Why every radio station sounds the same

The same song, stomping on a human face. Patreon reaction here: / 84728359
More info and sources at bottom.
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Sources: Mainly read a bunch of papers for this. There are a bunch of Clear Channel books, but I thought their focus was kinda dated in 2023 (in the age of the internet). So I prefer the papers, which have a bit less of an axe to grind even though many had strong opinions.
Good 101, includes the station density charts:
The Institutional Context of Industry Consolidation: Radio Broadcasting in the United States, 1920-1934
www.jstor.org/...
Good overview of increased consolidation:
FCC Regulation and Increased Ownership Concentration in the Radio Industry
papers.ssrn.co...
A 1934 focused piece:
The Rationality of U.S. Regulation of the Broadcast Spectrum in the 1934 Communications Act
www.jstor.org/...
Cool MAP Via David Rumsey! www.davidrumse...
Spectrum auctions/non-auctions is a whole thing. This paper described the tensions in 1970, when auctions weren't a thing.
www.jstor.org/...
Paper specifically addressing programming diversity:
dx.doi.org/10.1...
Really liked this Todd Wirth paper, because he had these nice anecdotes to go with the hard data:
www.tandfonlin...
World Radio History! My primary source resource for documents, magazines, pamphlets, FCC stuff, etc. I love these people.
worldradiohist...
Left out this influential paper by Peter Steiner. Basically, a bunch of people thought monopolies would actually be good for programming diversity, and the logic sorta makes sense (except it doesn't apply in radio bizarro land, where you have oligopolies that still compete fiercely in narrowly regulated markets. It's all weird. But here's the paper.)
www.jstor.org/...

[@waupfm]

I operate a listener supported community low power FM in Waupaca WI (WAUP-LP). We also stream. Our playlist is very deep. We have been on the air for about 8 years now and for the most part, the local community loves our programming. We have received a lot of support from 3 different foundations that have allowed us to make the station better by the purchase of back up equipment and other needs. The format is quite eclectic and I have heard from people that we sound like the old AOR (Album Oriented Radio) stations from the 70's. And they don't want us to change a thing. I think the problem with Commercial Radio is that the listener has been lulled into a sense of complacency and radio's have become something akin to a toaster. They turn it on and know what to expect, which is basically noise at a low volume, much like Muzak. It's totally boring but the listener is used to it and doesn't really LISTEN to the music, because they do not know any better. They just need the noise on in the background. So they are really not listening at all. Sad.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

Check out WAUPFM today if you're feeling like tuning into a community radio station! www.waupfm.org/! Thanks for sharing.

Sadly not available in my country: Costa Rica

[@DanielBerzinskas]

69 watt ERP! NICE!

[@scunekt]

Wow, I wasn't expecting to see something so local to me (like, 30 minutes away) down here in the comments. I've got an old radio lying around here somewhere.. will definitely have to check your station out at some point!

[@Kleinage]

@this comment has been brought to you by NordVPN 😂

[@rhettj]

This is why we need to support public and college radio stations. They play unique and non-repetitive music, and have little to no commercials

[@lap456]

If have you METV FM where you live; as I do. That's an good option as will.

[@leandrrob]

this video is the most pathetic attempt at trying to deny payola i have ever seen, payola dictates 100% of what is played in radio stations THE THE WHOLE PLANET since the music industry was invented, in the late 50s in brazil radios were already 100% pay to play

[@cloudundergroundsk]

this is why having taste is important

[@RandomRetr0]

@@leandrrob in some parts of the world the station has to PAY to play the songs on their playlist. and it's not cheap.

[@mymomsbasement69]

Wait wait... don't tell me!

[@lilburro3]

There was a period in the mid 90's when suddenly there were nearly zero local stations, and every station went corporate playing the same top 10 in every city. I used to love driving across the country and tuning into some local station and hearing local artists. Give me the odd, strange, and unpredictable nature of local radio!

[@jhonwask]

I used to like driving across the country doing the same thing but now it's all the same no matter where you go, and the same 25 songs are always played. It's easy to get sick of that, especially since they play the same thing at work, only louder. ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

[@scott4825]

And then everything went dark. Not only did they go corporate....it was the same corporation playing the same feed.

[@DGTelevsionNetwork]

Thank you clear channel communication (iheartmedia)

[@LiterallyCensoredDaily]

You mean clearly shit and I hate media. LOL

[@lilburro3]

@@frankgrimes7388 yeah but that was when the large acquisitions occurred by Clear Channel and Turner and the like. It was extremely noticeable then because it forced closures of the smaller local stations. It's been happening for a long time my friend.

[@warandpoetry9542]

I remember one night a few years in England, I shuffled through five radio stations, both national and local, within ten seconds of each other, and each one was playing Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. I almost had a mental break.

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

That's why I prefer no radio (or call me a nerd if you want, but Classic FM). Also, how many stations do you have? It's always just Heart, BBC and "susy" or whatever for me.

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

Somehow the radio manages to play the same songs that I hate the moment I step in the car. Do they not play anything else, or is it only when I'm in the car?!

[@nwut]

@@cerebrummaximus3762 bro thinks he the main character

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

@@nwut It's more of a rant, but okay. If it makes you feel like the main character, I can delete my second comment to satisfy your complex, if you'd like?

[@TheKingOfBeans]

Liar. England only had 4 stations

[@MichaelTitera]

There was a time when you would get an entirely different listening experience when you traveled between different states. You would get the vibe of the local culture. Now, as you have pointed out, almost all radio stations in every state are almost exactly the same. The local culture over the airwaves is no more. It's very sad. It used to be really neat to tune into a station, in a state you had never been before, and hear the type of music and talk the locals liked to hear. Thanks for pointing out why this experience is gone, Phil. Great episode!

[@ThePumpin1]

Exactly. You would hear some of the same "national hits", but the difference was some "local "hits" were also in the playlist. For example, you could go to one city and a song was not rotated nearly as much as in another. Or you could hear more local genres of music (dance, hip-hop, R&B, etc.). When you were in that city, the radio station sounded local. Not just the DJ's, but the music as well. The telecommunications act of 1996 was the WORST thing to happen to commercial radio. Even SiriusXM which is supposed to be an alternative is getting somewhat as bad. The ONLY difference is that they offer more formats which a lot of commercial radio doesn't. On some of the channels, the DJs are talking WAY TOO MUCH. Hits 1 actually has a morning show which is similar to any show on regular radio. The "Rock the Bells" hip-hop channel has an afternoon show as well. But they talk too much on both. I am PAYING to hear music, not chatter. Isn't that what satellite radio was supposed to offer?

[@inter_1097]

I sill enjoy tuning in various stations from state to state but yes I do agree. You can find some hidden gems of radio stations on occasion though

[@smarmar400]

Man, I miss those days. 🥲You can say the same about almost every aspect of traveling from one city to another, anywhere in the US. They all have the same chain stores, restaurants, etc. Sure, you can find different local hole-in-the-wall places, but every city has them. The only difference is the landscape and climate. I remember taking family trips in the 1970s and '80s, and it was like actually traveling to another place.

[@pikachuchujelly7628]

Now, it's iHeartRadio everywhere!

[@ThePumpin1]

@@pikachuchujelly7628 iheart, audacy and radio one.

[@trafficcone5449]

I am so disconnected from modern music that I thought you made up the artist Charlie Puth and the Lightswitch song as just a silly sounding example.

[@fireaza]

Ditto! I mean "turn me on like a light switch?" The only way you could pick a more ham-fisted simile, would be if your hands really were made of cured pork products.

[@Syntax.error.]

This just means we are old my friend.

[@ryanortega1511]

He did that song with Wiz Khalifa.

[@ClementinesmWTF]

Charlie Puth began as a KZbinr musician like a decade ago and eventually made it big and was able to go off the platform. I guess that is really how modern musicians are made nowadays

[@CalebRuiz]

I didn’t realize it was a real song til I read this comment

[@jrm78]

One of the main things lost by the deregulation of the 1996 Telecom Act was the local flavor of individual music scenes. Things like Seattle Grunge, Nashville Country and Texas Country, East coast/West coast hip-hop all ended up getting smothered into a gray goo of singular music genres. Also there was the unleashing of pre-fab boy bands and pop princesses around that time as well - both of which had been around before in various forms, but really took off as playlists consolidated.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

that is a good point!!!

