January 21, 2012
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Where's my music?
I am noticing a disturbing trend.
Adult contemporary radio stations are being switched over to country music radio stations at an alarming rate.
Several years ago, I enjoyed a nice station with a nice mix of recent oldies (80s and up) and current contemporary adult music. The station was moved on the dial and it's format changed when it was discovered that a county served by this station was deficient in country music stations. So a change was enforced. A new station took over the slot and the power in order to provide country music to the masses in an urban area which, apparently, was under served by the strum and twang. The station lost 90% of its power and now is relegated to an amount which no longer covers my area. I found this distressing.
Now I am noticing that more and more of the contemporary stations with powerful wattage are being converted to country formats.
Ugh.
I live in a rural area, a really, really rural area. But I do not live the country music lifestyle. Beer is not a staple in my life, I don't live on a farm, I don't fight in bars, and I don't use the word "ain't". Daisy dukes are not my style of dress and I don't vote Republican. My life is not a series of dramatic events involving broken hearts and orange cars jumping over police cars. The swamp is not my hangout. My roads are paved and my library is full.
Some of us have ears which do not appreciate whiny voices, strum and twang and songs about beer. My theory is that a country song must have one of the following: beer, pickup trucks and somebody doing somebody wrong. A hit country song has all three.
Please.
Am I acting snobbish about my music? Probably to those who love country, I must seem that way. But honestly? Isn't there room on the dial for all types of music?
Now you may say that economics is driving this force. Really? On my dial, there are 15 country stations, 2 hard rock stations, 2 NPR stations, 4 talk radio, and 2, very small, sort of but not really, contemporary adult stations, which are often taken over by local events such as football games, basketball games, wrestling matches and the local NFL or NHL game.
I can't be the only one who despises this trend. Just because I live in a rural area should not mean that I am subjected to a limited arena of country music only.
Yes, on my satellite tv I can get a variety of radio stations and sirius radio does provide for a change as well.
But if we only have country music to listen to, we run the risk of developing that red state mentality which is afraid of anyone or anything that is different from redneck viewpoints.
Comments (3)
What I've noticed here is that country music has started becoming more mainstream and that it's often played on our pop & contemparary stations while our pure country stations are the ones that have decreased in number.
I don't listen to the radio often and tend to listen to pandora since I can choose the style of music I want at any given time and gives me a greater exposure to music within that genre that I wouldn't come across on my own.
@autmnmoon - sadly, Pandora isn't available in my ancient vehicle. :>)
Yee Haw
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