![]() ![]() |
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
23.115.154.193
Barrett Media's Jason Barrett, Jeff Lynn, John Mamola, & Garrett Searlight reviewed the current state of corporate radio, after Audacy's recent purges. Mass layoffs of major talent nation wide, which sent reverberations amongst an ever-shrinking radio listener audience losing their local touch. Here in Sactown, one of the stations airs an afternoon program simulcast in the Bay-n-L.A. ... 73s para Sactown
We had some incredible FM stations in SoCal for popular music and that's what we listened to in my H.S. years. I grew up on AM then transitioned to FM around the mid to late 1970's. KLOS and KMET were great for classic rock and the sound quality was so much better than KEZY AM which was an earlier favorite. I was a telephone solicitor for the "KEZY Treasure Chest Program" - a coupon book full of discount coupons from local merchants all of only $20!And then came KROQ "Rock of the 80's'" to usher in punk, new wave, alternative, metal, grunge, indie, garage, etc. to SoCal. It was fresh and new. The DJ's were fun too.
Moved to Colorado in 1995 where KBCO was the top station at least in the Boulder area. Lots of great 'modern' music, concert promotions, and community involvement from KBCO "World Class Rock". Unfortunately over time they became "World Class Commercials" so I stopped listening. It never failed, whenever I tuned into KBCO there was a string of commercials playing for what seemed to be forever, one after another - and not much music.
I gave up on radio by the mid-2000's or so. I was spinning CD's from a 5-disc carousel and DAC at home or a 10-disc changer in the car. A few years later I moved everything to a music server and streaming service like Qobuz which is where I'm at today.
Who needs radio for music? My attitude had soured on radio and I never looked back but it was a great ride. I enjoyed it a lot.
And here we are today:
![]()
If I'm involved with radio it's limited Ham Radio or SWL when we're in the mountains:
Yaesu FT-891 radio on 20Ah battery for operating CW and SSB
![]()
~17-ft telecopic whip 1/4 wave tuned for 20M HF operation
![]()
DIY tripod mount. Unobstructed view to the West and Zero man made electrical noise.
![]()
Heavy tool bag weighs down the tripod greatly improving stability in the breeze.Checkout the "Notable Staff" at KROQ. You might recognize several of the names including Jimmy Kimmel.
Edits: 03/31/25
Later Gator,
Dave
![]()
A friend of mine back in high school had the older Kenwood TS-520. It was an awesome radio back in the day and way better than the Swan 500CX that I had. The Swan put out more power but the receiver was no where near as good as the Kenwood's. The Swan's IF bandwidth (selectivity) was somewhat broad so stronger stations had nice audio fidelity but but weaker signals were more easily interfered with - and the Swan radio drifted.YouTube of a 1970's era Swan 500CX (not mine):
My only HF operation these days is when I'm up at my friend's cabin. Otherwise it's strictly 2m/70cm FM.
Edits: 04/01/25 04/01/25 04/01/25 04/01/25
...a fellow club members place. I was a no-code Tech at the time and I got on the air under his supervision. I liked the rig so much that I got one and later upgraded to General. I still have it but have not powered it up in years. Note that I acquired all (or most) of the accessories to have a complete 107 station.
Later Gator,
Dave
![]()
I don't remember that one but I like the looks. Many vintage radios are pretty cool but harder to find in good shape.
I got my Novice license in 1971 and then my Advanced around 1972/1973. I was very active on HF for maybe 10 years and then life happened so I let my license expire completely well beyond the grace period. I didn't play around with Ham Radio for a long time. Took the General exam maybe a dozen years ago and passed but my HF operation these days is very limited.
I have the Icom IC-746 Pro that I used at our previous home just for listening with a hidden long wire antenna. It's heavy. The compact Yaesu FT-891 is what I use if I'm lugging gear up to the mountains.
Icom IC-746 Pro
![]()
And my older Yaesu FRG-100 Shorwave Receiver
![]()
![]()
When I built my first stereo in the mid-'60s that included a Dynakit FM-3. Every system since then has included a FM tuner.
In the late '60s and through the '70s FM could be a great music choice. The college and small independent stations were leaders in playing longer selections from LPs rather than 3-minute 45s. That continued in the '80s with CDs. All that changed music with more emphasis on longer songs.
With so many "underground" stations it could be exciting exposure to new music since they avoided the playlists common on the corporate stations.
Unfortunately that has changed over the past few decades with elimination of many of the smaller stations with takeovers by a few corporate media companies. For me that means the best remaining choices tend to be college stations.
"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing, if you can fake that you've got it made." Groucho
Thanks for the article-
I do not listen to much of the corporate media, radio or tv...
But there has been a huge change in Radio over the last 10-15 years
Between the death of commercial classical and jazz stations, and a corresponding migration to the left end of the dial of those collections/libraries, and in some cases personnel, and the ratcheting up of a primary NPR/public station in a given metro market, we seem to be loosing the variety that radio used to offer.
[here in Nor-Cal, KQED in the Bay area has become a mega station with mergers in Sac and Napa/Eastern Sonoma]
Obviously if the real goal is to monetize everything so that some ONE can make lots 'o $$$, then the future of radio is doomed, but that may be the least of our losses...
Happy Listening
radio hound,article true. I used to thank God for college stations, but its not as exciting as it once was.
.
Later Gator,
Dave
![]()
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: