Remembering Ol Blue Eyes (May 14, 2008)

What if Frank Sinatra swinged the hits from Duran Duran? What if Bing Crosby crooned Billy Idol?

I remember when music on the radio was once good compared to the garbage that passes for music on today's top 40 radio. Much better new music can be found on Soundclick, Myspace, and other websites, most of which go ignored by the bean counter suits at corporate radio headquarters.

I was listening to Channel 933 because some teens at work liked the station. It played a few sleepy adult contemporary songs, a bad hip hop song, a bad alternative rock song, a bad R&B crooning song, and other tons of garbage. The music is depressing, downbeat, boring, and otherwise a train wreck.

The suits at corporate radio just can't pick the songs. They always pick the worst kinds of songs to program, which is good for the talk radio and iPod businesses. I guess corporate radio wants to get rid of its listeners by its own design by hiring people who don't know how to look for new good music to program the music stations.

I tried Star 94.1. I love Jeff and Jer like they're brothers, but I'm not into talk in the mornings.

I can't stand Monique in the Morning. She thinks she's funny, but she's totally annoying.

Dave, Shelly, and Chainsaw? Obsolete.

Mikey? Boring.

AJ's Playhouse? Not funny.

Morning radio in San Diego is horrible. It's no wonder mp3 players are running while people commute to work. There's nothing in the morning like the I Still Get Demented Podcast Edition show where I host and play the truly funny stuff that radio completely ignores, and people can download my show on their iPods and share it with other people since the music is podsafe. My show is what morning radio should have been like, except that mine has no commercials.

Chris Cantore on x1fm.com is in fine form. He was talking about how boring morning radio has become, even on the station that used to employ him.

Channel 933 can't do the hits right, so I listen to the hits done right with ipartyradio.com. It's better than any of the local stations that supposedly plays pop music.

Dave Mason is doing a good job playing oldies. I heard a few oldies during Frank Anthony's shift that I have never heard in my entire life. Not even on the past stations that played the music of that era. Keep it up, Walrus.

Walrus and Jack are about the only stations I'm tuning in to until 91X and 94/9 get rid of the bad new songs that I can't stand listening to and get out of the grunge 90s era.

Wish KOGO would bring back the morning news block. Talk radio in the AM isn't what I need to get the news, so I go to the news websites to catch up on the morning news and get what I need before I get to work.

Sophie isn't playing most of the bad songs 91X and 94/9 is playing, well, they're playing mostly the boring songs instead.

KPRI needs a new format and fast. I heard something that sounds like Creed, but I can't get a grip on the melody and it doesn't hook me at all.

Still what's missing from the radio airwaves is a new music station that has heart and soul like those in the 70s and before. A station that employs people who understand and enjoy music isn't anywhere on the local radio dials anymore; they're just on the Internet. I like Mike Halloran the music director at FM 94/9, but there's just too much bad melody junk that makes me tune out.

What hasn't changed from last month is the fact that radio isn't doing anything to get prepared for the dawning of mass Wi-Max-enabled Internet car radios. All they're doing is trying to get people to buy HD radio, which offers only a few side channels that you can easily get, and the rest are so weak that you can't get even the main digital channel. Aside of terrain issues, the selection of HD2 and HD3 channels are unimaginative, which is also why HD radio sucks and people would rather have their iPods and Internet radio. Channel 933 in HD still sucks. A 1974 playlist for a mono KCBQ-AM sounded much better than a 2008 playlist for an HD stereo Channel 933 by a landslide.

You can go far further with a playlist that's put together by people who love music and know how to avoid playing songs that are full of minor chords or bad melodies. You can't go wrong by putting together a playlist with dance remixes of pop songs and upbeat modern rock songs on one station. When you have a playlist where every song has a degree of maturity that you can't see in a skate rat rock or hip hop song, then you have a station that appeals to all age groups. When you avoid playing songs that are full of sleepy melodies such as most anything on Channel 933, then you have a station that's a better mix of music like Q106 once had.

Thanks to Clear Channel, the top 40 hobby is fading away as people make their own top 40 hits on their own iPods and even live365 radio stations. Many people that I encounter outside of the teen demographics can't name a single hit on the Billbored Top 40 singles chart, or even the artists singing them. I know Mariah Carey is in there somewhere, but her latest songs are flat without a dance remix operation.