Radio Thread

[ytsejam]

I decided to put this here instead of entertainment forum since I use the radio for information rather than entertainment mostly.



I will start off saying I am a nut for public radio.

It is really nice to hear more than soundbytes and people yelling at me to buy cars.

I like the depth they have on the stories.

My NPR station I get here plays BBC world service late nights. I also enjoy that.

On NPR I have always liked Diane Rehm's (sp?) show.

She sounds older than Yoda's grandma but I like her style.

Yes, it is fairly clear she leans somewhat left, but I have heard her bitch slap many guests on her show, left or right view, for parroting their side's talking points, telling them to express their own views, and not parrot talking points.



On the AM side (and right in this case), I have mostly enjoyed Dr. Milton Rosenberg's (sp?) show on WGN.

Like Mrs. Rehm, his views are fairly clear but he is fair.

Well was perhaps.

More and more since Obama was elected I hear his show devolving.

Now it seems too often to be a guest who wrote an anti Obama book, another sympathetic guest or two, then they all chat around in a circle jerk agreeing with each other.



I was saddened months ago when Dr. Rosenberg interrupted a guest that was spitting out the "apology tour" talking point to interject "and bowing too!".

I mean, really???

This fucking guy has a dozen PHDs or something.

I 1st learned about the world of real beer from his program for fuck's sake.

He has to interrupt his guests now when they are not going full Fox News scale on the anti Obama shit?



I get it Dr. Rosenberg. You don't like Obama. Do you have to lower yourself to having Jerome Corsi type hacks on your show to emphasize that?



(other topics he covers can be interesting sometimes though)



Fuck it, it has to be McD's fault.



Anyone else like the radio?

What do you like or dislike.

(dislike rants are cool!)

 

[MassHavoc]

its amazing to me that the older I get the more I like NPR and talk radio. Other then NPR I really only listen to sportstalk, which is pretty horrible at times in this town. Very pompous self proclaimed experts because they have a snow, or practically dingo and the baby (Family guy reference) I only listen to music stations if I have to on long trips, usually I plug the phone in to Pandora or an audio book.

 

[howcho]

The only chicago radio I listen to is podcasts of OB and Doug plus McNeil and Speigel

 

[Bringmepie]

I enjoy NPR, This American Life, BBC news, A Prairie Home Companion. If I'm in the car on a long road trip I can often find a local equivalent to WBEZ so if I'm half way into a show and get out of driving range I can pick it back up later elsewhere.



For music I like WXRT still (but I swear to God I'm going to hurl if they keep overplaying Mumford & Sons - that band is rapidly becoming the new Hootie & The Blowfish for me, bland and overexposed). I hate trying to find decent music stations on the road, country music and/or classic rock stations that have a multi-disc CD changer with "Freedom Rock" on auto-skip playing the same old, same old over and over... blech.



In Chicago I like WGN, I enjoy John Williams during the afternoons the most and Brian Noonan whenever he's on the air (no, not *that* Brian Noonan). I hated Kathy & Judy in the morning, they're show was like listening to someone's mothers and they're 60+ year old friends talk about sex and liberal politics but they're gone now. Mike McConnell is a better replacement but he's kind of a dick. I like Steve & Johnny's show late night on weekdays, especially when they have musical guests in the studio. That whole media "rediscovery" of that Ted Williams guy out east last year made me appreciate hearing Orion Samuelson's voice all that much more, I hope he never has to retire.



I'm still thankful the Blackhawks moved to WGN so I don't have to keep tuning back and forth to The Score. Either way though no more Mike North, good riddance.



I can't stand partisan political talk radio. The programming on both the conservatives and progressive stations suck ass, all they seem to do is enrich themselves by regurtitating the dislike people have for opposing viewpoints into an even worse form. Rush is the poster child, he's like an enormous bloated leech feeding off of his listener's hate and shitting it back out for them to feast on his offal.

 

[supraman]

Yeah I listen to NPR in the car to and from work and on my lunch break.

 

[jakobeast]

I love Milt. I don't always listen to him, but when I do I enjoy it. Mostly for the doddering old man sound. He is on the right of issues, and doesn't hide it, and it makes me laugh.

 

[Tater]

This is part of my home theater system.

 

[TSD]

If I take lunch, I'll usually listen to talk radio in the car while I eat. Most of the time I listen to Dennis Miller. yeah hes a conservative talk show host but hes pretty damn fair, and not all of his show is about politics, If I leave it on the douchebags that come after him on AM 560 are intolerable, so its back to my mp3 player.

 

[ytsejam]

Ah, 560.

Enough said.

I was rolling the radio dial around a few weeks back and found a RW nut station out of Bloomington I think.

Their line-up was a 3 hour local morning show, then 21 hours of syndicated RW.

They have a gun nut show on Sunday nights.

I listened for a bit one night and the host was outraged that he couldn't take his gun to some steakhouse or the other in TN.

Really?

Is your dick so tiny that you can't go get something to eat without packing?

 

[MassHavoc]

Don't forget, that some people like their meat extra rare and still mooing. Should they stampede you could end up defenseless against that steak.

 

[TSD]

Ah, 560.

Enough said.

I was rolling the radio dial around a few weeks back and found a RW nut station out of Bloomington I think.

Their line-up was a 3 hour local morning show, then 21 hours of syndicated RW.

