your own radio station?

[mixtape]

I was browsing the radio station the other day and found nothing good in New York City that I would even like to listen too. So I was wondering what kind of radio station would you guys make if you had a liscense to make one?

[K-Bee]

i would go for something very close to Solar Radio.
www.solarradio.com top quality programming in my book. :)

[tdaram]

hey K-Bee, this radio looks great. Where is it from? Could we listen to it by internet?

[K-Bee]

Yes, just click the "Listen Live" link in the top left corner on the main page.

[discorecordplayer]

thanks for the link. ill check it out

[RetroRuss]

I genuinely think we are spoiled for choice in the UK as far as radio stations are concerned, as 'Soul Music' of which Disco is part of, is still listened to with great gusto here. Having said that, one of the better stations is French,
http://divaradio.net/....I quite like Solar, I know a few of the DJs on the station and they're nice guys & play good music.

Other stations include - the one I play on www.jazzsyndicate.co.uk, for decent house music & some Disco/Soul at times listen to www.unknownfm.com, otherwise go to the Soul Music Radio Forum where DJ's from a variety of stations post their playlists and take your pick!

[QUINNY]

For good, solid club music as played in the UK clubs in the '70s and '80s, Les Adams is the man, on Solar radio, Saturday night.
Most of the rest of those guys posting on the Soul radio forum are impossibly (in so much as; how would you obtain 95% of the tracks they mention/would you want to?) eclectic, don't you think?

[RetroRuss]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

For good, solid club music as played in the UK clubs in the '70s and '80s, Les Adams is the man, on Solar radio, Saturday night.
Most of the rest of those guys posting on the Soul radio forum are impossibly (in so much as; how would you obtain 95% of the tracks they mention/would you want to?) eclectic, don't you think?

As you may have noticed my show goes out at exactly the same time as Les's & I agree he does play good music and is way, way more 'qualified' in terms of music production, has a huge profile and deserves enormous respect for his contribution to the cause in dance music. I don't think I compete but to maintain a point of difference I do stick to Disco/Dance music from the late 70's, whereas he will venture into the 80's on a regular basis. Being a London boy I try and recreate what was heard in and around the clubs in this city at that time - it wasn't just 'full on' Disco, but also included a mix of Funk, Soul, and Jazz Funk.

The SMR forum is used a by a variety of DJ's across a number of stations including Solar and it was set up by the owner of Jazzsyndicate so a few of the DJ's post their jazz playlists who I assume you think are eclectic. I have never thought my shows to be eclectic, but if you do Q I take that as a compliment! 8)

[QUINNY]

Russ: I wasn't pointing the finger at you, but most of the other guys who've published their playlists. They must get all of 2 people (not/ literally) listening into their shows who know 50% of what they're playing.

It does open up a good discussion on the merits, or otherwise, of radio nowadays. My own personal view is that generally radio has become too eclectic and therefore worthless to most people, mirroring what's happened to music also. It's a shame, a crying shame.

[RetroRuss]

Q - You're right, it does open up a great discussion about radio - I have been involved in numerous debates about radio on other forums and the fact that nowadays mainstream radio is very narrow-based, that serves the purposes of the advertisers, mainstream record companies, the station owners and lastly (and least importantly) the listener. Radio (here in the UK anyway) has become personality led, where people listen to the DJ rabbiting on about some banal subject rather than the music. Every 14 minutes or so is an advert and they play about 7 tunes in the hour (of 3 mins duration). Internet, and to a similar degree Pirate radio is so much more about the music & with the change in licencing laws preventing mainstream radio from broadcasting over the web (well not quite but it's just not cost effective for them to do it anymore!) I'm sure it's where people are going to turn! What's exciting about this is that in 5 years or so time FM radio will be dead or dying, as a result of the advent of mobile wireless broadband internet. That coupled with podcasting will consign FM radio to the 'betamax' bin! Just think, Retroruss (or Les Adams ) through the 'car radio' on a Saturday night while on your way to your gig in Spain!

Apologies to mixtape for hijacking this thread!!

[QUINNY]

Russ: I'm not so sure I'll like this brave new world that you envision.

Recently I've been exposed to the pleasures of satellite TV. Hundreds of channels, but quite frankly 98% of them are rubbish and 95% do nothing but repeats, which are then repeated every few days/weeks. Too much choice/no real choice syndrome. The same thing is happening to radio with soooo many stations trying to get their share. So many internet stations with easy access will mean an overall drop in the quality of broadcasting and speaking as a music fan of sorts, I don't necessarily think that more music is the answer. After a while, non-stop music becomes like wallpaper. It's there in the background. It's the 'banal' chat between records that actually makes radio work...if it's done well. As humans, we have a need to be entertained, informed and to talk or be talked to. If what you say is the future, it ain't good....not in my book.

[eddie]

Black radio in NY in the early 1990's is how it ought to be. They went about 5 cuts deep into the current albums they were playing. Instead of pandering to crossover, they played older cuts. They did have mixes and the Quiet Storm but the interaction was more geniuine and realistic. Today, Black radio has expanded the talk from the morning shows to the afternoons and has become victim to a "Dr. Phil syndrome".

[paul]

Well, I'm a big talk radio fan and Air America radio works well for me. Musically, of course it would be all disco baby :-D I would do it the way some stations did in the mid 70s to early 80s. That is play the other album cuts that do or might work in the clubs. My best example is "Tonight's The Night" from Kleeer. While "Keep Your Body Working" was hot in the clubs, I really got to hear and know TTN on one of the FM stations I can't remember. It was shortly after this I heard them playing it hard in the clubs. Ahh, what sweet memories of those days 8-)

[RetroRuss]

Originally Posted by QUINNY

Russ: I'm not so sure I'll like this brave new world that you envision.

I think we are already there - it's just the delivery of these 'choices' that will become more sophisticated

Originally Posted by QUINNY

It's the 'banal' chat between records that actually makes radio work...if it's done well. As humans, we have a need to be entertained, informed and to talk or be talked to. If what you say is the future, it ain't good....not in my book.

Your right, of course, but my point was that commercial stations follow too much of a format, i.e. at 12 minutes past the hour there is a commercial, at 16minutes past the hour a traffic report etc., etc., if you want that then fine but the format that the pirates, and other non-commercial stations follow is not restricted by the need to deliver shareholder value & profit and is mainly done by music fans for music fans.

[QUINNY]

Russ: Give me a professional over a well meaning amateur most days out of 10. Quite often amateurs will have a better playlist and have no fear, but if they lack even basic presenting skills (as many of them do) then that's a turn off too. Hell, I've been listening to small English speaking radio stations an awful lot lately (Spain..many unlicensed, every one very local) and quite frankly their output is in most cases diabolical. O.K. I agree not a perfect example due to their poor programming and the fact that anyone who speaks English tends to get the slots, but I believe it does go some way in making my point. For English speaking substitute specific genre music owning and then realise that a guy playing music that is sooo specific would more than likely be a turn off for maybe 99% of his potential listeners.

We haven't quite reached the free for all that you envisage. We still have mainstream broadcasting as the most listened to format. It's a generation thing I guess and it won't be too long before the computer generation have their way. Going by past records they have, to date, made everyone's lives worse, NOT the promised utopia that we should now be enjoying.

Did you see Top Gear the other week when Clarkson, Hammond & May hijacked a drive-time radio programme? They had more complaints than praise (albeit maybe from people who had become a tad instituionalised), mostly because they didn't do the (boring?) regular items at all well. Music (or in their case celebrities talking nonsense) alone just doesn't cut the mustard.