Slightly Less Gloomy

It appears KZOK finally repaired whatever was causing the horrid audio, now it’s just back to the normal clipped and overly compressed audio those of us who live in the Seattle market are used to.

I’ve never really understood what it is with this region of the country, the obsession with being “loud” is extreme.  I understand the need on AM where the signal to noise ratio is bad unless you live next to the antenna, but on FM it makes no sense.

One notable exception is KMCQ, 104.5, one of the few stations in the Seattle market that isn’t badly clipped.  It’s nice to hear percussion instruments actually sound like the instrument instead of gated white noise.  Kudos…  I’m not real fond of the format, not that I have anything against oldies, but I don’t really care for the sedate, and I don’t like automation and the total lack of audience interaction, that’s just me, but I do appreciate good clean audio.

Some day I have to string up a shortwave antenna and see if I can receive anything beside computer hash.  The built-in antenna on my little SW receiver is completely useless in this house.

Radio Blog Blues

I apologize for the lack of posts here recently but truth be told, the state of radio is so depressing that I’ve lacked motivation.

Commercial Broadcasting in the Seattle area has consolidated into a handful of mostly right-wing mega-corporations that play nothing but bland automated crap or spew right-wing propaganda all day long, with the exception of one station that spews pseudo left wing propaganda that is so blatantly bogus that it’s an embarrassment to listen to.

KNDD used to be my favorite radio station for modern music but anymore, during the hours of the day it’s not automated, anytime they get a radio personality that actually has one, they’re rapidly replaced.  It’s as if they’ve cloned pig-vomit and sent a clone to every station in the Seattle market.

I don’t want to bash Mike Kaplan anymore. I’m sure he is doing the best he can.  However, either his aesthetics and mine are 180 degrees out of phase, or the upper management have clamped down on the budget so much that things like the Beach House, live talented original creative and funny radio personalities, and good website design are just out of reach now, but whatever it is, I don’t like it.

I like radio that actually involves and interacts with the audience, and even with the expanded play list, I still here the same song 2-4 times if I listen a whole day.  And maybe it’s just me, I mean I know I’m ADD’ish, but I get bored hearing the same song again and again all day long.

Jack-FM doesn’t play the same song twice in a day, but they play what they want, not want I want, so I find myself turning jack off quickly.  The station is the antithesis of audience involvement, completely automated, and I hate everything it stands for.

I used to like KZOK for older rock, and often still I’ll tune in and hear a favorite old song, but the sound quality is so atrocious that I can not stand it for more than about 30 seconds.

And KISW, which has remained true to it’s format for more than 30 years, now censors Show Biz Kids like everyone else.  Guess they’ve been castrated too.

Local content is almost non-existent in the Seattle market.  Want to find out what’s going on locally?  Forget radio, pick up a copy of Seattle Weekly or something.

So much for AM/FM broadcast in the Seattle market…

I think the FCC should go back to the old rules where no entity could own more than three stations in a market, one AM, one FM, and one television.  I also think they should go back to the old rule where at least 12 hours of every day must be local content and get rid of the 24×7 network crap stations.

I used to enjoy shortwave, but now all I get is computer hash from 1.7Mhz all the way to 30Mhz.  Not surprising in my house, but now if I take a portable and walk the neighborhood, it’s the same everywhere.  The FCC is obviously not enforcing part 15 when it comes to incidental radiation and that’s not an accident, it’s a way of reducing the exposure of US citizens to some less brain-dead brain-washed ideas from around the world.

So in a nutshell, that’s why I haven’t been posting much, general disgust with the broadcast scene in the Seattle market.