MR

Okay, so this post is pretty much going to be little more than me ranting about how disappointing and pathetic the rock stations are here in Phoenix.
Phoenix (et al) is the 5th largest metropolitan area in the US so you'd think there'd be a diverse and plentiful selection of rock-oriented stations. Nope... there are 3. One is the mainstream rock station - which, in reality, means they play the "Top 40" rock bands on a loop. Then there's the obligatory Classic Rock station which (and I swear I'm not making this up...) at any given time of the given day or night you can tune in and expect to hear Don't Fear the Reaper, Knights in White satin or some Led Zep song. The third is a super edgy, death metal/goring station. That's it!
That being the case, I RARELY listen to music on the radio. If I've got it on, I'm usually listening to 24/7 Comedy. On the way home today, I'm channel surfing and stop on the mainstream station and catch the last couple of minutes of Carry on Wayward Son. Awesome! Rarely hear it on the radio anymore and it just happens to be my favorite rock song of all time. Don't judge...
Anyway, the song finishes and the DJ comes on and says something to the effect of, "Stick around 'cause coming up I've got that brand new tune from RUSH called The Anarchist." Seriously...? SERIOUSLY??! Brand New...??!!
And THAT my friends speaks volumes about the status of rock radio in Phoenix, AZ. Pathetic!!

OK, I am in Phoenix myself also, so I am compelled to comment. I am assuming the station you're mentioning is KDKB. I agree with you on the overall status of the local radio stations, but in 2013, if KDKB is going three tracks deep into Rush's latest release, that should be APPLAUDED! They gave both "The Wreckers" and "Headlong Flight" a lot of spins. Calling "The Anarchist" a "new track" more than likely means it's the latest single from Clockwork Angels, and to the poor, uninformed souls out there who haven't bought it yet, it IS a new song. I'm for giving KDKB some credit rather than criticism in this case - it's probably been 20 - 25 years since Rush had three singles from the same album getting airplay.

livin2do wrote:OK, I am in Phoenix myself also, so I am compelled to comment. I am assuming the station you're mentioning is KDKB. I agree with you on the overall status of the local radio stations, but in 2013, if KDKB is going three tracks deep into Rush's latest release, that should be APPLAUDED! They gave both "The Wreckers" and "Headlong Flight" a lot of spins. Calling "The Anarchist" a "new track" more than likely means it's the latest single from Clockwork Angels, and to the poor, uninformed souls out there who haven't bought it yet, it IS a new song. I'm for giving KDKB some credit rather than criticism in this case - it's probably been 20 - 25 years since Rush had three singles from the same album getting airplay.

Yup, KDKB. I think you're missing the point of my post. It's not so much the terrible job of the stations we do have. It's the fact that there are so few of them for such a large populous. NY, Chicago, LA, SF and PHX round out the 5 largest metro areas in the US. Go to any of thee other cities and the rock radio station presence is huge. And it's that fact that creates some of the great stations that exist in those markets. Competition begats quality. Yes, Clockwork Angels is a relatively new song when compared to say Spirit of Radio but it's not "Brand New" as the DJ stated. Because PHX isn't "cutting edge" and their playlist is dictated by the program manager and his discretion, we're pretty much at his mercy when it comes to what is played. This town could do a lot better is all I'm sayin'.

This sounds like a job for Phoenix Man.

JRNYMAN wrote:

livin2do wrote:OK, I am in Phoenix myself also, so I am compelled to comment. I am assuming the station you're mentioning is KDKB. I agree with you on the overall status of the local radio stations, but in 2013, if KDKB is going three tracks deep into Rush's latest release, that should be APPLAUDED! They gave both "The Wreckers" and "Headlong Flight" a lot of spins. Calling "The Anarchist" a "new track" more than likely means it's the latest single from Clockwork Angels, and to the poor, uninformed souls out there who haven't bought it yet, it IS a new song. I'm for giving KDKB some credit rather than criticism in this case - it's probably been 20 - 25 years since Rush had three singles from the same album getting airplay.

Yup, KDKB. I think you're missing the point of my post. It's not so much the terrible job of the stations we do have. It's the fact that there are so few of them for such a large populous. NY, Chicago, LA, SF and PHX round out the 5 largest metro areas in the US. Go to any of thee other cities and the rock radio station presence is huge. And it's that fact that creates some of the great stations that exist in those markets. Competition begats quality. Yes, Clockwork Angels is a relatively new song when compared to say Spirit of Radio but it's not "Brand New" as the DJ stated. Because PHX isn't "cutting edge" and their playlist is dictated by the program manager and his discretion, we're pretty much at his mercy when it comes to what is played. This town could do a lot better is all I'm sayin'.

I got so worked up I didn't even know what the Hell I was writing! What I MEANT to say was... Yes, The Anarchist is a .....
There. All better.

Now you just have to work on "populace/populous"!

verslibre wrote:Now you just have to work on "populace/populous"!

Damn!
And ya know, the thing is I've got this uber-spell checker plug-in that is usually soooooooo annoying due to its Gestalt-like strictness! How it missed that one.....
It's pretty much like any other spell checker in that it underlines a word it suspects to be spelled wrong but it detects wrongly capitalized-not capitalized words, incorrect contractions, punctuation, recommends better choices of synonyms, etc. You should see what the text looks like when I quote someone who's grammar/spelling abilities are less than decent....

I agree with you totally on the radio stations here. There should absolutely be options to hear things that are a little more specialized. But look at the valley in general. Everything is a cookie-cutter, shopping plaza mentality. You really have to work to find something special. And once you find that great restaurant or Mom and Pop shop, you better go there a lot - because if you don't, it probably won't be there the next time you want to. Then it's back to your local Applebees or Best Buy. I think the radio stations here just mirror that. Plus, with the advent of Pandora and other internet radio options, people are listening to whatever they want now - without commercial interruption. It's difficult to see the radio landscape ever getting any better here. A shame, really - because I love radio.

I heard The Anarchist on our classic rock station today.

Liam wrote:I heard The Anarchist on our classic rock station today.

Oh brother...
It's when you hear Journey or Styx or other bands from that genre on the Oldies station that really hits you in the chest!!

I was just happy that Clockwork Angels was getting airplay, and it wasn't Tom Sawyer, Spirit Of Radio, or Limelight, as usual.