[@joeybaseball7352]

This was also during the time when cable TV was dominant. Especially cable channels for kids had an oligopoly. So Nickelodeon and Disney Channel got to completely determine what kids liked. And MTV had a complete monopoly on teens, and completely controlled what teens liked. In comes a man named Lou Pearlman who was inspired by the success of the New Kids, and used these platforms to market his groups The Backstreet Boys and Nsync. Which had been mainly made up of kids from the New Mickey Mouse Club. So right there they already the showbiz television connection, and the Disney connection. Lou also ended up stealing all their money, but that's another story.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

​@@AndrewAMartinRap and Alt. Rock being big in the early to mid 90's caused music videos to get worse ratings. Everybody (at least back in the 90's) talked trash about how shallow and cheesy 80's music was, but the 90's fashion for ugly and angsty music really was not good for business. The most popular rap and grunge groups sold well but the 2nd and 3rd tier groups barely sold anything.

[@marcoparada6652]

​@@ryanjacobson2508, there is more love and unity in the early 90's than Pop selections from the 80's. Go ahead, pull up an AT40 from 1988 vs 1994.

[@maailmanalku]

I grew up in Finnish countryside in the 90's and I used to set my small boombox on the most quiet setting to tune in every night to a local DJ who had the last slot. He had this calm, unique voice and he would play music that no-one played during the day. It was bliss and such a portal to a world of music I would have never heard.

[@SeSmokki]

My experience with radio today is that they're all full of ads and nothing else. Listen to Nova and an ad starts playing, so you switch to Iskelmä and there's an ad, switch to Suomi Pop and there's a goddamn ad. YLE stations seem to be the best stations these days

[@maailmanalku]

@@SeSmokki Yeah I don't live in Finland anymore but the Swedish stations are like that too. I wonder how they stay in business at all because connecting your phone to your car is so easy today.

[@s2000.]

I like Raadio 2 here in estonia for this reason. During the day it's just standard radio without ads, but at night and during weekends there are different programmes with so many unique songs it's amazing what new songs I hear and find.

[@dougtube9870]

I was born in the 70s. When traveling to other cities two of the things I enjoyed most was checking out new radio stations and going to stores that were different from what we had at home. The 90s was a rough time as everything became much more uniform and the early 2000s really killed it. Now too often when you go anywhere it looks just like where you came from.

[@ADMusic1999]

Not just that, the culture changed to be more plain and boring. For instance, when I think of the 70s, I think of specific types of music, clothing, hairstyles, cars, you name it. You can look at any artifact and accurately date it to that decade. Now, what's the cultural difference between the 2020s and 2010s or even much of the 2000s? Not much. New things come out but they all seem to be remakes of the old.

[@kalstonii]

Welcome to big box capitalism

[@Chris-vp1vs]

@@kalstonii great point spot on

[@michaelwills1926]

@@kalstoniiit’s not about that because anyone in Russia in the 80’s will tell you about the one station you had, it’s about consistent programming; meaning, programming you.

[@glennso47]

Wherever you go, there you are!

[@MrJayrock620]

You can always tell when there was a new hire at the station if you hear a song that hasn’t been played in over a decade

[@heyheybobbyj]

I worked at a public radio station for a bit and it was a great experience. The sense of community and trust in us to play and discover new music, local music, etc. was refreshing. Support public media!

[@YourLocalCatboy]

My period at a small independent station was similar. I had a late night slot for a couple of months, and I pretty much had the ability to play whatever I wanted as long as I stuck with the general theme. Phil's description of a 1960s station still applies for the small, stubborn stations. If we had been owned by iHeart, or anybody else, I certainly wouldn'tve been able to do the tour of '60s and '70s soul I did.

[@ryancraig2795]

I've got that exact same radio in my bedroom. Do wish it had a tone control. I still listen to radio, both FM and Sirius XM, quite a bit in the car, although now that I no longer have a long commute, that isn't as often.

[@SpencerLemay]

@@Robespierre-lI NPR != Your local public radio station. NPR and American Public Media are definitely not counter culture. They are big organizations driven by ideology and money funded in no small part by powerful corporations and political interests.

[@answerman9933]

@@SpencerLemay You appear to be an ideologue, who is not backed by major corporations. I say a pox upon both of your houses.

[@pahwraith]

@@YourLocalCatboyChicago still has a handful. One is vocalo owned by wbez and aimed at black/latino youth and all their DJS play what they want as well as public health and civics engagement shows. So basically you get working class kids bopping and you remind them that smoking cigarettes is bad. Best music in the city. At friday and Saturday night is the latest house music in the city.

[@rgs8970]

I love local radio so much. The telecommunications act of 1996 was devastating and its effect on locals radio was pretty much immediate. In the San Francisco Bay Area (where i lived), there had been niche stations with overlapping audiences that all sort of became a generic slush over a few short years as the stations got bought up by Clear Channel

[@voice.of.reason]

I should have known that it would have been a democrat government who killed USA radio

[@bigjared8946]

That act also wrecked local media the same way. The bi-partisan deregulationfest in the 90s doesn't get credited/blamed enough for why things are so jacked now.

[@fireballninja01]

as a minnesotan, i apologize for ClearChannel and it’s subsidiary IHeartRadio profusely

[@Sacto1654]

In fact, many say a *MAJOR* reason for the popularity of one Taylor Alison Swift is due to her close relationship with iHeartMedia (as Clear Channel is called nowadays). As such, her music is played on most iHeartRadio music stations, which have a national reach.

[@fungo6631]

Must be something uniquely Burgerstani. In Europe local stations are alive and well.

[@itsrichysmart]

This is why a lot of jocks, myself included, left radio. I always dreamed on bring in radio as a kid. You hit the mail on the head with the 96 Act. Such a tragedy to the different styles of radio personalities. The cookie cutter sound became apparent nationwide by the early 2000s. I left radio as an on-air jock in 2011. I only do contracted DJ mixes with syndications today. Similar to the guy you listened to in your story.

[@Mmmkaramel]

Do you mind telling me a little more about this job when you had it? I’m interested in going into broadcasting and it’s always cool to hear from someone who’s actually done it. What were the hours and conditions like? Are there any aspects to the job that many people wouldn’t expect to see? It’s totally fine if you don’t want to answer but it would be interesting to hear some insights.

[@itsrichysmart]

Hey @@Mmmkaramel I honestly enjoyed my time on the radio, because it was something I enjoyed. Having said that. By the time I entered, the inevitable change because of the Act of 96 were in full effect. I was used to hear distinct personalities and segments that captivated the audience. When I started, there were fewer personalities and everyone (depending on the market) sounded the same which became a cookie cutter sound. I was lucky enough to be apart of a station that was the last of that radio essence (107.9 Jamz) so I saw what it was like having personalities and personal touches to each jock. In today's time, market dependent, you have to do everything. Radio, podcast, socials, etc. Radio station (companies) are buying podcast shows, or companies to stay afloat in market share. I do little of anything on the radio side anymore because of these changes. I primarily provide mixes only and cross collab with the backend of networks. Let me know if you have any additional questions!

[@Podcastforthewin]

Same here man! I grew up loving radio and wanting to be a Fm/Am dj. But now 40, i cant stand the personalities. Even the local sports broadcasters here in Calgary, have all basically become the same personality as a super liberal pop station.

[@TXPreacher187]

I know that you randomly pulled a frequency out of thin air, but my dad was a dj and program manager at an 1130am station. It was nice hearing someone say those numbers that I grew up hearing everyday and haven't in a few years. This was your first video I've watched, and I became a fan immediately.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

1130 has a nice ring to it!

[@kellymountain]

@@PhilEdwardsInc swap 0 and 3 and it becomes a date (i think its my birthday idk all i can think of now is that light switch

[@glennso47]

In the early 2000s there was a severe storm in my city. The “local “ radio stations were all piped in from outside the area and they had no clue what was happening in my city except for one radio station that had live announcers

[@traewatkins931]

I worked in radio during this time and one of the bigger problems was how in debt the companies were after buying all the stations. A lot of stations were purchased for far more than they were worth. Because of this the companies started forcing the stations to add more ads which drove listeners away which in turn just made the situation worse. Jacor/ClearChannel was particularly bad about this. The also forced formats into markets where the format did not make sense for the market and the stations tanked.

[@KyleJWest-vn9kn]

Oh yeah! Radio stations that will play three songs followed by fifteen minutes of commercial blocks.

