Okay, back for this. NPR is a great suggestion, but since I work nights I’ve been terribly turned off by them. All it is is BBC news repeated over and over (at night). Sure they’re a great and reliable source, but I enjoy some original content to distract me from the fact that it’s 2:59 AM and I’m only halfway though my shift.
It’s mindless and stupid, but I’ll sometimes occasionally listen to sports talk at work, I just prefer some guy yelling about wins/losses over repeated news reports. [/hijack]
NPR’s website has most of their programming available as podcasts. This might be a good option for you. I think the public radio stations have to pay some kind of royalties to run the national programs, and that would make it unaffordable for them to play them at 3am.
That’s one of the reasons I switched to XM. No commercials at all, and the DJ only back-announces the last 4 songs before starting the next set. Silence is better than “morning talk.”
I’ll add my voice to the minority who listens to morning DJs. I’ve been listening to Elliot in the Morning on DC101 since day one, about 8 years ago: the previous DC101 morning “show” was just then-program-director Buddy Riser playing music, and when Elliot came to town I figured I’d give him a shot (even though I typically hate talk radio and morning shows) and I just never stopped listening. I think at the time there was no better alternative, plus I found the show to be more entertaining than I’d expected. To be sure, there are times when the show gets on my nerves, but on those days I just switch to 100.3 – the used-to-be-oldies station. Even that station has a morning guy now (who actually used to work at DC101), but he plays more music than not. I listen to him whenever Elliot is in reruns, too, because I hardly ever find the show to be entertaining the second time around.
Oddly enough, though, I only listen to Elliot when I’m getting ready for work: once I’m in the car, I turn on music.
The last thing I want to hear when I’ve just woken up is a bunch of cackling maniacs. I scanned through every single radio station in the Calgary area yesterday morning and somebody was laughing like an asshole on every single one.
I didn’t know I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Let’s conduct a massive letter-writing campaign to the radio stations.
I like DJ’s when I listen to the radio in the car. If I’m in the mood for music I listen to my CD’s/MP3’s, mostly because the type of music I like (Metal) isn’t readily available. I have been thinking about getting satellite radio because of the combination of dedicated genre stations and talk programs.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. I’m with you 100 percent on this one.
I have to wonder how much of this nonsense is Arbitron’s fault. I took place in an Arbitron survey several years ago, and the survey is highly skewed towards morning shows. There was a section where you basically had to fill in which was your favorite morning show. “None of the above and I wish you bastards would just shut the fuck up” (er… maybe worded slightly better than that) wasn’t one of the options. The survey seemed to basically assume that you listened to one of the morning shows in the morning, then listened to music on various stations during the rest of the day.
I’m more talk. I switch to another station whenever they play music, so all I ever hear really is the banter. If I want to listen to music I’ll plug my ipod in. At least I get to hear what I want and not the same song at the same time as yesterday.
I wonder if “morning zoo” radio programming is one of those things that nobody really likes, but it still pops up everywhere. Maybe they’ve found that people’s music tastes are too diverse and they just don’t want to alienate anyone? Honestly, who enjoys listening to this stuff? I’ve read the thread. If I’m not mistaken, everyone so far who prefers talk listens to news, sports, or a well-known radio show (like Howard Stern). The cackling hyena morning shows don’t have any fans as far as I know.
If they’re funny, policitally incorrect, and local, I can stand the talk. There was only one local station that fit that criteria. Otherwise just music, news, and weather please. And say what time it is occasionally.
I’ve watched the local news and some of “Today” before I got in the car. I just want music, and unfortunatley there isn’t any local classical station (which is what I like to listen to in the morning). Since I don’t have XM or Sirius, in goes the CD.
I love listening to Mark and Brian in the morning they’re not crazy so they don’t annoy me but I still laugh. But when I lived in Denver I hated all morning shows because when I was finally figuring what they were talking about they would go into songs or commercials so it just annoyed the piss out of me and I found a station that just played music. So either talk to play music but pick one.
I just want music. I don’t even want the weather (unless it’s a tornado warning) or news. Just the freaking MUSIC. And I don’t want to hear another DJ being promoted on the current DJ’s shift, either. I understand that broadcast radio has to air ads to pay the bills. Fine, play the ads. Don’t have the DJs talk over the music, or comment on current affairs. And particularly don’t have the DJs doing their own comedy show if it’s supposed to be a music station.
Probably I should send this thread to all the DFW area radio stations.
Music. The morning show guys, in every city I’ve ever lived in, are the worst djs of the whole 24 hours, but seem to be praised and promoted the most. The bad, unfunny jokes, the uninfomed opinions that seem to pander to the (presumed) audience, the raging egos…
So very glad I have xm now, and can listen to just music…and the choice of so many kinds of music!