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.
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.
And I say “really” way too much. Really.
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…
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.
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.
Check out Movin’ Easy and Standard Time on Sirius.
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.
Shania Twain’s girl song: could it be “Damn, It Sounds So Redundant”?
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…”
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… 
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.
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.
I’d say that sounds about right for our active rotations, though we do throw in other stuff every now and then.
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?
Nationwide we get government financed Triple J 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).
It is now, at least as far as I’m concerned. 
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.)