[@dwarftoad]

I wonder if this is how my favorite alternative rock station in Boston is now somehow... Country? In Boston?

[@planescaped]

@@dwarftoad I remember when I first heard Nick Cave's Tupelo on the alternative station as a teenager. Led me on a deep dive of listening to all his music at the time. I haven't heard Nick Cave on the Alternative station in a decade now, just Imagine Dragons, lol.

[@rsamp2124]

I live around Seattle, and we are really lucky to have an incredible non-commercial station, KEXP. It's so nice to have DJs that are genuinely passionate about the music they play.

[@ETJeanMachine]

KEXP's fantastic; originally from Seattle but I moved to the east coast, I'll still listen in to them occasionally. I'll pull out the phone to put on radio, not to ignore it.

[@travcollier]

KCRW is also quite good with that... it is a relatively big public radio station in LA. Funny how there's such a stark difference between commercial and non-commercial radio... I can't imagine why ;)

[@justinwatson1510]

It is almost like the profit motive makes things worse. That cannot be true, though, because rich people say capitalism is the best way to organize an economy.

[@percaelumvolo]

@@ETJeanMachine I really appreciate the KEXP Livestream no matter where I am! Shameless plug.

[@customjohnny]

This is true! We were visiting my uncle in Seattle for a week and listened to KEXP almost exclusively when we were in the car and even at home. We even visited their lobby shop and the vibes were chill

[@Zebedee777]

In the UK we have a rich history of pirate radio, especially in London. Some of these pirate radio stations have grown into music industry giants such as Rinse FM who regularly feature fantastic, fresh, exciting DJ sets and live performances. I think the democratisation of radio is the only way for it to both survive and thrive.

[@TakeMeOffYourMailingList]

The problem is that if we move to digital radio then piracy is effectively impossible -- you'd either need to host your own multiplex, an expensive endeavour that would require people to rescan their radios either way, or jam someone else's signal, requiring a LOT of power and also just... far more illegal than your bog standard piracy. Sound FM in liverpool was a sick pirate station when I lived around there a few years ago.

[@gunark]

UK is going the same way though, with the cut backs of local BBC services and the consolidation of what were local broadcasters being bought up by the likes of Global.

@@TakeMeOffYourMailingList Actually no. You can make small pirate radios that will broadcast to a small area just like before. The difference is that now you use a different device to tune in. My first university had a local online radio station maintained by students. The equipment for those short range stations is neither powerful or hard to get.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

I heart pirate radio!

[@IdiotRace]

Rinse's actual FM coverage is really spotty though even in London which was always annoying if I wanted to listen to it in the car. Not in London anymore but you've reminded me to choon into Uncle Dugs today

[@kkampy4052]

One of the great things back in the day was tuning around on the FM dial looking for a local station playing something different. I was driving through Penn late one night and found a college station playing something I really liked. The DJ said he was putting on an album side because his shift was over and the next guy wasn't there yet and he hoped he showed up before it was over. Unfortunately, I drove out of range before the side ended.

[@ElizabethQuinn888]

Hey Phil, thanks for all the deepdigging you did you find these ancient maps and photos. Your videos show a lot of both love and hard work an I appreciate that. Thank you.

[@labowskidude]

I was a graveyard shift DJ for a station in the summer of 2002 the computer had 20+ stations and a pile of paper next to it. I lined up the blocks of music or talk according the paper and made sure it kept running all night. I got to record my voice sometimes. It was ok I think I was replaced by a robot.

[@justinwatson1510]

I really appreciate capitalist innovation; it's fun watching rich people figure out how to steal as much as they can get away with while still keeping their heads.

[@Nitrxgen]

@@justinwatson1510 you and i have different definitions of fun

[@spacemanx9595]

​@@justinwatson1510just wait until the guillotine party. Real fun!

[@justinwatson1510]

@@Nitrxgen sorry you're not a psychopath, bro. Existing in modern society must suck for people who have a conscience, they cannot even enjoy the simple pleasure of watching poor people suffer and.blame themselves.

[@tibethatguy]

@@BlumChoi Someone who opposes capitalism partaking in it isn't the gotcha you think it is. In our current society, you need to participate in it to survive.

[@inglefinger]

I worked in an office where my coworker listened to an FM radio station & I swear they only had license to maybe 40 songs. Every day it was the exact same top 40s playlist from the 80s/90s. Maddening. I Actually looked forward to the holidays because some variety would be sprinkled in.

[@irishcufta8]

Same here. It is like an experiment. every day, same place, same songs...

[@graemeking7336]

Get a new coworker

[@terminallygray]

I had a similar experience. (I no longer work that job) I took much amusement in finding new ways to make it difficult for that co-worker to tune in & listen to his precious radio.

[@saddlepiggy]

Only having licenses for top40 would make a lot of sense economically. It sucks but it’s true.

[@MoosePockets]

That’s not how radio content licenses work. They pay for the entire catalog. Radio stations CAN play whatever they want. They just don’t.

[@KaijinD]

Two anecdotes I want to share. First, I used to wake up to my radio alarm but got frustrated because I woke up every day for two weeks to the exact. Same. Song. This was just before internet radio took off (or perhaps before I noticed it). Second, I have also noticed that second verses are disappearing. Actual second verses. You have a first verse, then the hook, then a two bar second verse, then the hook repeated twice or thrice. I assume this is to catch people on the radio changing the station. That one bothers me most because it has neutered songs as a storytelling medium told over several verses. I haven't seen any research or presentations on this phenomenon, however.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

i think during those two weeks you were stuck in a groundhog day situation

[@saddlepiggy]

I’ve noticed the verse thing too, but i think it’s mostly just big pop songs/artists (keyword mostly). I find lots of other stuff that’s good and may not even have a chorus, but pretty much only from friends and Spotify.

[@frisbeepilot]

For #2, the real reason is much more sinister. Since artists have basically given up on physical media or download sales, they've thrown their hopes in with streaming services like Spotify. However... They only get paid (that fraction of a cent, or whatever it is) if the listener listens to their song for 30 seconds or more. So, in order to keep that listener for that length of time, songwriters front-load their songs with extra hooks and choruses, to get you singing along in hopes that you won't just skip to the next song. Plus... Have you noticed there are a lot of really short pop songs lately? They used to be a full three or four minutes, but now quite a few of them clock-in well under three minutes. Again, in streaming, once you have those 30 seconds, it doesn't matter how long the song is, so why stretch things out if you already got paid? Pretty sad.

[@Dipsoid]

The verse thing has been going on for a long time now. Even in the late nineties I remember a lot of songs basically being one long chorus. The worst thing is when the song opens with a chorus then has a very short half-assed verse, then choruses for the rest of the song, with either a rap feature or lame breakdown depending on whether it's pop or rock.

[@catfishcave379]

There is only one word that sums this up - BOOGER!

[@triciadukes9201]

Having interned at a radio station (in hopes of becoming a DJ one day) in 1992-1993, I didn’t realize I was part of the end of an era. You’re completely right, the relationship between artists and stations was real! I sometimes answered the phones, and Michael Stipe of REM called the station personally to see if they could get more air coverage! Nobody paid him, and how he found our little alternative radio station, the Zephyr, is still unfathomable to me. However I had always wondered why where the DJ’s went, and why there wasn’t the local music (New Orleans area-yes, home of Commander’s Palace and turtle soup!) wasn’t being featured anymore, thank you for finally answering my question! Thank you for bringing my attention to streamable local stations. Now off to find some New Orleans music…

[@michaelshiloh787]

I enjoyed this video, thanks! Much of the problem actually began with the computerization of what we in radio called "playlists," which began in the late '80s, with most stations using it (even small stations) by the '90s. Computer programs decided which songs were played at any time based on parameters input by "programmers" who were usually also DJs. But there were some very weak points in that system, including too much repetition of the "hot" songs and I must have gotten hundreds of phone calls from people saying they'd hear the same song every day at the same time. ("I'm almost at work and the same Garth Brooks thing comes on the car radio.")

[@sallyjune4109]

Yes! I remember this. Everyone complained about it, but the consumer was helpless.

[@IanZainea1990]

Radio is also still popular because it's like a drinking fountain. You turn it on and the tunes start flowing. Whereas your phone is like those futuristic soda machines where you have 8 million combination options. Sometimes, you just wanna have something on without having to make another decision

[@terminallygray]

That's OK.... There will be other decisions that they can/will make for you. So... don't bother with thinking and just follow orders.