They have a gun nut show on Sunday nights.

I listened for a bit one night and the host was outraged that he couldn't take his gun to some steakhouse or the other in TN.

Really?

Is your dick so tiny that you can't go get something to eat without packing?

Like I said, if you've never listened to him, Dennis Miller isn't bad at all.

 

[MassHavoc]

I didn't even know Miller had a radio show, let alone on 560 as I don't really listen to those stations. I only really to 670, 720, 1000, and 780 if the bears or someone is on.



I was always a big fan of Miller, maybe not so much all of his hardline views but he was always very funny with his topical humor of hating most people in general.

 

[TSD]

I didn't even know Miller had a radio show, let alone on 560 as I don't really listen to those stations. I only really to 670, 720, 1000, and 780 if the bears or someone is on.



I was always a big fan of Miller, maybe not so much all of his hardline views but he was always very funny with his topical humor of hating most people in general.

Yeah he has a conservative talk show on AM 560 (his shows been around for years). What suprises me is that the hardline conservatives listen to him, because he is not one of these fire and brimstone people spewing vitrol left and right like radio hosts you would find from either side of the aisle. Hes really laid back and alot of his show isnt even about politics, and 80% of the time admits he is really not informed enough to have an opinion on most things. I dont at all agree with everything he does, as I have alot of liberal views, but I like listening to him because hes not a total my way or you're the devil incarnate douchebag, like everyone else on that station.

 

[jaxhawksfan]

As I kid I can remember calling The Loop over and over and over requesting "Carry On My Wayward Son." The DJ's back then on WLUP and WLS seemed larger than life and I wanted to do what they did someday. Fast forward 25 years and I finally started working in radio. Long gone were the days where DJ's had their own personality and did what they wanted, played what they wanted. Yep, I don't know when it started, but mainstream radio just plan sucks. Forcing shitty music down our throats time after time, telling us what we should like, and making superstars out of douchebags like Justin Bieber all makes for shitty radio. I was promotions manager for 4 radio stations including the Jaguar Radio Network and can honestly say that most radio formats/stations suck. Music is shit outside from the few "local" shows that play what they want for a few hours per week. Sports talk is a joke because it is just a bunch of people talking about what will happen, what is happening, and finally what happened and why. In other words, all speculation from a bunch of witless listeners and some hosts who think they know best. That brings us to talk radio. Mostly the same as sports radio. Bunch of speculation by self-professed "experts" until something happens, and then they either say "I told you so" or they scramble to find excuses for why they were wrong. NPR has a bias, just like all other talk formats. It simply HAS to, because they speakers are humans with thoughts and beliefs, not robots. I listen to talk radio most of the time, and lean to the conservative side of things but I can't stand listening to Rush or Hannity. I enjoy Neal Boortz most of the time, and like to listen to Michael Savage when I can find him. Clark Howard has a good show about consumer advocacy.



While traveling outside of your local area it is nice to have XM/Sirius just because you don't have to worry about losing signal, but make no mistake, they have song rotation just like the local stations (even though there is a larger selection of stations). When you find the 5 or 6 stations that you enjoy, you will hear the same songs over and over again just like local radio.



So yeah, radio is shit IMO. I'll take my CD's/mp3 player for music and tune into XM for some stuff I don't own from time to time.

 

[JOVE23]

Ah, 560.

Enough said.

I was rolling the radio dial around a few weeks back and found a RW nut station out of Bloomington I think.

Their line-up was a 3 hour local morning show, then 21 hours of syndicated RW.

They have a gun nut show on Sunday nights.

I listened for a bit one night and the host was outraged that he couldn't take his gun to some steakhouse or the other in TN.

Really?

Is your dick so tiny that you can't go get something to eat without packing?

You never know when a dangerous minority might appear and threaten your family so you kill them and get a chubby over it.

 

[ytsejam]

Jax,



The telecommunications act of 1996 paved the way for the Clear Channel beast to devour OUR public airwaves with their cookie cutter, homogenized bullshit.



That is part of it at least.

 

[jaxhawksfan]

I agree.

 

[Shantz My Pants]

Johnny B. is back on the air, so on my morning commute I've been listening to him. Was a huge fan of Sherman and Tingle on Q101 mornings, but since they got bought out, I had just been listening to whatever crap my Ipod played.

 

[Ymono37]

While traveling outside of your local area it is nice to have XM/Sirius just because you don't have to worry about losing signal, but make no mistake, they have song rotation just like the local stations (even though there is a larger selection of stations). When you find the 5 or 6 stations that you enjoy, you will hear the same songs over and over again just like local radio.



So yeah, radio is shit IMO. I'll take my CD's/mp3 player for music and tune into XM for some stuff I don't own from time to time.

I've had XM/Sirius for probably almost 7 or 8 years... I hardly ever listen to terrestrial radio anymore.



When I do, it's usually XRT (but even they're starting to lose me more and more), COD radio (because I like real jazz) and 89.1 (which I think is another college station).



I totally agree that satellite can have it's playlists, too - but has actually exposed me to a few bands I would have never heard on regular radio Uncensored radio is still very refreshing to me and on some stations, you feel like they don't have to tow any corporate bullshit.. The variety is pretty good and I don't really listen to one station that has commercials (save for the comedy station). It's definitely a creature comfort I take for granted too often.