I am not much of a radio listener (besides NPR), but somehow found myself listening to one of the local rock radio stations today and had a weird realization… they are still mostly playing the same songs that they played in the 90s!

I’ve known this, but it’s almost 2010 and they are still playing songs they played in ‘89 – ‘00, the major difference is that most of those songs were new at that time. Has there really been nothing worthwhile that has been released for the radio-alterna-rock demographic? Is the new music so bad that, beyond its pop shelf-life of a few months after a song is released, they only play old music? Wow… that’s a shame. I know that not everyone wants wimpy “indierock” on the radio, but there has to be something that’s geared more for that audience that doesn’t suck completely, hasn’t there?

Meanwhile, R&B radio has the opposite problem of playing the same 7 – 15 new songs over and over. I think it’s high time for some sort of compromise between these types of playlists. Then again, since most people have mp3 players, it may be that rock radio is targeting the older listeners who grew up with radio and aren’t so hip to the changes in technology. At the same time R & B radio targets the younger audience by playing the same new songs over and over. Nevermind… I just figured it out. Shrewd move conglomerate owned radio stations, well played.

-K.B.