Music

I totally agree.
I always said if I ever won the lottery (if I ever start playing the lottery) I would buy a radio station and give true music lovers what they want to hear.
I only wish my stereo could pick up KLBJ (93.7) in Austin. Sure they may play mainstream artist, but the songs are "b-sides" or rarities. How often do you hear "Fools" by Van Halen (that's off Van Halen's 1980 release "Women and Children First" for all of you who are looking on the back of your "1984" album)?
But, I have discovered somewhat of a savior here locally. 105.3 KTWL - in The Woodlands. KBOB has they are calling it.
It's more of the variety they are offering.
Yesterday it went from "Devil Went Down to Georgia" (Charlie Daniels Band), "Pretty Woman" (Van Halen), "Steal my Sunshine" (Len), "Runnin Down a Dream" (Tom Petty).

Hopefully this is the start of something good in radio, because this town needs it bad.

Comment by Jay — May 10, 2007 @ 06:33AM

Ya know, I gotta call bullshit on Mr. Sadof's KTRU bashing. It's a college radio station, dude. During the day it is staffed by college students. They are not professional djs. They don't mumble to be cool; it's just that it can be kind of intimidating to be on the air. They're kids...cut 'em some slack.

The specialty shows that KTRU airs during the evenings are hosted by volunteer members of the community. Shows like Genetic Memory (experimental music), The Mutant Hardcore Flower Hour (punk in all it's flavors), From The Depths (death & black metal), The Blues Show and The Sixties Show have been on the air for decades. If you want your radio shows to be informative, check these out.

Hey, nothing wrong with The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Jam, The Ramones, et.al. I like 'em and, apparently, so does Madison Avenue. I hear their music all the time on television commercials. KTRU's mission statement is to play music that is not offered through more commercial channels. They succeed admirably and Houston is very fortunate to have them.

And John, you don't need to convince us that commercial radio sucks. We know that. It's why we don't listen to it. It's Clear Channel you need to convince! Let's organize a protest outside of Clear Channel HQ!!

Comment by kurt brennan — May 10, 2007 @ 02:17PM

Hmm. Houston commerical radio sucks, old guys complaing about community volunteer radio not sounding like commercial announcers, yadda yadda gets how many paragraphs while Etta's not having Sunday Night music gets a mere mention. John, guess which one I wanted to hear more about. Ugh, yr killing me!!!!!

Comment by Ramon "Lp4" Medina — May 10, 2007 @ 02:57PM

I respect Kurt Brennan's comments and would like to elaborate a little. John and I talked for about an hour and a half for what would become this column and unfortunately, not everything I said ended up in his article.

I started out in college radio myself and I agree with Kurt Brennan that there are some wonderful specialty shows on KTRU. I also recognize the mission statement of the station as Kurt mentions in his comment. The point I was making when I spoke with John was that there is a vast amount of great music that isn't being heard on radio whether it's commercial or non-commercial. Commercial radio is so far off in one direction and KTRU so much further in the opposite direction that the space between is massive. While I would NOT want to see the specialty shows in the evening go away, I see this as a huge opportunity for KTRU to reach a wider audience during the daytime while remaining true to their mission statement and maintaining their specialty shows at night. Artists that include The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Iggy Pop, The Replacements, The Flaming Lips, The Velvet Underground, The Clash and others could make up the core of the station while they continue to expose newer and lesser known artists. The familiarity of the core artists surrounding music by Arcade Fire, Bonnie Prince Billy, Ted Leo and Black Math Experiment would not only serve the existing audience, but would also broaden the stations appeal without playing any songs that are readily heard elsewhere. I just think it would be great for a college station to show the commercial stations how it should be done. While it may seem like I'm bashing KTRU, I actually would like to help them become better at what they already do.

And I will cut the kids some slack. It's not that I expect them to sound like professional dj's, but it would be nice if they could write down what they're playing so they don't forget 30 minutes later when they're back-selling it.

Comment by David Sadof — May 19, 2007 @ 12:47AM

I am a DJ at both KTRU and KPFT, and listen to both stations quite a bit. I have very, very rarely heard a set at KTRU where the DJ does not announce all the songs s/he played (except when Robo KTRU is on, which has already been explained. Robo is on a lot more often right now, because not many students are at the school). All the bands Sadof mentioned are actually played quite a bit at KTRU (I played the Clash last week, and I heard them played twice more that same day; the new Modest Mouse is actually on the playlist right now), although not near as much as more obscure artists and bands.
Furthermore, Houston has some of the best radio shows of any city I've been to. Of course the mainstream stations suck- that pretty much goes without saying; but if you dig a little, you can find gold (and I'm not talking about Country Gold). I started a community at myspace awhile back called Houston Radio That Doesn't Suck (http://groups.myspace.com/houstonradiothatdoesntsuck), which is aimed at more extreme music (punk, industrial, experimental, goth, metal, electronic, post punk, etc.- the kind of stuff I generally do on my shows), but if you look you can find a show that plays just about any kind of music you can name.
Go to www.kpft.org and www.ktru.org and look at their schedules and playlists- they aren't the only stations playing good music, but they're probably the most diverse. And no commercials on either. Unless you start a station yourself and program it yourself, you probably aren't going to find one taylor- made to your tastes, but that's actually a good thing. It helps you experiment and learn. -JasonB/ deadthyem radio show...

Comment by Jason Beck — May 27, 2007 @ 01:27AM