# I'm so sick of the damn radio!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 18, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741 "2005-02-18T17:10:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SusanStoHelit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SusanStoHelit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SusanStoHelit)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/61 "2005-02-20T20:25:42Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > It doesn’t really bother me. My two favorite radio stations, Corvalis’ \*\*KFLY \*\*and Portland’s **KUFO** , are almost indistinguishable from one another and are constantly playing the same songs over and over and over again. Yeah, I get a little tired of hearing Black Sabbath, Metallica, Pearl Jam and the same three AC/DC songs after a while but if I were to listen to my own music collection, what would I be doing? Listening to Tool, A Perfect Circle, the Chili Peppers, and the same three Bush songs over and over. **Aesiron** , try 88.7 FM. It’s the local (Corvallis) college radio, but most of the DJs have decent taste in music (except this one chick who always plays Christian Ska:eek: ). Of course, they don’t have to worry about ratings or such. For more mainstream songs 105.5 KBOB also plays a good mix of classic and new rock. And they actually play music in the mornings, rather than just listening to the DJs talk. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/62 "2005-02-21T00:36:56Z")
I just tried tuning it in but didn’t have any luck, which is one of the few things I really do not like about this area – the radio reception really sucks. Especially since, for some reason, Salem doesn’t host any stations of its own and I’m reliant on really spotty stations anywhere from 25 to 75 miles from here. Stupid mountains. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/63 "2005-02-21T00:44:10Z")
And I say “really” way too much. Really. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/64 "2005-02-21T02:30:28Z")
My boss at my internship this past summer had a small (maybe 8) collection of **Rush** CDs that were exclusively played everyday. Geddy Lee’s voice (_shudder_) and over the top synth solos (_…hurk…_) drove me nuts. He was the type who I could loudly complain to but he’d just turn it up “till I piped down”…grrr… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/65 "2005-02-21T03:02:14Z")
Where does “Easy Listening” fit in? I’m not talking elevator music, or “soft rock”. I mean the old-fashioned “cocktail music” types like Henry Mancini and Burt Bacarach. My parents always enjoyed this when I was little-it was what they called “dinner music”. Now though, you can’t find it on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/66 "2005-02-21T04:35:19Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Where does “Easy Listening” fit in? I’m not talking elevator music, or “soft rock”. I mean the old-fashioned “cocktail music” types like Henry Mancini and Burt Bacarach. My parents always enjoyed this when I was little-it was what they called “dinner music”. Now though, you can’t find it on the radio. I think that genre now falls into “oldies/lounge” music. But yeah, you really don’t hear it on the radio at all. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/67 "2005-02-21T04:39:09Z")
According to [radio-locator.com](http://radio-locator.com), [North America has 46 stations classified as Easy Listening](http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?format=ezy&s=R&sr=Y). ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/68 "2005-02-21T05:50:45Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > Sorry for the spate o’ posts. > > A quick to Google (something I couldn’t do while in the car, playing with the radio while driving) shows me that The Mountain I remember is alive and well at 103.7 FM out of Seattle. [The Mountain](http://www.kmtt.com/) > > I was hitting on a station I thought used to be the Mountain but is just another indistinguishable Classic Rock station. I shall amend my stereo pre-sets accordingly on Monday when next I drive. My Mountain was based in Salt Lake. I even remember the television commercials they used to promote themselves. People were singing along with “Here Comes the Sun.” I may never get over it. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/69 "2005-02-21T13:22:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Where does “Easy Listening” fit in? I’m not talking elevator music, or “soft rock”. I mean the old-fashioned “cocktail music” types like Henry Mancini and Burt Bacarach. My parents always enjoyed this when I was little-it was what they called “dinner music”. Now though, you can’t find it on the radio. Check out [Movin’ Easy](http://www.sirius.com/MovinEasy) and [Standard Time](http://www.sirius.com/StandardTime) on Sirius. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/70 "2005-02-21T16:21:35Z")