[@IanZainea1990]

@@terminallygray uhhh that's quite the fucking leap there buddy. But you just add one more layer to your tinfoil hat. Hope you've never picked up a newspaper or a magazine or similar website because, they're just making all those choices for you and controlling you! (Because you're not picking every single article if that wasn't clear)

[@intensecutn]

I'm just not the kind of person that settles for literal shit flavoured soda. Some people can stomach it, I'd rather go without.

[@clintmatthews3500]

@@intensecutnThose freestyle machines really are terrible. And they use the rough equivalent of toner cartridges for the drink flavors. No wonder the taste is so funky.

[@IanZainea1990]

@@intensecutn then why are you bothering me? Go bitch in your corner and leave me out of it

[@iammrbeat]

Thank you so much for making a video about this. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 doesn't get enough attention for its destruction of creativity in the United States.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

hey mr beat!

[@picoliciousartistry]

My mom was a Dj /newscaster for a local AM station in Durango Colorado (1240KDGO) back in the 80's/ 90's, I distinctly remember the day they switched the boards to national syndication and fired all the Dj's. It was so cool beforehand listening to my mom on air at school, hanging out in the Dj booth after school, meeting all the celebrities that came through. It was truly a sad day in history to see. My mother received AP awards for her local reporting in Texas and Colorado, such a lost resource local reporting is 😢

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

oh geez that makes it more painful. i was filming a video and the guides wife had a similar story. oof!

[@gamagama69]

my grandpa was a dj/personality for like 40 years, and retired in 2011. he basically transitioned completely to talk radio cuz he had some popularity and was heavily involved with politics. not really a fan of what he did cuz he promoted scott walker who im def not a fan of but idk thats family i guess. i do also remember it being cool hearing my grandpa's voice coming out of the radio but idk he retired when i was pretty young, i think i was like 7 or 8.

[@scott4825]

Yep, we lost the free press in this as well.

[@picoliciousartistry]

@@scott4825 Yes we did😪

[@InflatablePlane]

I was in Farmington NM 1995/96. Wonder if I caught her on my radio before she got fired?

[@shrimpdance4761]

I'm so grateful for CBC Music here in Canada! They play so many different genres and music from artists from Canada and around the world. I've really broadened my musical horizons since I started listening to them. They regulary highlight Canadian artists, Indigenous and more recently, Black artists, too. Commercial stations play Canadian music, too, in part because they have to, but otherwise, it's the same big artists over and over again.

[@audreysavard3248]

I totally agree. It's one of the few station I listen because of his diversity. I still can have acces to some local channel in Québec (Joliette city one and Maurice one that are operate by volontaires) that broadcast more local and diversified groups.

[@paddydoublems]

Nightstream is awesome!

[@ZdrytchX]

I listen to a non-commercial radio, and one of their "selling points" is that they almost never replay songs, unless there's a special campaign for it (e.g. first nation recognition month or whatever it was called). You've got dubstep, electronic pop, jazz, ads from 1970s (I kid you not, they literally play old ads as part of the music playlist sometimes), foreign songs (indian bollywood pop?), whatever the heck as long as it doesn't sound too terrible.

[@janeferry286]

Who? Can I pick it up on internet?💖💖

[@WanJae42]

You really knew it was getting bad when a station played their ID/jingle and they pronounced the name of your town wrong. Well, maybe not always entirely wrong, but it was clear they'd never heard of the place until 5 mins before they went to record ...

[@junkboxxxxxx]

Nobody says Monn-treal. It’s Muntreal in English and Mo-real in French.

[@SianaGearz]

Was it the blind surfer's voice?

[@u686st7]

I hear it all the time in my area. Ellicott City, which is always mispronounced "elley-cott", it's pronounced "ellicut" damn it!

[@Redarmy1917]

I really wish radio wasn't killed by consolidation. People would actually probably use it still if they could tune in to different stations, or different jockeys that actually play, different music. For the longest time, I thought modern music was shit. Nothing really good made after like, the grunge era of the 90s. After turning off the radio, and turning to online, I've discovered literally hundreds of artists I like that have released records in the past 20 years that I simply never knew existed.

[@jamipatton5673]

Could you share a few favorites? I'm looking for some new music :)

[@Redarmy1917]

​@@jamipatton5673 I've fallen pretty heavily into the Midwest Emo scene, which is essentially indie rock and emo fused together. Some pretty good artists in the genre would be Foxing, American Football, Sorority Noise, Modern Baseball, Mom Jeans.. A specific song to check from each one in order: The Medic, Never Meant, Mononokay, Your Graduation, Death Cup While the emo scene is really my favorite scene, I understand that doesn't speak to everyone so, some artists that fall into indie rock, or some form of rock would be: Flipturn, The Backseat Lovers, Glass Beach, The Happy Fits, I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME (They have like an 80s vibe), Tally Hall, Penelope Scott. Let me know if you like any of these artists and I could probably tell you a few more that are similar!

[@captainevenslower4400]

But we all know that in actuallity Video killed the Radio star.

[@NeonBeeCat]

I just plug in my phone to the aux and play Concord Dawn or Metallica. Pure bliss.

[@istankimjong-unbutcantstan3398]

That's the corporate side of our world. American and other first-world business people, and even their governments worships corporations! If I didn't know my eschatology any better, I would swear that the corporations were the beast that destroys the world.

[@chrisblake4198]

Two things- the rotoscoped animations for multi-era Phils looked really good! My radio station of choice is 98.9 WCLZ in Portland ME, and they do a fantastic job of not sounding like any other station. I was a professional delivery driver for years, so I was intimately familiar with the playlists repeated ad nauseam, so I came to rely on public radio and a couple good alternative format stations to keep me sane (and awake) on my overnight routes. I assume 'my station' isn't unique, just a less common format choice around the country, but I like it. For instance, I never even heard the Light Switch song and thought you had made it up at first. You can listen to them online then maybe find one like it in your market.

[@raunchyavocato]

that was ai art

[@nvrndingsmmr]

​@raunchyavocato Yeah we know.

[@ramonegues5689]

When I arrived to the US back in December 2016 I bought a beater car that had no AC or CD player, just the radio worked. I used to to deliveries with my dad back then and they used to play despacito every 45 minutes at the local Hispanic Radios. I got to the point where I lost my mind, back when I bought my first new car I got piece of mind.

[@LouisWritingSomethingCrazy]

You hit the nail on the head. And this is one of the ways the music industry is slowly destroying itself.

[@MrMatthias]

The irony of this story is iHeartRadio is making radio worse for this exact reason. My town's local community radio station has actual DJ's and some desperately needed variety. I've heard some amazing music from around the world because of it.

[@mckenney1964]

I work for iHeart and never listen to our stations. There is a reason we are being pushed to sell podcasts and digital audio.

[@Me97202]

Unfortunately, most of those college, independent and low power FMs are unlistenable to most people because they’re too self indulgent and lack programming strategy.

[@triciadukes9201]

And, they “kindly” allowed “local weather news” coverage of Cat. 4 hurricane Ida. However, as the eye was about to pass over, when all I had was a radio, the power already had gone out, and exactly at midnight, BAM! they switched back to music!! Now I had no way until ??? to know what was going on. So, I’m listening to the roaring wind, feeling the whole house shake, the pounding rain, not knowing anything. I will NEVER forget or forgive what I heart radio did, and from that night on, I refuse to listen to any radio station they own.

[@jackmortimer329]

@@triciadukes9201 You might find SDR radio helpful in these situations.

[@glennso47]

@@triciadukes9201I had the same thing happen in the early 2000s when a severe thunderstorm hit Rockford Illinois. The “local “ radio stations were all just piped in from outside the area and the announcers had no clue what was going on in my area except one little AM station that had live announcers that were doing their best to keep the city informed.

[@tookitogo]

I remember back in 1993-94 when “Runaway Train” was in the charts. One day, it came on the radio and I was already quite sick of hearing it, so I changed station, and it was playing on that station, too! So I tuned to a third station and _it too was playing the same song!_ But that really was just freak coincidence, not any kind of conspiracy.

[@withak30]

Same but for Lightning Crashes by Live.

