Here's a little survey for those of you in the Portland area (and even beyond). To which radio stations do you listen most often? How often do you listen to the radio? If you could create your own station, what format would it take?
When I was younger, I listened to a lot of radio. The stations I liked then are now defunct, of course: 105.1 KSKD (an automated eclectic station out of Salem in the early eighties), 106.7 KMJK (a pop station out of Portland in the early-to-mid eighties), and 101.1 KRCK ("nobody rocks Porltand like KRCK" — hard rock and heavy metal until the station died in 1985).
I don't listen to the radio much anymore. I want a station that plays an eclectic mix of 80s music, classic jazz, interesting new non-pop stuff, a little country and folk, and you know — just good music. And not play the same damn songs over and over.
As it is, I listen to the following stations most often (listed from most-frequent to least-frequent):
- 970 KUPL: "KUPL AM 970 plays all your traditional country favorites from superstars like Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, Kenny Rogers and Merle Haggard. We're here for you playing the classic country you grew up with." The funny thing is, I'm not that big a fan of country music. But there's something just right about listening to classic country as I'm working on the house...
- 91.5 KOPB: Most everyone I know listens to NPR, if not all the time then a lot of the time. It's actually a bit eerie. "Did you hear This American Life last week?" somebody will ask, and much of the time everyone has. "Did you hear that All Things Considered segment on the horned toads endangered by the oilwell theme park in Texas?" Again, everyone has.
- 90.7 KBOO: Now, this is an eclectic station. KBOO is a community radio station, and its programming is defined by those who host its programs. Over the past few days I've listened to a call-in show about Portland schools, listened to music from South America, from India, from Africa, listened to Cajun music, listened to obscure 45s from the 1950s, and more! All on KBOO.
- 89.1 KMHD: The jazz and blues station out of Mt. Hood Community College. I'm not particularly fond of blues, but I like jazz, especially classic jazz. KMHD plays a good variety of stuff, including Big Band and standards. Best of all, it hardly ever plays smooth jazz (such as Kenny G), a loathsome subgenre.
- 107.5 KVMX: "The best mix of the 80s and more." I'd love to find an 80s station that actually plays lesser-known, more obscure 80s songs, both new wave/dance classics and mainstream pop stuff that never made it huge. Until such a beast comes along, "Mix 107-5" (lame name) will have to do when I need an 80s fix and am away from iTunes or my iPod.
And when the workshop radio is on, I'm listening to country music.
What about you?
(Bonus: A 1984 interview with Tony Carey, found while googling for KRCK. Of interest to maybe two of you.)
On this day at foldedspace.org
2005 — Summer's End Summers seem interminable to me. No surprise then that the cool, wet weather over the past two days has come as a welcome relief.
From the time I wake up until 10 am I listen to the Mark & Brian Morning Show. They are two guys in LA, and I think that their show can be heard in Portland. Then I turn the radio off of a couple of hours. In the afternoon, I listen to NPR. That is where I get most of my news. Rich jokes that most of my conversations start with “Today on NPR…” I cannot stand the voice that does the ‘Bookworm’ show on NPR.
In my area I have an 80s station, two classic rock stations and a new rock station that I listen to (in that order) when I am in the car running errands. I would guess that adds up to less then three hours per week. I used to listen much more when I had to commute to work.