Way back when, when FM radio was in it's infancy, the stations were much less about being commercial and much more about a sense of community, bringing people together through music. DJ's actually got to play music they wanted people to hear not just the calculated playlists of pop that dominate the Wasteland today. Well music is just too important to the general quality of life to be left up to the capitalist. I have found an alternative, WWW.KPIG.com. It's a little radio station out in California that you can get online. The station covers all different musical genre's: Blues, Alt Country, Classic Rock, Reggae, Zydeco etc. and they might play any type right up next to any other. Like: James McMurtry, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Cream, John Hiatt, Los Lonley Boys, Taj Mahal, Ray Wylie Hubbard,The Waybacks, Frank Zappa...just a lot of good music. The weather and traffic stuff is of course useless but fairly unobtrusive. The local ads for washers and dryers or used Microbusses are quaint (and sometimes hilarious). The station's webpage says they wanted to provide free web streaming but it got "****canned" by the RIAA. I get their signal free via my wife's account on AOL radio. They are also on RealOne Radio that costs $6 a month but they have a two week free trial. So if you spend time where you can listen to music on the computer. check these guys out. Radio like it was; like it should be!
Click on that link, then click on music, then click on "A list of the newest artists CDs and songs that you're hearing on 107.1 KGSR". For some reason, I can't find a direct link to that. I think you'd dig a lot of it. They play Dave, Counting Crows, Sting, etc., not to mention a lot of Texas artists, blues, alt-country, so on and so forth.
Hey I love KGSR when I'm in Austin, but they do run a fairly repetitive playlist and they have to run a lot of commercials. KPFT can be enjoyable when they play music which is increasingly rare. Anybody know if KPIG is available on satellite?
They post their playlist. Here the current one: 10:59 am - Paul Thorn - Rocks 10:55 am - Little Village - Don't Bug Me When I'm Working 10:51 am - Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns And Money 10:45 am - Resentments - Rich Mans War -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10:41 am - NET: Chris Isaak - Diddley Daddy 10:35 am - John Hiatt - The Rest of the Dream 10:32 am - Keb Mo - You Can Love Yourself 10:29 am - Joe Walsh - Fairbanks Alaska 10:23 am - Dead Reckoners - Workin' On It -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10:19 am - NET: b*stard Sons of Johnny Cash - Long Black Veil 10:13 am - Julie Miller - Strange Lover 10:09 am - Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Not Fire, Not Ice 10:05 am - Widespread Panic - Longer Look 10:02 am - Randy Newman - Naked Man 9:58 am - Todd Snider - Can't Complain 9:58 am - S&G Comedy - Monday SUCKS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9:53 am - NET: Donna The Buffalo - No Place Like The Right Time 9:50 am - Bob Marley - Three Little Birds 9:45 am - Amazing Rhythm Aces - Dancing The Night Away 9:42 am - Traffic - (Roamin Thru the Gloamin' with) 40,000 Headmen 9:39 am - Guy Clark - Water Under The Bridge -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9:36 am - NET: Beat Farmers - Baby's Liquor'd Up 9:30 am - Tim O'Brien Love On Hold 9:25 am - Eric Clapton Bad Love 9:25 am - Robert Earl Keen - Beats The Devil -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9:21 am - NET: Steve Earle - Tom Ames' Prayer 9:17 am - Bonnie Raitt - Slow Ride 9:12 am - Lucinda Williams - Righteously 9:07 am - Van Morrison - And It Stoned Me 8:58 am - Hoyt Axton Snowblind Friend 8:53 am - Johnny Cash Sunday Morning Coming down 8:52 am - Fred Eaglesmith - 105 8:47 am - Rolling Stones b**** 8:44 am - Los Lobos - Good Morning Aztlan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8:40 am - NET: Emmylou Harris Linda Ronstadt Dolly Parton - When We're Gone, Long ... 8:34 am - Slaid Cleaves - Broke Down 8:30 am - Tom Petty - Yer So Bad 8:26 am - James McMurtry - For All I Know -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8:22 am - NET: Van Morrison - When That Evening Sun Goes Down 8:16 am - Peter Wolf - Never Like This Before 8:12 am - Ry Cooder - Get Rhythm 8:06 am - Little Feat - Night On The Town 8:01 am - Souther Culture Chicken **** Farmer 8:01 am - OPhelia Swing Band Chicken Ain't Nothin -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:55 am - NET: Pat McLaughlin - Better You Get Ready 7:47 am - Grateful Dead - Truckin' 7:42 am - Stephen Bruton - Right On Time -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:39 am - NET: Cactus Brothers - Swimmin Hole 7:33 am - Talking Heads - The Lady Don't Mind 7:29 am - Los Lonely Boys - Senorita -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7:24 