2011 PREDICTIONS

[K6JHU]

"KPFK goes broke and sells it's beautiful, crystal clear 110K watt frequency, 90.7
KPCC goes ahead and buys it and moves to 90.7, and start a full-time AAA/Modern Rock station"

Nope. KPCC would move it's talk lineup to that frequency in the very, very, unlikely event that were to happen.

But I will venture that KPFK may not be on 90.7 too much longer. KWAV anybody? K-Love?

 

[chime]

Well, some other items to consider about KPFK. In January they will
begin airing some newscasts from Al Jazeera
English. Considering ALJ wants listeners in the USA,
what would stop them from buying equipment-and-running
their news format on KPFK's HD2?
Considering ALJ is in Qatar, they could probably
not buy 90.7
And yes, I would enjoy seeing KPCC move to 89.9 with a better signal.
Seems our College band has more smaller stations than
NYC did while I lived in Jersey

 

[emailfailed]

Though KPFK may brag about their 110,000 watt signal I must ask, why does it come in so static-ly in many parts of Southern California?

Maybe in 2011 their glorious leader can actually fix their signal.

It is ashamed KPFK did away with many of their music programs in the late 90s and early part of this decade. I remember listening to the hosts, who would surface on KXLU or KCRW, explaining their show was being canceled for the most ridiculous of reasons. Though the reduction of music shows is symptomatic of the many problems with Pacifica.

 

[radiojomo]

"KPFK goes broke and sells it's beautiful, crystal clear 110K watt frequency, 90.7
KPCC goes ahead and buys it and moves to 90.7, and start a full-time AAA/Modern Rock station"

If you re-read what I had stated closely, you'll see that I said they start the music station on 89.3

 

[Uncle Rob]

Since I zing Ladd somewhat regularly in this space I will actually take the other side for a moment. He may have an unshakable addiction to the Doors and a few others, but unfortunately its not like there are a lot great rock bands out there these days to hitch a wagon to. I'm struggling to name one. This is why rock radio died a long time ago.The nineties were a complete downer with all of the grunge bands feeling sorry for themselves and the last 10 years have featured bands that have better tattoos than music. Where is the next Zeppelin, or even Van Halen? I'd rather play my old Van Halen I or Diver Down CDs than anything on rock radio today, be it modern, alt, or classic.

These type of quotes from "older" rock fans frustrate me. Here is a a short list of terrific current rock oriented bands in no particular order:
Coldplay
The Killers
Kaiser Chiefs
Arcade Fire
U2
Decemberists
Kings of Leon
Ween
Green Day
Black Keys

On the softer side of Rock, I would list:
Train
Keane
Vampire Weekend
Cake
Guster

You can disagree individually with any of these, or the placement of a particular band in either the harder or softer side of rock, but on average, there is a wonderful collection of current rock bands that certainly warrant attention and listening. Even if you have a deep rooted passion for The Doors and Van Halen (I don't), that should not cause you to write off the entire crop of current rock artists simply because their birth certificates list dates that are a couple decades or more past yours.

Back in the '80's when I was in radio I could take the albums that were delivered that day into the production room and listen to about 5 or 10 seconds of every song on the album. You could tell the hits from the filler and who had a hit album and who would be in the discount racks in 6 months. It isn't brain surgery. I remember Metallica's first album, and telling everyone I could find that within 5 years they'd be the biggest band in music. EVERYBODY told me their music "... wasn't accessible enough ..." Sure enough, 5 years later ........ So, now that I don't have a production room I went to Youtube and listened to about 10 seconds of the 4 or 5 "most viewed" songs that most of these bands have and here is my take on them.

Coldplay- All thier songs sound the same. (And yes, I know they are huge. And I know i'm not the only one complaining that all their stuff sounds the same.)
The Killers - Found nothing that stood out.
Arcade Fire - Boring! (And according to the younguns they are the hot stuff right now)
Decemberists - We both go down together is an ELO remake, other than that I can't remember anything else by them.
Ween - These are songs that would get airplay on Dr. Demento and being that he retired they are SOL.
Black Keys - Most of their songs sound like Smashmouth's "All Star". Their is only so many times you can re-do a song and more than once is to many.

Their was maybe one or two songs that I thought worthy of airplay but with most of these bands i'm wondering how on earth they ever got recording contracts let alone airplay. There was nothing that made me want to hear more. Nothing that had me wanting to ask my niece or her friends about a particular band. Nothing catchy that's stuck in my mind. It reminds me when I used to listen to Loveline when Adam Carolla co-hosted. They'd have a bunch of bands that you never heard of before, and after that night in the studio, you'd never hear of again.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Since I zing Ladd somewhat regularly in this space I will actually take the other side for a moment. He may have an unshakable addiction to the Doors and a few others, but unfortunately its not like there are a lot great rock bands out there these days to hitch a wagon to. I'm struggling to name one. This is why rock radio died a long time ago.The nineties were a complete downer with all of the grunge bands feeling sorry for themselves and the last 10 years have featured bands that have better tattoos than music. Where is the next Zeppelin, or even Van Halen? I'd rather play my old Van Halen I or Diver Down CDs than anything on rock radio today, be it modern, alt, or classic.

These type of quotes from "older" rock fans frustrate me. Here is a a short list of terrific current rock oriented bands in no particular order:
Coldplay
The Killers
Kaiser Chiefs
Arcade Fire
U2
Decemberists
Kings of Leon
Ween
Green Day
Black Keys

On the softer side of Rock, I would list:
Train
Keane
Vampire Weekend
Cake
Guster

You can disagree individually with any of these, or the placement of a particular band in either the harder or softer side of rock, but on average, there is a wonderful collection of current rock bands that certainly warrant attention and listening. Even if you have a deep rooted passion for The Doors and Van Halen (I don't), that should not cause you to write off the entire crop of current rock artists simply because their birth certificates list dates that are a couple decades or more past yours.