[@DavidLLambertmobile]

Mariah Carey made a few great points in a interview 🎤 late 2010s about the modern recording, music business. She was 💯 right. Artists in 2020s are NOWHERE near the way it worked 1980s 1990s early 2000s. $$$, ticket 🎟 sales, PR, A&R, contracts.

[@leonroskoni8917]

I remember, when I first visited the US, we did a road tip on the east coast and every other song on any station was "Call me Maybe". We would get annoyed and switch stations every time the song came up then 4 minutes later would have to switch again because the next station was also playing Call me Maybe… 😂

[@malcorub]

shouldve changed it to country station or mexican music.

[@harveytheattorney]

I live in a larger metro area and My favorite time of the week is on Sunday mornings when my local alternative station has a block of music dedicated to “historic” alternative, really it’s just a time where they let the dj play whatever, without program director imposed restrictions. I’ve discovered a lot of cool music through that show.

[@brucegammon5844]

I worked part time in radio in the 90's until 2002. I remember the 1996 Telecomm Act and saw everything unfold as you mentioned. While I was at one station we went through 3 ownership changes in about a year. I also witnessed the advent of Air Talent voice-tracking. By the time I left radio I was the only live weekend DJ at my station and most of the songs were on a hard drive. Heck, we even had Scott Studio running the board via hard drive for almost the entire time between stopsets. The one thing that I did benefit from was learning digital audio production which was instrumental for me to eventually get into voiceover work from my home studio.😎

[@dougtaylor7724]

Your story is just like two other radio guys I know.

[@gustavohernandeza.890]

Another excellent video, Phil! That FCC logo joke (CHEF'S KISS). When you were talking about the changes to radio in the 90s, this made remember that kind of changes were kinda of a sub-plot in the 1994 movie comedy Airheads, starring future Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, American icon Steve Buscemi and some guy you might've heard of named Adam Sandler.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

totally missed including this! i need to start doing movie checks during research!

[@jameslopez3852]

Phil is an icon for answering this question. Just yesterday I got back from a nearly 12-hour drive across the South, and I swear I heard SZA's Kill Bill like half a dozen times, once in Missouri, once in Mississippi, once in Alabama, etc. It was getting under my skin so much I resolved to find an answer. Lo and behold! Phil already had one waiting for me :)

[@mikedrop4421]

Love it when you upload. I always know I'm going to learn something

[@sdmackpictures]

Here's another observation. When my favorite station goes to commercials, all of my other favorite stations are usually on a commercial break at the same time. So, I end up switching and streaming music from my phone's playlist, when riding my motorcycle during the morning or evening commute.

[@azilbean]

Yes! Just like on TV! It's ridiculous!

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

It's not by accident. Why would you ever want to be the only station playing a stop set at any given time while your arch rival in town is playing music? Madness.

[@sdmackpictures]

@@azilbean These stations are owned by the same parent companies, iHeart. Q104.3 is right down the hall from Z100 for example.

[@FrankRimes]

Being forced to listen to FM radio at work and hearing the same 20 songs on repeat for months on end, I felt like the format was dead and buried to me. However on a recent vacation abroad I reluctantly turned on the radio, since I was doing a lot of driving and really had no other option except for silence. I can tell you, I ended up flabbergasted! And the reason for this was because I found an 80's channel. But not just the usual 80's channel playing all the same hit list songs we've all heard a million times before. This channel actually played tons of songs I'd never heard before, songs that never had any real airtime even back then. I didn't know this kind of thing could even exist in today's society. Granted this was digital radio, which provides a greater selection. But, I did learn that this very station had recently been nominated for a national radio award for its format. Meaning people are obviously liking it and bringing it commercial success. So perhaps, perhaps, there is still some form of hope out there.

[@MrWolfSnack]

It's only the USA radio network that is fucked up. Other countries are not like this. I listen to The Rock NZ repeatedly. They play songs that I've never heard, and I have over 4,000+ songs.

[@RabbitEarsCh]

This always fascinated me. I moved to the US in 2008 and the change was night and day - in my home country if I heard the same song twice, more than a year had likely passed, and I primarily listened to the most basic Hits stations there was (literally - Éxitos 99.9 FM is just Hits 99.9 FM). And Venezuela at least back then was also a highly consolidated market, with something like 80% all part of Unión Radio group...yet...all the individual stations operated independently and did their own thing, because there was no record company money feeding into them. Their business is in running interesting programs and cool music so people listen to the ads, and I think it's that very very crucial difference that drives the American disaster in radio - payola - over my home country. And those ads did sell like crazy; I recall finding out that a particular radio host (Pedro Penzini) had his ad slots booked out for TWO YEARS in advance from how much of a hot commodity he was. And boy do I miss it dearly. Commutes were always interesting, but the graveyard shifts coming back from the airport after a red-eye were transcendent. Maybe I should listen in on their streams to see how they're doing these days... At least there is one remaining bastion of weird radio throughout the country (outside of outliers like the lovely WFMU) - university radio. University of Miami has some wild stuff on constantly and I love them for it.

[@VAM_Physics_and_Engineering]

The 1900's radio guy graphic was cool. Audibly laughed at the hallucinogenic plants bit and i am going to explain this bill in detail bit. Honorable mention for you taking the time to change your shirt multiple times and record yourself driving.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

it was very stressful to be changing on the side of the road with a camera suction cupped to the window (i did pull over)

[@iainronald4217]

I remember going for a tour of our local crappy small-town radio station as a kid and they showed us the DJ booth where it was just a Mac running a prerecorded broadcast. I found out later that the DJs got paid $9.50 CAD/hr for 2 days (16 hours) of work a week, and then the rest was automated. I've always been interested, however, in short-wave radio which, to this day, is the wild west of radio. It's unregulated, takes a million years to get a working setup, and usually has some exciting finds. When I get out of university and get a good paying job, I'd love to get a good little short-wave radio set up going and see what I can discover.

[@kookamunga2458]

Shortwave radio usually only works well at night because of the electromagnetic interference from the sun . There is actually a Shortwave app for streaming Shortwave stations so you don't need an actual Shortwave radio .

[@markpusko2480]

The DX Partyline on HCJB out of Quito, Ecuador 👍

[@billybassman21]

@@kookamunga2458 High end of shortwave works better during the day and the lower at night.

[@significantjoe]

Alex, I'm so proud of you. I've followed you for years and so elated to see your skills develop and people discover you. Your performances bring so much joy.

[@odiecoyote106]

Internet radio is a great medium that has tons of options and usually has very little ads. It's done by a lot of hobbyists but a lot of people who do care about the music they play and the production behind it. Yes it means you have to get your phone out but many of them have apps and even compatibility with your car's infotainment center.

[@TheRaynmaka]

I was studying this topic for the longest and ended up writing a thesis paper that laid out all the Format Oligopoly data mixed in with the damages this type of business has done to the industry. This was a great video for discussing the ever-declining current radio business model

[@squado_6119]

Really cool and informative video. Especially, the "Phil going through the centuries/decades" - pictures were awesome and hilarious :D

[@static-san]

There is a theory I came across a few months ago that this huge ownership consolidation had severely munted the ability of not only a lot of up-and-coming artists and producers to get any sort of airplay, but also of quite a lot of existing producers to get traction with music that the networks didn't want to play. So an appreciable number of them looked outside Western music for jobs. This was cited as one reason (among a number) why South Korean pop music starting gaining worldwide traction: they had started attracting music writer and producers doing music that the US networks didn't want to play, but audiences still loved. Vast simplification, yes, but I wonder how much truth there is in that story.

[@3c3c3c]

Kpop is the worst commercialization of music possible, pretty scared if that is the future of music in the west

[@lisas8812]

@@3c3c3c kpop is no more commercial than western pop. They are just more transparent with how they do things as opposed to in the west where they know the public cares a lot about someone seeming "unique" or having a rags to riches story or being "anti-corporate". One look at how tiktok trends work, how US labels lock new artists into contracts with album deals and the mirage begins to fall away.

[@-Teague-]

​@@lisas8812 a lot of kpop artists are essentially owned by their labels from what I've heard which is ... Different

[@lisas8812]

@@-Teague- They aren't owned. They sign contracts. A lot of companies rope these young artists into abusive contracts. The same happens in the west all the time, even if methods differ slightly. Look at Megan Thee Stallion's case for a really good example of it.