I have almost started a pit thread like this numerous times. There’s so much music available, yet it seems that all you ever hear is the same 10 songs over and over. After trying numerous stations (Oldies stations or classic rock stations still play the same 10 songs over and over), I just gave up and decided if I have to listen to the same songs over and over, I’ll just play my cd’s all day long. The station I listened to had a fondness for Shania Twain’s girl song (I’ve blocked the title from my brain) and Martina McBride’s “This one’s for the girls”. I kept writing parodies for them in my head but after I found myself walking around singing “This one’s for the squirrels” all the time, I decided to leave the radio off. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/71 "2005-02-21T16:46:04Z")
Shania Twain’s girl song: could it be “Damn, It Sounds So Redundant”? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/72 "2005-02-21T17:38:57Z")
When I was listening to a lot of country music, I switched, permanently, from one country station to the other (there are two in my town) because KYSN seemed to have a hard-on for Shania’s _Any Man of Mine_. Let’s see. At the time I switched, Shania had released at least four new songs since _Any Man of Mine_, maybe five. And yet KYSN continued play that song every single day, sometimes twice a day or more. Of course, it was the woman DJ who played it most often. As a bartender once said to me, “You know, I liked that song the first forty-thousand times I heard it…” ---
**Author:** ![Cemetery\_Savior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Cemetery\_Savior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cemetery_Savior)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/73 "2005-02-21T17:54:09Z")
I’m out on the road fairly often as part of my job (in and around Chicago), and after a while, the NPR and sports radio gets on my nerves, and I want to hear some music. Maybe we’re lucky here, but I have no less than 3 radio stations that have relatively open formats that rarely repeat. I know for certain that at least one of them webcasts (WXRT, 93.1fm), and the other two (WDRV 97.1fm and “The Nine” 92.7 and 99.9) might. All three have active DJs, so that might be the saving grace. Of course, we have our garbage “all-repeater” stations, too. How many times can “Lite FM” play Gloria Estefan and Celine Dion? You’d think there’d be a law or something… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/74 "2005-02-21T18:48:41Z")
Those same songs are what people want to hear. Despite having played a song 20 minutes prior, hordes of people will still call in to request that same song again. Whether that’s a testament to their incredibly short attention span or their having just tuned in and only planning to listen for 5-10 minutes I’m not sure, but it happens, and it attracts more people than it deters, I’d say. > [@Joe K](#): > > > [@ultrafilter](#): > > > > There’s a station in Columbus–CD101–that, last I asked, had an active library of 5,000-6,000 songs… > > That’s amazing. I had also asked my DJ pal the size of the playlists he was used to, and he replied that they were generally around 500 songs. I don’t know how many of our songs are _actively used_, but our library is several thousand deep, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/75 "2005-02-21T19:07:22Z")
> [@caphis](#): > > I don’t know how many of our songs are _actively used_, but our library is several thousand deep, as well. Standard for a soft rock station in a fairly big market (1 million and up) is about 300 songs in active rotation. A smaller market might play 500 titles. A top 40 station in a really big market might be down to 150 songs. ---
**Author:** ![caphis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19adc/32.png) [@caphis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caphis)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/76 "2005-02-21T19:08:52Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > Standard for a soft rock station in a fairly big market (1 million and up) is about 300 songs in active rotation. A smaller market might play 500 titles. A top 40 station in a really big market might be down to 150 songs. I’d say that sounds about right for our active rotations, though we do throw in other stuff every now and then. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/77 "2005-02-22T00:58:45Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Shania Twain’s girl song: could it be “Damn, It Sounds So Redundant”? Great, I had almost effectively blocked it from my mind and you have to go and remind me. Incidentally, I always mishear one of the lyrics for that song as “give 'em a labia”. I don’t suppose that’s an actual lyric though, is it? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/78 "2005-02-22T01:43:41Z")
Nationwide we get government financed [Triple J](http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/) who webcast 24/7 (top left of page). I am pretty sure it is the best radio station on earth. They aren’t constrained by advertisers and play whatever they like. You can listen endlessly and only hear the odd song repeated. For instance: \*\*The hitlist is a list of tracks which are played between medium to high rotation on triple j. This list is sorted alphabetically by TRACK NAME. You can view the same list sorted by artist name here. If you still can’t find the name of an artist or a track you heard on triple j, try asking the people on the triple j music forum. updated 16.02.05 Tecoma A.E.I.O.U Shihad Alive Sarah Blasko Always Worth It Lior Autumn Daughterboy Jao Better For You And Me Microphonics Better Than This Doves Black And White Town Daara J Boomerang Bugz In The Attic Booty La La Nick Cave Breathless Binder & Krieglstein Chicken System Of A Down Cigaro 78 Saab The City Is Humming Little Birdy Come On Little Heartbreaker LCD Soundsystem Daft Punk Is Ben Lee Desire Clare Bowditch Divorcee At 23 Architecture In Helsinki Do The Whirlwind Night Hour The Doldrums Soulwax E Talking Beck Epro The Wrights Evie (Pt.1) Starving Artists Crew Feed The Homeless Little Barrie Free Salute General Electrics Frost On Your Sunglasses Rollerskates Get It Dynamo Productions Get It Together (Remix) 2UP The Gift Hot Hot Heat Goodnight Goodnight The Bank Holidays The Greatest Game Bloc Party Helicopter Dynamo Productions Hey Yeah Handsome Boy Modeling School If It Wasn’t For You Halogen In The Summer The Killers Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine I Am X Kiss And Swallow Ben Folds Landed Flevans Lay It Down Downsyde Lesfortunate Moby Lift Me Up Queens Of The Stone Age Little Sister Greenskeepers Lotion Ani Difranco Manhole Nate Me And My Friends The Grates Message Rephrase Mink Earlies Morning Wonder Spunk Deco Move On Spazzys My Boyfriend’s Back Atmosphere National Disgrace Infusion Natural Grandaddy Nature Anthem Wicked Beat Sound System Basement Jaxx Oh My Gosh! Halfway Patience Back Inga Liljestrom Phoenix Rocket Science Pop Lover Client Pornography Electric Six Radio Ga Ga Midnight Juggernauts Raised By Wolves Thievery Corporation Revolution Solution Alter Ego Rocker The D4 Sake Bomb Deck Dogz Sayonara Sage Francis Sea Lion Lemon Jelly The Shouty Track Jack Johnson Sitting, Waiting, Wishing Flaming Lips Spongebob & Patrick Ladytron Sugar Stomp Gelbison Summer Of Love Husky Rescue Summertime Cowboy Boca 45 Take A Ride Chasm Talk Your Wrist Off Holly Throsby Things Between People Arrested Development Tings Distracting Le Tigre Tko The Panics Twin Sisters Lazy Boy Underwear Goes Inside Irrelevant Waiting For The The Cops Wallet/Puffer/Smokes/Keys The Postal Service We Will Become Silhouettes The Beautiful Girls Weight Of The World The Mars Volta The Widow Trail Of Dead Worlds Apart Chris Joss Wrong Alley Street Chris Joss You’Ve Been Spiked Missy Higgins You Just Like Me\*\* Check out the site for the variety of stuff they put to air. They have been celebrating their 30th anniversary and have been playing their collection of “Live at the Wireless”, all recorded by Triple J. Stuff like The Ramones (1980), Smashing Pumpkins (1996), AC/DC (1977), XTC (1981), Nirvana (1992), Sinead O’Connor (2000), Blur (1997), INXS (1982), Jeff Buckley (1995), Talking Heads (1979), Green Day (2000), Ben Harper (2001), Metallica (2004). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/79 "2005-02-22T12:53:27Z")
> [@Wile E](#): > > Great, I had almost effectively blocked it from my mind and you have to go and remind me. > > Incidentally, I always mishear one of the lyrics for that song as “give 'em a labia”. I don’t suppose that’s an actual lyric though, is it? It is now, at least as far as I’m concerned. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NothingMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b77776/32.png) [@NothingMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NothingMan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741/80 "2005-02-22T13:38:25Z")
This thread comes up every six months. I know _Gaspode_ and I have tried to explain it all before. Basically it comes down to this: in commercial radio we are trying to please the most people the most often. Does this mean that some songs get played every hour and a half? Yep. If you are interested in the inner workings of commercial radio do a search…I know theres a thread where we went fairly in depth on the subject. - **NM** (Who is a pro DJ and producer with almost 10 years in the radio biz.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-the-damn-radio/290741.md?page=5)