Darwin Goes to the Movies
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Category Archives: arts and entertainment
Veterans Day
Radio Daze
Powerball presents further evidence that terrestrial radio is dying.
"Classic rock fans who tuned in WRRK-FM (96.9) [Tuesday] morning got a rude awakening when…the Steel City Media station, licensed to Braddock, flipped to ‘Bob FM‘…"
I really hope 96.9 follows Sacramento’s 92.1 and ditches Bob in favor of an all-80’s format.
Wicca Broadcasting
[I’m not sure I can agree with more than about a paragraph of this post, but it’s not offensive, so I’m honoring my promise of free speech to my guest posters. – Funky]
I just happened to flip past Smallville, another remake of the Superman story, on the WB the other night. Three witches were taking the powers of the boy wonder via some powerful spells. It seems to me that Warner Brothers studios is producing more stories and programs with wicca spirituality included. Charmed is on the WB. Harry Potter is on the wide screen. Buffy the Vampire Slayer [I love that show. – Funky] had a few characters who explored witchcraft. Even the movie The Secret Garden had wicca injected into the story.
Of course, the presentation of wicca through the boob tube and the big screen is not new, but it seems like it’s more accepted now. With Joan of Arcadia being replaced with Ghost Whisperer on CBS, my own loathing of the occult (including wicca, demons, and the devil) has become more acute.
What is there to hate? It can be summed up in one statement: "They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone." ( – CCC 2116
Radio is Dying
By now I'm sure most if not all of you know that Howard Stern is moving to Sirius satellite radio. Whoopee. I'm not a fan of Stern, so I won't miss him. However, that doesn't mean I don't care about what his departure is doing to radio. As a result of the ratings vacuum Stern's move to satellite is leaving, several stations are switching to all-talk formats.
WHAT?!?
Does FM radio need any more !@#$ talk?! Thanks to Stern's popularity, every rock station has its own cheap imitation of his show. It's a pain is the @$$ trying to find a station with both music I like and a minimum of talk in the morning. My butt is dragging when in the morning and the last thing I want is a bunch of nitwits making fart jokes. Give me good old-fashioned rock! I want to bob my head and tap my toes on the bus, not hear the latest celebrity gossip.
Stern imitators have ruined rock radio in the morning. Now, thanks to Stern's move, things are about to get a lot worse. Several Infinity Broadcasting stations, which currently carry Stern, are switching formats. Some are turning into Jack FM, which is basically a 24-hour broadcast of a college student's iPod Shuffle. Others, like WYSP in Philadelphia, are turning into Free FM, 24-hours of talk. Ugh. WYSP has been playing a mix of modern and classic rock for as long as I can remember. It was never as good as WMMR, but it wasn't crap, either. Now it is. I really hope WRKZ in Pittsburgh doesn't suffer the same fate. They play a decent mix of classic rock, early 90's grunge/alternative, and 80's hair bands. No other station in Da Burgh has a mix like that.
Radio is going down the toilet and Infinity is helping to flush. It's too bad internet stations can't easily broadcast on FM. If you want to hear good rock that's actually mixed and transitioned by talented DJs, I recommend Radio Paradise and Radio Free Colorado.