[@SianaGearz]

Half the pop music in Korea has either Scandinavian or American co-writing credits. Sure the industry earns a lot of criticism but creatively there's a lot of good stuff happening as well... On the periphery of the industry there's a lot of room for thriving independent artists as well, taking these influences often in an interesting direction.

[@paddydoublems]

Good video. You pretty much hit the nail on the head of why radio is the way it is now. Years ago, when I was working a former job, we brought in radios and music after the company dropped the muzak from their stores. When I would listen to HD radio channels like Big Classic Hits, Real oldies, iHeart80s and UK channels like Heart80s and Gold, the music would always repeat itself. That is when I watched the documentary 'Corporate FM' how we came to stations playing the same songs over again. Thank you, Mr. President, indeed. One night, one of my former bosses left WRXV on her radio. That pretty much started my journey with independent radio. Now I listen to nothing but independent radio stations. My favorites are KEXP. WERS, WFUV, WMVY, The Current, ACL Radio, WXNP, WXPN, Indie 102.3 and WXRV. I won't listen to stations owned by iHeartMedia, Cumulus or Audacy. I love listening to radio stations where humans program the music and I hear stuff that is not played on corporate radio stations. Rhythms, not algorithms. Curated, not Encoded.

[@ed4409]

As somebody who is an hour-weekly radio DJ on an LP-FM station since 2006, I love your explanation and it was said more perfectly than I could ever explain it. I tend to play songs that I am just grooving to during the week as I am a huge melophile. Before this video, I would call what you explained "Cookie Cutter Radio" because EVERY station does the same exact thing. It just never worked for me personally. Thank you. I can now explain it better because of this video.

[@iamjupitermay]

Do you think new emerging artists should focus on radio at all? Because this video makes it seem like you focus on TikTok and streaming first and then radio HAS to catch on to still be with the times. Thanks!

[@ed4409]

@@iamjupitermay Before I get to your question, I just want to let you know that I have listened to Garden and your style of hip-hop mixing singing with rapping, as well as your voice as a whole, is absolutely beautiful. I am definitely gonna give you a follow. As far as your question goes, I absolutely think underground and emerging artists should focus on radio just as much as focusing on their social medias. It SHOULD be a 50/50 job in my honest opinion. My reason is because while artists DEFINITELY should talk to stations about playing their music, social media like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok helps just as much to get recognition as well as fans, or even stations, wanting to play the artist's music so other people can listen to on the radio. Not everybody listens to the radio and not everybody uses social media, so if anyone artist can perfectly do both, the chances of getting success while doing both at the same time, regardless which will blow up first, would be paradise. It's always been about getting a following by "word of mouth" or by radio and it still rings true today, especially with social media being the new "word of mouth". The amount of times I discovered AMAZING artists on my own as well as artists off social media is astronomical, like you for example. If you didn't reply to my comment, I would have not known you existed and, as stated before, I absolutely love your style and I am definitely going to listen to more of your stuff. I have also discovered artists at concerts that I wouldn't have ever known existed if they performed that day. Either way, I'm always open to talk more with you about both of our philosophies on Instagram if you're ever open to it. I'll be giving you a follow as soon as I post this reply anyways since I genuinely like your stuff.

[@iamjupitermay]

@@ed4409 Thank you so much for sharing all that! And thank you for checking me and my music out 😃 High praise coming from someone who has heard as much music as I’m sure you’ve listened to over the years including things that no one else does. Radio feels inaccessible because I don’t know who to reach out to. Whereas DistroKid puts your stuff up and then it’s all there for streaming. But it sounds like this is something I could do on my own. Thank you!! I’ll look into this because I’d love to talk to radio stations and see what happens.

[@radiopete]

Hey Phil! I've watched your videos for years so it was funny to see this pop up in my subscriptions! I'm Music Director for a Country station and much of our planning is around music research. We really are just playing what research finds people want to hear, but we'll take chances on many things too. We're an independent station, but we're commercial too; a rarity since 1996! There's so much that I could dive into behind playing the same song every 2 hours (those are called powers and there's only usually a handful of those on each station, and they change often), but long story short, traditionally "new music" stations that play a large variety of stuff fail against their competition. It's much trickier than it may seem! 😂

[@frisbeepilot]

I imagine it's quite a balancing act: how do you keep things interesting by adding variety, but not alienate the (presumably large) audience that just want to hear The Hits? I love listening to independent and public stations because I can't stand the repetition of commercial stations, plus the endless shouty ads drive me crazy.

[@jordansime6684]

I love these deep dives that go so far back. I know you sort of apologized for it, but I really enjoy it. Sometimes it's necessary to fully grasp the full context of something. It's amazing how so many little things go as far back as they do. Also, full video on the telecommunications act of 1996 when??

[@JaykPuten]

Another great video Phil! Another question I've always kinda wondered but never really actually thought about enough to answer, answered

[@lisas8812]

Great video. Small piece of this that I think was missing and also explains some aspects of playing the same few songs. Industry relationships. Payola is technically illegal but it still exists in its own form today with radio. Labels and artists come to agreements with, for instance, IHeart, to perform at their jingle ball concerts, or offer ticket giveaways for free to the station, or agree to interviews and in return, their airplay is increased. This has existed since before consolidation, but with consolidation it changes it from, you're gonna hear Taylor Swift every hour on this particular station to you're gonna hear her every hour on every IHeart station. Then there is the connection radio and Billboard have to each other. Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 both still hold a lot of meaning in the industry. Billboard has done quite a lot to prop up radio by weighing radio plays so they count for much more on the charts than for instance, streaming the song or even buying it. This is why if you look at the top 10 for Hot 100 over the last 2 years, it is so stagnate with the same tracks in the top 10 for months. Radio is very slow to change their lineup and this gets reflected in the charts, even when we have a populace right now who has an insanely short attention span. Industry relationships have such a huge impact on what we hear and what we consider popular.

[@cyrollan]

your channel is pure gold. the editing, the knowledge, it's all soooooooo good.

[@martinalooksatthings]

Similar happened in the UK too. Basically all 'local' commercial radio recently is networked by 2 large groups. Most have dropped local news and traffic reports, or half-ass it to meet a licensing requirement, with reports being unthinkingly read by someone in another region who gets the details wrong enough to make it useless. Musicwise they almost all either have a small playlist of current chart pop, or a small playlist of old chart pop, aimed at over 50s. It's a shame, I used to love radio but recently it seems hyper-focused on milking a perceived demographic who can't or won't switch to streaming services. Meanwhile the BBC stations, the ultimate behemoth network here, are more uninventive and patronising than ever.

[@voice.of.reason]

Yes it's bad but UK radio is more listenable than US radio, who have 20 mins of ads an hour

[@lewismcdermott3024]

I'd also say, as much as the BBC radio may be getting worse, it's /miles/ better than both the alternatives in the UK and abroad

[@joegrey9807]

BBC 6 Music is OK.

[@reseng123]

I wouldn't mind if the autotuned whiny vocal big bass beat garbage that infests the charts was confined to Radio 1 but now they play this stuff on Radio 2 where it doesn't belong IMHO. Its probably the reason Mayo, Wright and Bruce left to go to oldie stations like Greatest Hits.

[@cerebrummaximus3762]

Idk about you, but where I'm from in the UK, the major car station is Heart. And everytime I turn the radio on, it's the same pop songs over and over again. Why?! Recent memories are Puth's Lightswitch, that one song they sing "sentimental" and a few others I hate. Somehow everytime I get into the car, they play those.

[@discgolfwes]

I can't remember the last time I actually intentionally listened to the radio. I'd rather sit in silence if I can't pick my own music.

[@pritch3426]

That's wild. I'm the exact opposite. I never stream music when I drive. Having to constantly pick songs or let the algorithm pick songs is such a chore/bore. There's probably a weird community/local college radio station wherever people live, and I highly recommend giving it a shot. I love a constant stream of music I've never heard before, and I'd rather a station have some misses than plan the same 10 songs over and over.

[@NigelMelanisticSmith]

​@@pritch3426the biggest I've had with College Radio is not being able to find the music again. I've had plenty of times listening to College Radio where they don't announce the song, and by the time I think to use Shazam, it's gone forever. Streaming services make it easier to like or save songs, so that way if I want to go back to it later, it's in my history.

