to classical music without picturing cliches such as someone painting, writing sonnets, or just lounging around in their smoking jacket, enjoying a beverage that costs more than most people make in a month and a food item with a fancy French name. While those are silly images, it is hard to picture what a classical type of person is really like. A jazz person, on the other hand, is very easy to picture, and the thoughts that this person brings up are anything but insulting to them.

A jazz person is sociable and fun. Their voice has a sort of swagger about it, and even when the situation is a little dull, they are still having fun. Jazz isn’t like hard rock, where it’s all adrenaline and testosterone. Jazz is fun and free, chill and just a little bit chewy. A jazz person almost can’t help but be having a good time, no matter what their day might bring. As a matter of fact, a bad situation might even give a jazz person some good inspiration – after the bad things are over, there is just that much more reason to celebrate the fact that once again, we lived through it! Jazz folks are the salt of the Earth, aren’t they?

It is actually pretty hard to imagine a major radio area that does not have both a jazz station and a dedicated classical one. To be without either one would pretty much be the same as being without water or electricity. To further that simile, classical is the water that lets our spirits feel full and and healthy, while jazz is the electricity that keeps us shaking our groove things. If you are feeling the urge to grow a goatee and don a beret, go ahead and go with it, daddy-o. Just show a little love to the rocks of civilization.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Arts and Entertainment, Classical music, Music

How Many Kinds of Talk Radio Are There?

March 4, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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Not a lot of people know this, but there are actually a surprisingly large number of different types of talk radio stations. While everybody knows that there are lots of different formats a radio station can use, the sheer volume of station formats dictates that every genre needs to be split into sub genres. For instance, there is actually a distinction made between the News and Talk type of radio stations and News and Information type. The primary difference would appear to be that Talk type news stations are typically more local in nature than their more “homogenized” Information brethren. It is true, it would make less sense to be able to call in and chat with someone who might be a thousand miles away from you, than if they might just be a few miles away in a neighboring county.

Interestingly enough, the desire for people to call in and talk to an expert (or an interesting person with a grating personality, like Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh) is so strong that there is even a deeper outgrowth of the Talk type of news, that tends to only have ‘hard news’ on the top of the hour during the normal AM and PM drive times. It is distinctly possible that the early precursory prototype of the modern chat room was actually just the radio stations that let people call in and speak their peace on whatever was on their minds – which could be an interesting concept to study, if someone could figure out who invented the modern, online chat room.

Everybody knows that there are talk radio stations devoted to politics – and bless them all for their efforts at raising the consciousness of their listening public. But not everybody knows that there is actually a sub genre of talk radio centered around farming and agriculture. During business hours, you can actually stay up to the minute on the prices of crops and livestock – just in case your version of “checking how the old corn’s doing” does not involve going out to a field somewhere.

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Radio broadcasting, Talk radio

So Many Types of Radio Stations

February 24, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

There are an unbelievable number of formats for radio stations out there. While everybody knows that there are tons and tons of individual stations, a lot of people do not know that there are over a dozen different types of formats for these stations. No matter what you like to hear, you can pretty much find it in a number of different stations, being constantly transmitted in a host of different languages and with a large number of different cultural baggage attached to it. Overall, the whole notion is just incredible, when you think about it. You can listen to all kinds of different music, lives play by plays of just about any sport that anybody cares about, community broadcasts, religious and faith based programming, and student formatted station content.

If you started to listen to one station per day, so as to really get a feel for it, it could literally take you years just to make the rounds one single time. And by that point, given that the only constant in life is change, the stations themselves would have changed considerably by the time you went all the way through each one of them. So really, you could spend the rest of your natural life going through the various different radio stations, and never really go to the same one twice. It’s like the old saying about the river, where nobody can step into the same river twice. You can never listen to the same radio station twice, both because it will be a different station, and because you will have different listening ears. This is some deep stuff.

Just imagine the power we all have nowadays – you can listen to a football game in Guatemala, a political dissertation in Luxembourg, a broadcast of the latest natural disaster to impact the minor island nations of the Pacific Ocean, and then get back to some smooth jazz out of the States. Forget going around the world – now that people can listen to any kind of radio station there is without leaving home, why even spend the time?

Filed Under: Trends Tagged With: Radio broadcasting, Streaming, Trends