Good Radio Gone Bad

While I’m on the topic of radio…

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a music fanatic. That’s probably putting things lightly. I have a bit of an obession trying to guess songs in the first couple of notes and then naming the artist and even the year, that’s especially the rule for oldies.

Majic 105.7 has gone from one of the nation’s best oldies stations to the 2008 version of WDOK 102.1.

Gone are the days when it actually sounded like an oldies station. I’m talking jock talk/song/jingle/song/jock talk and so on. The songs were fun, mostly upbeat and just made you feel good about yourself. Gone are Ravenna Miceli (who’s now doing traffic updates), Scott Howitt, the man who could even rhyme “orange”.

It’s become “blah” music. That seems to be the rule for radio stations around the country. The “mom and pop” ownership is gone only to be replaced by the corporate giants. The deejays who knew the music and loved it are gone. The jocks who remain don’t say much and don’t have much of a personality.

It’s sad. I always thought WMJI and WMMS were Cleveland. Just like WKDD was always Akron. You can’t say 96.5 WKDD anymore. It’s 98.1 or something like that, years after the switch I still can’t find it on the radio dial. I think growing up 98.1 was a religious station.

Corporate researchers can’t figure out why people are buying up Sirius and XM radios and turning off the commercial radio stations. I’ll muddle through the commercials (even one for Consolidated Resorts) if it’s worth me to wait for the personalities and the music they play.

Deejaying is an art and it’s been lost for the most part. No more cart machines. All of the jingles, music and commercials are now on a computer. Radio today just isn’t the radio I loved of yesterday.