am - NET: K.D. Lang and the Reclines - Watch Your Step Polka 7:18 am - Mavericks - All That Heaven Will Allow 7:15 am - John Hiatt & The Goners - My Dog And Me 7:11 am - Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's All Right 7:08 am - Ryan Adams - My Winding Wheel 7:02 am - Billy Joe Shaver - Live Forever -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6:57 am - NET: Delbert McClinton - Solid Gold Plated Fool 6:46 am - Sheryl Crow - Redemption Day 6:45 am - Rodney Crowell Love Is All I Need -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6:43 am - NET: Jerry Jeff Walker - Navajo Rug 6:36 am - Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt - For a Dancer 6:31 am - Jesse Colin Young - Sugar Babe 6:27 am - Keb Mo - Let Your Light Shine -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6:24 am - NET: Mary McCaslin - Things We Said Today 6:18 am - Taj Mahal - Take A Giant Step 6:13 am - Shawn Colvin - Steady On 6:09 am - Elvis Costello - Brilliant Disguise 6:04 am - Bonnie Raitt - When the Spell Is Broken 6:01 am - Waifs - The Waitress 5:56 am - Laurence Juber - The Jig Is Up 5:49 am - Joni Mitchell - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter 5:45 am - James McMurtry - Valley Road -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5:41 am - NET: Beatles - Piggies -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5:33 am - Dire Straits - Industrial Disease
Jan. 30, 2004, 9:37AM Local talents sing deregulation blues Broadcast complaints aired at FCC hearing By JOHN W. GONZALEZ Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle San Antonio Bureau SAN ANTONIO -- From Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson to struggling Houston songwriter T.C. Smythe, Texas musicians are blaming federal deregulation of broadcast media for shoving local talent off the nation's airwaves. At a Federal Communications Commission hearing with scores of walk-up witnesses -- some bitter about p*rnography on network TV, others outraged by local radio news coverage -- citizens wagged their fingers and even crooned about the impact of media consolidation among TV, radio and newspaper outlets. The nearly six-hour venting session Wednesday night was the second of six being held around the nation to analyze the commission's controversial stance on media deregulation and the issue of broadcast localism. Proposed changes will be drafted later this year, FCC Chairman Michael Powell said. "We seek here to determine anew the level and character of local broadcast service being provided today, and to consider what behavioral rules and policies the commission might adopt -- or what legislative changes it might recommend -- to promote and improve the local service of broadcasters," Powell said. Last year's relaxation of cross-ownership rules was not assailed by everyone in the crowd of 500, but the vast majority of witnesses lamented the way deregulation has resulted in some media groups controlling several outlets in a single area -- often from afar and allegedly to the detriment of diversity in programming. "Just as strip malls with national brand-name retailers have homogenized the look and feel of large and small towns across America, so in certain instances has radio done much the same thing to music," said Benson, a 35-year industry veteran. "If you take 18 or 20 records and play them over and over again, people will learn to eat that kind of crap," he said. The same principle applies to news, Benson said, joining others who said distant ownership or management of media is ill-advised. Smythe said it's been nearly impossible to break into commercial radio station playlists. "I've learned that if I don't write a song that can make people want to drink beer or buy insurance, commercial radio won't play it," she said. She presented the five commissioners with a CD of Houston-based songwriters and musicians "who despite their efforts and outrageous talent are denied air time for one reason: Local broadcasters will not play independent music," she said. Many of the barbs were directed at San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications, which owns more than 1,200 radio stations around the United States, including six in San Antonio, eight in Houston and a total of 105 statewide. Defending Clear Channel's practices, its local manager had two words: scan button. "That one button has more power than most people know," said Tom Glade. "It makes absolutely certain that we meet the needs of our local listeners every day in every way or they will simply turn us off." Music playlists were a secondary issue to many, whose main irritation was news coverage. "In San Antonio we are subjected to aggressive controls of news reporting," said Graciela Sanchez, director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.
