Video Killed the Radio Star

I miss the radio.  Maybe that’s a sign I am old  But I do.  I really do.

Back when I was a kid, there were a few programs on that I’d listen to every week.   One of them was the Dr. Dimento show.  When I was about 11 or 12, I used stay up just long enough to start a tape recorder so that I could listen to it the next day.   This went on for years, until my musical tastes expanded and I started doing the same thing with shows on WXRT that also played the music I enjoyed (don’t ask me the names…I’ve long forgotten….yeah…about that getting old bit..).

Eventually, though, MTV had 120 minutes, and I stopped listening to the radio and instead started programming the VCR to record.   Then, eventually the internet came a long and you could just find what you wanted when you wanted it.  Then napster and streaming….

But in all of that something was lost.   There was a certain satisfaction in discovery that was taken away by having such a tailored an curated experience.   With streaming and targetted advertising came a very sort of siloed environment.  There was that moment when someone would play something totally unexpected that you hadn’t heard before and it would just open up your world to something new.   It was exciting.

Now, everything is so targetted that never seems to happen.  The entire basis of these services is to give you what you want to hear rather than perhaps playing something that you should hear.   I realize I sound like an old man shaking his fist at the clouds right now, but…fucking clouds!

But there is one way the internet has redeemed itself.   By giving me internet radio streams, I can still enjoy passive listening and discovery guided by persons who have listened to the music far longer than I knew it was around.

Right now, I have three radio shows I listen to.   Monday nights, I listen to ‘Into The Deep’ on WEVL out of memphis, the Galactic Travels on WDIY on Thursday nights.   These too are more electronicall focused, with WDIY being definitely the ‘weirder’ of the two.

The final program I listen to is on KCUR-FM and it’s called Night Tides.   This is a nice and gentle show, good for preping my nerves for the crazy work week I’m trying to forget is coming.

I also *try* to listen to ‘At Waters Edge’, which is a pure internet radio stream, but usually only catch up with it in podcast form since it’s at a time of day that’s generally busy for me.

There have to be more stations out there playing ambient, electronic and industrial music, though.   And I can’t be the only one listening.

What else is out there?

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