KCRW is going to present concerts in NYC. Apparently this is in response to online listening from The City Which Has No Decent Radio Stations. All I can say is thang god. No information yet about when these will be, and sadly, Clear Channel appears to be a co-promoter. And really, New York has plenty of good concerts; what it needs is good radio, so I’d rather they were opening up shop out here (which I imagine would be super-expensive). But regardless, this is good news.
P.S. — Did you know that KCRW is among the top 25 webcasters on the planet? Awesome! KCRW ascendant! Los Angeles uber alles!
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“The City Which Has No Decent Radio Stations”
WBAI!
99.5 FM. Sometimes decent, sometimes indecent, sometimes smart, sometimes completely insane, but rarely dull and almost unparallelled in the USA (Pacifica only exists here and in Austin, San Fran, and Washington DC). Maybe you’re looking for more music, but still…
Listen!
WBAI is a *soap opera*, not a radio station. I know the people involved. I’ve heard the music they play. They are *no substitute* for KCRW. Neither is WFMU, although it comes closer. And my criteria are mostly musical, not political.
And Los Angeles has Pacifica KPFK, yo, and I believe it’s Houston, not Austin, which has the other station. Get ya damn facts straight!
Although I have to give mad shout outz to my man E.G. at the http://www.2600.com. Peace outs to the 3L337Z!
http://www.pacifica.org/stations/
Okay, you got me there.
But I like the station. And I don’t think it’s as melodramatic now that the Pacifica coup d’etat has been sorted out.
I don’t really know what’s so great about KCRW, but the radio doesn’t exist *just* for music, as the right can amply testify.
Maybe I just think this ’cause I’ve never lived near a “real” radio station, though. You tell me.
I know that radio doesn’t just exist for music. The right knows that. They use it for viral marketing. Does the left? No, they use it to communicate to their friends, and don’t make a serious attempt to speak to anyone else. Same with TV. Same with Indymedia. (This is where Gus officially diverges from the party line about not manipulating people to spread information, and suggests viral leftist Sesame Street for adults.)
If I wanted talk radio or radio news, I would seek it out, and I do. Most of the day I want music, because I like music, and aside from (a non-malevolent) globalism I don’t much like having my music soused with politics. And New York has no decent music stations.
(I’m sort of overstating my case here.)
Although I’m slowly developing a critique of the music KCRW plays, too. and my own tastes.
First off, I have to say it: “EAST COAST REPRESENT!!! LA SUX!!@#!”
I don’t know about the way the “right” uses radio. Whenever I’ve heard a neocon on the radio blathering about their inane plans to maintain the status quo, it sure sounds like self-congratulatory wankery which doesn’t speak to anyone but their friends.
It’s just that the “right”‘s friends all think exactly the same way, so it’s possible to address a much larger segment of the population by invoking their socioeconomic fetishes than it is to mobilize the “left”.
Obviously, I don’t think these terms are really accurate to describe what’s going on in politics lately. I think that the distinction between political groups is more pronounced between people who are seriously trying to understand their world and improve it, and people who believe what’s broadcast on Fox News. For example, http://www.lewrockwell.com/ is “far right”, but it sounds more like Mother Jones to me than it does like anything that a republican would read on purpose.
While KCRW is the only radio station I listen to regularly in LA, I have to admit I’ve grown tired of the music because of its heavy emphasis on electronic backbeats with lots of downbeat, rock that doesn’t rock, or quirky, oddball stuff I wouldn’t be caught dead playing myself. If I had a choice between KCRW and KPFT in Houston, I’d pick KPFT any day of the week. Well, except for when Warren Olney’s on.
Though I’m not a big fan of commercial radio, my favorite stations for new music have been WOXY out of Dayton, OH and GRRL radio. Gotta love the Internet…
Oops … GRRL radio isn’t commercial…
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