Back in the '80's when I was in radio I could take the albums that were delivered that day into the production room and listen to about 5 or 10 seconds of every song on the album. You could tell the hits from the filler and who had a hit album and who would be in the discount racks in 6 months. It isn't brain surgery. I remember Metallica's first album, and telling everyone I could find that within 5 years they'd be the biggest band in music. EVERYBODY told me their music "... wasn't accessible enough ..." Sure enough, 5 years later ........ So, now that I don't have a production room I went to Youtube and listened to about 10 seconds of the 4 or 5 "most viewed" songs that most of these bands have and here is my take on them.

Coldplay- All thier songs sound the same. (And yes, I know they are huge. And I know i'm not the only one complaining that all their stuff sounds the same.)
The Killers - Found nothing that stood out.
Arcade Fire - Boring! (And according to the younguns they are the hot stuff right now)
Decemberists - We both go down together is an ELO remake, other than that I can't remember anything else by them.
Ween - These are songs that would get airplay on Dr. Demento and being that he retired they are SOL.
Black Keys - Most of their songs sound like Smashmouth's "All Star". Their is only so many times you can re-do a song and more than once is to many.

Their was maybe one or two songs that I thought worthy of airplay but with most of these bands i'm wondering how on earth they ever got recording contracts let alone airplay. There was nothing that made me want to hear more. Nothing that had me wanting to ask my niece or her friends about a particular band. Nothing catchy that's stuck in my mind. It reminds me when I used to listen to Loveline when Adam Carolla co-hosted. They'd have a bunch of bands that you never heard of before, and after that night in the studio, you'd never hear of again.

Without getting into the specifics of your individual band assessments, I agree with the overall point of your post. I picked Van Halen as an example in my post because at the time, (late 70's early 80's) they were a growing band who just kept pumping out the hard rock hits and adding to their resume, the high point probably coming at the 1983 Us Festival. But although with each succeeding hit the band was getting bigger and bigger, the main theme that I am referring to is that they were able to not only make hit records that were radio friendly, but they were able to still be a band that could take the standard 4 member rock band concept and add a lot to it. Roth's vocals and persona, Eddie's amazing guitar riffs, and the ability to rock hard core (for the time), and keep it edgy for quite a while meant that they were a band with real potential (that actually delivered) that was worth paying attention to. Radio was able to find them and help them along. Sure, now their act may seem to some to be somewhat quaint and trite (what isn't with 30 years passage of time?), but that's not how it was at the time.

Again, my overall point is that if there are good bands like this are out there, radio cannot (or will not) find them. It's bad for the music, it's bad for radio. I don't really know if they are out there or not because I don't have unlimited time to scour itunes (or whatever other site everyone is using these days) to see what the new bands are doing and choose from the bunch. I just know that for the most part, the bands/artists that I am hearing on rock radio, even on the AAA stations, are one-trick ponies at best. I appreciate and respect David at USC's input and I would hope there are plenty more where that came from. I want to be upbeat about the current music scene, it's just that what I hear makes it hard to be so.

 

[AM FM listener]

Here is my theory on yesterday's vs. today's rock stars. Today's artists can make more money from just a handful of albums, each spaced about 2 years apart. That's 5 albums in a 10-year span...a "legendary" career by today's standards. Back in the day, successful artists cranked out lots of albums all the time. Perhaps they had to in order to make enough money. Consequently, "legendary" artists back then seemed more legendary because they put out a lot more material.

 

[justpassingthough]

Here is my theory on yesterday's vs. today's rock stars. Today's artists can make more money from just a handful of albums, each spaced about 2 years apart. That's 5 albums in a 10-year span...a "legendary" career by today's standards. Back in the day, successful artists cranked out lots of albums all the time. Perhaps they had to in order to make enough money. Consequently, "legendary" artists back then seemed more legendary because they put out a lot more material.

More material doesn't always translate to better material, though. I think the economics of the music industry today dictate fewer albums, but hopefully better tracks and music. With singles ruling the roost, and album sales down tremendously, it almost forces popular musicians to make sure that every track on the CD is a stand out and has the potential to be commercially viable. Risk taking in music production seems to be a way of the past.

 

[BJordan]

KJLH finally flips to a true Urban Contemporary station playing strictly R&B/Hip Hop and dump the classic soul from the 1970's and playing more 90's and early 2000's.

 

[BJordan]

Power 106 shifts back to urban contemporary and play more Ol' Skool Hip Hop & R&B like it used instead of playing David Guetta and Lady Gaga 30 times a day.

 

[blackgold]

I hope that Clear Channel gets rid of all its L.A. radio stations and spins them off to local groups!

Virgin Radio will come to the USA(and its first station will be in L.A.).

Radio Taiwan International will take over KFWB on an LMA.

Expect CRI from Beijing to start airing on an HD3 or HD4 channel in Los Angeles(with local ads in Mandarin).

All AM HD signals will be closed down and HD4 and HD5 stations will be implemented on FM. (And extra streams will be found on the internet.)

Irish music will return to the L.A. airwaves.

KOST-FM will play Christmas music on the weekend of July 23rd. & 24th. They'll hold off on the Christmas music until Midnight November 24th. and play it until January 2nd., when they flip to a Spanish reggaeton format.

A Japanese pop format will debut on one of the HD radio feeds.


HEY! IT COULD HAPPEN! ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE!