Boston Globe Trashes Local Radio

[DToTheJ]

In an interview with Peter Wolf of J. Geils Band, who is performing at a local theater tonight, the Boston Globe poses a question at him asking about why his new material is not heard on the radio, phrased in the form of this question:

Q. Radio is such a wasteland these days, it must be hard to get your CD heard.

Wolf responds:

I grew up under the influence of really great radio... but radio isn’t what it was. It’s corporate now, the opposite of what it started out as.

Full story:
http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2010/05/25/flying_solo_wolf_takes_a_look_back/

 

[EnterCommunicator]

What does that have to do with the Globe? It's Wolf's statement not theirs...and Peter happened to be Howie Carr's show yesterday.

 

[DToTheJ]

It's the way that one of the Globe interviewers posed the question to Wolf - "Radio is such a wasteland these days..." - that I find interesting. A "softball" question, perhaps?

 

[Deleted User]

wasteland is certainly a nice way of putting it.

Very few people under the age of 40 have any idea of how good local radio used to be before the first consolidation regulations were passed.

 

[raccoonradio]

Somewhere I have a tape of WBCN's "Back to the Future", a show where they played old live in studio or live-remote broadcasts, and Canned Heat was there along with members of the J.Geils
Band. Either the Bear or Blind Owl kept referring to "Mr Giles"...at the end of the show, the CH leader said "we'll be back another time if the good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise"--an old Hank Williams saying, I believe. Charles Laquidara would later throw this into his daily goodbye on
The Big Mattress.

 

[EnterCommunicator]

It's the way that one of the Globe interviewers posed the question to Wolf - "Radio is such a wasteland these days..." - that I find interesting. A "softball" question, perhaps?

I see your point.
Though I think it was more a commentary of how bland radio is now.

 

[Deleted User]

Moderators I am claiming fair use for the purpose of discussion
From todays 5/25/10 Boston Globe

""Q. Radio is such a wasteland these days, it must be hard to get your CD heard.

A. I grew up under the influence of really great radio, and I like to think I may have had a hand in bringing some interesting radio to Boston. There are a few stations — WERS and WATD [95.9 FM in Marshfield] are a couple — but radio isn’t what it was. It’s corporate now, the opposite of what it started out as"

Now most of you know I am a huge fan of WATD, the little station that refuses to sell out.

I called Liz Raven today, and she mentioned that this is not the first time Peter has given thumbs up to 95.9 in an interview.

Not that WERS is any slouch either, they also deserve a thumbs up

 

[pqgeorge]

Moderators I am claiming fair use for the purpose of discussion
From todays 5/25/10 Boston Globe

""Q. Radio is such a wasteland these days, it must be hard to get your CD heard.

A. I grew up under the influence of really great radio, and I like to think I may have had a hand in bringing some interesting radio to Boston. There are a few stations — WERS and WATD [95.9 FM in Marshfield] are a couple — but radio isn’t what it was. It’s corporate now, the opposite of what it started out as"

Now most of you know I am a huge fan of WATD, the little station that refuses to sell out.

I called Liz Raven today, and she mentioned that this is not the first time Peter has given thumbs up to 95.9 in an interview.

Not that WERS is any slouch either, they also deserve a thumbs up

Both WERS and WATD are great stations with a lot of respect given to them, and rightly so. I've been a listener to WERS since the 60's and always admired that Emerson station. I've had the chance to witness the evolution of that station (as a listener) from an 18,000 watt mono signal that barely got out of the city limits, to the 5000 watt Stereo/HD blowtorch that covers the market (and then some). And of course, Ed Perry's WATD..... a great, well done local servant to the South Shore. I had the extreme pleasure of working with Ed many times over the years. Everytime, it was an enjoyable experience. If you have the time, you should visit the station and marvel with the many public service plaques the station has earned over its' 33 years of existence. Good local radio can be successful, as well as fun to do as well. Just ask Ed Perry!

 

[rapking]

BIG COMPANIES RUIN THE RADIO !!!! PIRATE RADIO RULES !!!

 

[KarsonWithaK]

In an interview with Peter Wolf of J. Geils Band, who is performing at a local theater tonight, the Boston Globe poses a question at him asking about why his new material is not heard on the radio, phrased in the form of this question:

Q. Radio is such a wasteland these days, it must be hard to get your CD heard.

Wolf responds:

I grew up under the influence of really great radio... but radio isn’t what it was. It’s corporate now, the opposite of what it started out as.

Full story:
http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2010/05/25/flying_solo_wolf_takes_a_look_back/

To me, this is just another example of a reporter using an out dated definition of radio. "Radio" is no longer confined to a few on the AM/FM band and there are TENS OF THOUSANDS of stations that are breaking music and void of corporate limitations. IMHO, it's like saying that news is a wasteland because you can now find it in other places besides a daily paper.

 

[carmen]

WERS's cookie-cutter 'fisher price clearchannel' is an insult to the airwaves. i can see the utility of it from a training standpoint but citing it as an example of sometihng good? wowb

 

[ChrisNH]

I would think that someone who works for a languishing newspaper in the languishing newspaper industry would couch the question a little differently. The Boston Globe for years has been 'thinking about' going to the much-talked-about 'paid-for' model. The reason this supposedly good idea hasn't gone anywhere is because they know they'd instantly lose the few remaining on-line readers they now have.

 

[Don Juan]

...going to the much-talked-about 'paid-for' model. The reason this supposedly good idea hasn't gone anywhere is because they know they'd instantly lose the few remaining on-line readers they now have.

Do you have any idea how many readers they now have online?

(Or are you making an assumption with no facts to back you up?)

 

[DToTheJ]

Newsday (New York) now has a "paywall" for the online version of their newspaper; you now need to be either a subscriber to the newspaper version of Newsday or a Cablevision/Optimum subscriber (Cablevision owns Newsday) to view its content. I saw a story that their online viewership has dipped ever since the "paywall" was, well, erected... Google "Newsday" and "paywall" and you should be able to find the article.

 

[Oxford_Street_Shuffle]

The last person who should be making a negative comment about radio is someone who works for a newspaper. The Globe's readership has decreased 5% a year since the early 2000s. It's pretty simple, people don't read the newspaper anymore.

I'll be the first to admit, Boston radio isn't tremendous these days... but it's not a "wasteland".

 

[kenglish]

Buy a DVD of "Pirate Radio" and show it to your kids....
or, your station manager. ;D

 

[carmen]

The last person who should be making a negative comment about radio is someone who works for a newspaper. The Globe's readership has decreased 5% a year since the early 2000s.

Big Picture is pretty good. what would a radio version of bigpicture look like?

 

[raccoonradio]

Pirate radio (movie) was diff from the pirates we have here. In the UK at that time rock/pop music
was confined to a few hours a week, if at all, so the pirates started their operation and soon
the government was making every effort to stop them--since they were in competition with government
run radio. It's not like the US has a government run network like the BBC, with a stranglehold on
free speech/free enterprise (at least like what you had back then). I still am opposed to the concept
of unlic. radio, at least when it interferes with legit stations, but had a little sympathy for those on
"the boat that rocked' (ORIG TITLE)

 

[FPB]

The last person who should be making a negative comment about radio is someone who works for a newspaper. The Globe's readership has decreased 5% a year since the early 2000s. It's pretty simple, people don't read the newspaper anymore.

I'll be the first to admit, Boston radio isn't tremendous these days... but it's not a "wasteland".

Ya, it is. It's a complete and total wasteland. But then again, so is the newspaper industry. Of course, they should be in the same trouble because they both suffer from the same problem, namely, as already mentioned, corporate control.

 

[Signpost]

the indie coffee shop i go to always plays the coolest new music. Today i talked to them about radio. The only radio they know about is WFNX, which the owner listens to in the car. They were COMPLETELY UNAWARE of the plethora of excellent college and independent stations that populate the lower end of the dial, many with programming that dovetail perfectly with the shop owner's tastes.

This to me is indicative of a problem with the population at large who readily dismiss or trash radio in general.

It would be like saying "Newspapers suck" - using the Globe as a stellar example - without considering the many fine smaller publications both online and in print that harbor superlative journalism.