[@sunnohh]

Not since 2009, and even then I had been using an ipod in my car when I turned 16…so technically never

[@discgolfwes]

@@pritch3426 I'm just way too picky about what music I listen to

[@yoshilovesyoshi]

Dude, saaaaaame

[@xliquidflames]

Dude. Who did those amazing animations where they put you in different times? They are incredible. I stopped listening to the radio when I discovered podcasts and then I got an Audible account. It's probably been 10 years since I listened to an FM station. I just checked and my favorite station has changed formats from rock to country so I have even less of a reason now. Lol. What a great story, though. I always assumed it was just that one station that I liked that was playing the same thing over and over. I had no idea it was everywhere. It makes sense, though. Local TV news stations have gone through a similar thing. One or two companies own them all so they all look the same and run the same stories.

[@notyrpapa]

He did a video a while back where he showed how he used AI to create animated characters I think. So I presume he’s using the same workflow, plus an AI image generator to create the initial pic - you can feed in a pic to use as a prompt.

[@fireaza]

@@notyrpapa Somehow, I suspect he'll suddenly have a LOT less praise and admiration for those animations now that he knows they were A.I created.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

haha indeed.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yeah afraid i'm guilty of some ai- it's midjourney with an app called insight face swap, plugged into a site called d-i'd (and then animated in after effects)

[@Bustermachine]

@@fireaza To be honest I'm kinda on the fence when it comes to generative material. I think some degree of implementation is no different than any other tool. But I also think if done irresponsibly its benefits to actual humans are going to be a lot less than the harm it does to communication. Especially since the main purpose that a lot of people are drooling over is to simply generate more 'stuff' faster . . .

[@jeremythornton433]

Here in Toronto Ontario, the rock station Q107 hasn't changed it's basic playlist in decades it seems. I have to suffer with it everyday at work but in my car, I play CDs! No repetition, no boredom.

[@eighteenin78]

These format stations are not spending any money on new content. Classic Rock Stations of 60s-90s content, have about a 200 song playlist. That's it. You don't hear other tracks from even the top albums, let alone second-tier bands that had a huge but forgotten following in their day. And in Canada we still have CanCon laws which means 30% of the content is forced upon us whether it was any good or not.

[@MangoMotors]

As someone who has worked at a radio station between 2015-2019, it was really fun, but I can tell you it does get maddening

[@blakelowe9079]

I feel blessed to be in a market with so many alternative options - Atlanta has three college stations that all play interesting stuff. WCLK does a gospel program on Sunday mornings that got me into people like Kirk Franklin and the Winans. Georgia State's station WRAS had been broadcasting from a huge transmitter since the 70s, but Georgia Public Broadcasting bought the morning hours from them, so now they're only on the radio at night. I never thought I would resent public broadcasting, but there you go.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

we just heard a very unique gospel station this morning - wzap! on vacation though- i think the ones in my home market are part of some conglomerate. so it's usually community radio or public (or to be honest the corporate owned classic hip hop station)

[@k.5152]

you're listening to 86.5 the FOX and it's time for 3 hours of non stop Red Hot Chili Peppers!

[@rodchallis8031]

Or as I call them, "The Red Hot Depressing Peppers."

[@gentuxable]

I feel like the internet was a relief from those parallel stations. Because over air I was used to get only like 3 stations that had programs I wanted to listen to (so no kids stories, no church and not too distracting music) and those had the same songs. With the internet I now listen to a radio from another country where talks are a minimum and the music is great.

[@Sjalabais]

In 2001, I left for the summer in another country and three songs played on the radio during breakfast. Returning after six weeks, the same three songs still ran at the same time during breakfast. This is when I quit radio. It was no secret that radio flushes the same crap over and over again, but this was just so clear and unengaging...it ended my relationship with the medium.

[@glennso47]

Groundhog Day the movie with bill Murray who woke up every morning to I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher

[@bobn2805]

This is the first video im sering from your channel and im very impressed. Subscribed

[@Iudicatio]

Where I live in Germany, there is a public radio station that broadcasts interviews and talks about books (always books) interchangeably with alternative music that you will not hear if you search for the top hits. It is truly one of the best things I found in Germany. Almost all the aforementioned books were originally published in German and written by Germany people, and I learned a lot about German culture, history, and life that I probably would not have learned otherwise. (Yes I do understand the language)

[@theoshuawei4408]

Sounds interesting. Which one do you mean?

[@Iudicatio]

@@theoshuawei4408 It is one of the Deutschlandfunk ones. Don't remember the complete name or the frequency, sorry about that

[@CrocodileWhispers]

My dad brought up a great point with Radio. It has ads from your local community about local community events. It's sad it's faded away. There's a downtown radio station with a radio booth that has windows out to the street! and it's completely unoccupied 80% of the time. Especially anytime after 6pm. If I had charisma for it, I would try and run the booth...

[@Bacopa68]

You still here this kind of local event advertising or even announcements on lower power FM stations between Houston and Austin or San Antonio. And plenty of diversity in the playlists too. Radio is I think even more alive in the stretch between Houston and Dallas, maybe because that area is not as populated as the other corridors. But again, these signals may be coming in from Deep East, which is strangely settled despite a lack of roads there. I think they use canals and rivers.

[@safetinspector2]

I used to worry about commercial radio consolidation, but now I haven’t listened to anything other than streaming music and podcasts in my car since 2012 or so. The loss of local community sucked but the variety lost on the fm and am air waves went to the interbutt

[@MikinessAnalog]

Love your wit, timing, homour, delivered with logic and valid concern.

[@FCSchaefer]

Loved this video, it explains a lot. I've been an avid Top 40 radio fan for decades, long after they stopped making music for my demographic, I'm saddened by the lack of verity in most "pop" radio today, it's not that they are the same songs played over an over, they're depressingly alike in rhythm and theme. How many songs do we need where some young woman sings about how awful her boyfriend is or how men are trash in general?

[@chynnacinemas]

😂😂😂 exactly

[@leopaulino21]

Excellent video. In my opinion, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 dealt a major blow to the music industry, almost causing its demise. In the past, the music industry resembled a rich buffet of diverse genres, each with its own distinct style. It was a thriving ecosystem where different genres coexisted and thrived together. However, nowadays, we are left with just two dominant genres, namely Hip-Hop and Pop, which often sound remarkably similar. This situation not only hampers the chances of up-and-coming bands, groups, and artists getting their music played or gaining exposure, but it also prevents new genres from flourishing. Today's radio stations only allow what's on their predefined playlists, leaving no room for anything else. It's truly a shame, but I believe people are gradually realizing that this model is unsustainable. These radio monopolies stifle the artistic growth and freedom of music. That's why web radio stations are thriving-they provide a platform for more diverse and interesting music.

[@DanEBoyd]

Think of it as the war on mechanical musical instruments...

[@jerradwilson]

Every decade from the 1920's to the 90's had a unique sound. Then the 2000's came along and it sounded like a continuation of the 90's. And the 2010's sounded like a continuation of the 2000's. In the 90's, songs from the 70's sounded old. But not so much with songs from the 90's today. I always thought the internet with its file sharing and streaming changed everything. Now it seems this is a big factor too.

[@thrillrtflc]

@@jerradwilson I agree. I recently watched a video that was playing the number one song by month going all the way back to like 1980. It's when you get to around 2002 that every song on the list going forward sounds the same and it's dominated by the same three or four performers. The radio oligopoly needs to be broken up and buried.

[@pjotrtje0NL]

I changed my ‘noise consumption’ during my commute from podcasts and Spotify back to radio. As I am in the Netherlands this is quite OK: 4 public FM networks covering news, general music, pop, and classical music. On top of those there are the commercial providers with pop aimed at women, or contemporary alternative rock (my fav, Kink FM!), or literally anything else. There’s something for everyone. Except jazz, because jazz causes car crashes.

[@sunjamm222]

I found this out where I worked. The guy who worked the radio music was a local football fan, so would only have this one station on that would give news about the his team, but would repeat the music every two hours. Along with auto voice added. Yet I moved to another place and found that all the other stations in the area were now owned by the same company and would play the same play list, but in different order tho. I soon stopped listening to local radio and made my own music lists that I liked.

[@HamsterFactz]

You have such a genuine personality you bring to these videos that I find so refreshing my man...

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

thanks hamsterfactz

[@toamastar]

Great video! I didnt notice this until last year when i started my new job, before that i never really spent much time in cars or work sites. We basically carpool across the country to different places and obviously the driver gets dibs on what they listen to. Most of them are older so they just chuck the radio on and then i discovered this. Some would even play the same song hours apart it was so frustrating! The other week we were driving with someone who was younger and i actually thanked him because he was using his spotify instead lmao

[@LordPenguinVR]

I just found your channel and I didn't know I was going to be invested in this topic, but you told it in such a way that 11:33 went by really quick. I am immediately a huge fan. Your such a good story teller.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

hey thanks!

[@LordPenguinVR]

@@PhilEdwardsInc no, thank you for making such interesting and well made content.

[@JustSomeKittenwithaGun]

Rip last second that took forever

[@johnmayer413]

As a kid, I sporadically listened to Elvis Duran from my local radio station in Hamden, Connecticut and figured it must be a local show. Then one day he was doing an interview with Selena Gomez or something and I thought "why is someone so huge doing such a long interview with this tiny show?" So I actually googled their show and turns out Elvis Duran isn't broadcast out of Connecticut. Its from New York City and is one of the largest radio shows in the country, syndicated out of 80+ cities. It kind of blew my mind. Listening as an adult its very obvious that they're in NYC- they constantly mention it, but as as a kid who listened randomly for 15 minutes at a time, I had no idea. After 10am it would go back to my 'local' iHeart top 40 clone KC101, except they would constantly play sound bytes of Elvis Duran cast members saying "You're listening to KC101!" so I thought the show was specifically for my station.

[@FN32DXer]

Adam is a great host on KC101. Great dude as well. He is still the last remaining local host on KC which bums me.

[@d00mf00d]

Just discovered your channel going to browse through your content here tomorrow.

[@smile--]

I love it when the greed of humanity ruins nice things

[@dennismason3740]

You are not wrong, thank you for the research and the horrifying impersonation of a radio song which is disturbingly spot on. My question to you is: How does the good stiff sneak in? There is a bit of it. Pretty much late night/early morning, of course.

[@ralfhtg1056]

In Germany we say "Dudelfunk" to that. Let me present you the translation of the german wikipedia entry about that: Dudelfunk is a derogatory term for a specific broadcasting concept of radio stations, which is specifically geared towards the widest possible acceptance in the advertising-relevant target group and close listener loyalty. This is achieved through a strictly target group-oriented selection of music on the one hand and the program design on the other. Such programs are usually structured as an accompanying programme. The ratings are used as a benchmark. The selection of music is geared towards a specific target group, mostly adult contemporary, in the manner of format radio. The radio consultants, who are often external, use computer programs to plan the playlists according to defined strategic guidelines. The so-called rotation is particularly common: Here, a fixed stock of usually only 120 to 150 music titles is played again and again within a certain period of time, so that it can happen that some titles are repeated every hour. New titles are only included in the rotation if they have been subjected to a statistically supported rating by listeners. Questioning is also used to determine whether a title is played too often. If the majority of respondents agree, the title will be taken out of rotation or played less frequently. Within the rotation, there are titles that are played frequently or particularly frequently, in the so-called "heavy rotation" (also called "power rotation" or "hot rotation"). In this context, Payola cannot be dismissed out of hand. In the meantime, software has become established for music selection, which distributes the song pre-selection confirmed by listener tests in A (power), B (normal) or C (casual rotation) titles in a fixed pattern over the station hour. It is e.g. For example, it is common to end each lengthy word contribution (news) with a jingle and then an A title. In particular, dudelfunk is characterized by a certain form of moderation. Here the effort to use a language that is close to the listener and mostly ostentatious in a good mood is recognizable. The verbal contributions are primarily designed to entertain the listener or to offer general service information (weather and traffic conditions). Messages, which are occasionally accompanied by background music ("music bed"), are limited to important events. They are occasionally expanded to include information about the station's events. A general feature of the dudelfunk transmitters, which have now been adopted by almost all entertainment-oriented radio programs, are the so-called jingles. They usually contain the sung station name and a fixed slogan (claim), which tries to emphasize a unique selling point. The purpose of the frequent broadcasting of the station name is the recognition effect, especially for the naming in the telephone listener surveys in the media analyzes that are important for the respective station. Above all, the so-called morning shows, which bring the highest ratings for the broadcasters, are advertised all day long. But there are also broadcasters that do without jingles entirely and instead use so-called drop-ins or sweepers. These elements do not contain vocals. Frequently (particularly during the survey periods of the market analyses) there are listener promotions such as sweepstakes and other promotions that are also announced by jingles. Short telephone calls with listeners, so-called call-ins, are also popular. With their help, a broadcaster can convey regionality or the desired listener proximity. In addition to the manageable and mostly non-controversial information, comedy is an integral part of the verbal contributions. As in the serious part, political statements or topics are often avoided. On the other hand, trivia from the media boulevard is often used as a lead for “excitement”. Dudelfunk has the Function to bind as many listeners as possible to the station in order to be interesting for the advertising industry. Appropriate music selection and only very short verbal contributions are intended to prevent the listeners from switching off or choosing another station and thus no longer hearing the advertising messages. Bagpipes are mostly popular with listeners who leave the radio on "in the background", for example at work, at home or in the car. The aim is not to switch on programs in a targeted manner, but to ensure that they can be “listened through” continuously. The simplicity and brevity of the verbal contributions enable the listener to listen with "half an ear" or only occasionally. In addition, the desire to hear current or well-known hits as often as possible is fulfilled. And my conclusion to this: I stopped listening to the radio years ago! Here in Germany there is no good music on radio. In private I don't even own a radio anymore. Not counting the device in my car. I always use my phone and connect it via bluetooth to the radio. I also don't use streaming services like Spotify. I play the music that I bought and downloaded.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

haha amazing! dudelfunk!

[@tom2point0]

I stopped listening to radio regularly back in the early 90’s, after I started driving and had created a ton of mix tapes by listening to the radio and pressing record whenever a song came on that I liked. Then getting a part time job enabled me to start buying tapes. I had like 30-40 mix tapes I’d just cycle through because I hated waiting through commercials or songs I didn’t care for. I got into CDs as well near my senior year Of high school but didn’t have a way to do mix “tapes” of those for a while so I stuck with my good ol tapes. TL:DR Never got into radio as much because I wanted to hear the songs I liked

[@jamesseaman2950]

You put together a good video which sums up today's radio predicament very well. I was a radio veteran from the 1970's and could see the handwriting on the wall as far back as the late 1980's when the FCC began to flood the FM dial with hundreds of new signals that had no hope of making money, and only served to slice the local advertizing pie thinner. This put pressure on the FCC to eventually change the ownership cap from the long-established 7/7/7 rule to 12/12/12 nationally and then they eventually changed the rules again which allowed the creation of the mega-after 1996. I left the business at about that time when radio stopped being fun. Commercial radio lost its advantage when it lost its local connection to its listeners. This is somthing the non-comms and LPFM stations still have which make them worth listening to.

[@sphexes]

I hang out in the bottom of the dial, always looking for college and independent radio stations. Such a relief to have these gems speckled all over the country.

[@grahamrankin4725]

I remember in 1975 that our local FM station played the same playlist in the same order every afternoon. They obviously just played a tape instead of paying a live DJ.

[@jamiecrisalli3643]

I live in Seattle, so naturally this means I must want to hear Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins on endless loop. If I hear Smells like Teen Spirit one more time, I'm going to hurl myself out of a window. Because the rock station plays it, and the two "alternative" stations play it, and the oldies station plays it as does the top 40's stations. I'm glad it's not just me.

[@paulpalinkas]

Tune your radio dial to 90.3 MHz - KEXP might play those bands on occasion, but much, much less than any other rock station.

[@robinmichel9048]

Wasn't there an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati where a record company tries to get Johnny to play their records but that was illegal? Now I need to go watch some WKRP. 😂

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yeah i also vividly remember some "math net" episodes. about payola

[@Bacopa68]

Yeah, Johnny got his old job in LA back, got fired again and came back to WKRP but was pushed to the post midnight shift. New guy was getting paid in cocaine to push hits. Johnny and Andy collect evidence of this and try to get the guy fired. They keep Mr. Carlson out of the loop about the drugs. They tell Mr. Carlson the coke is foot powder and he pours a huge amount into is socks and experiences "effects".

[@OMM-bo9fr]

commissioner Gordon sure knows his stuff when it comes to radio.

[@cptkangaroo]

By the way…this analysis is very well done….accurate and informative….especially for someone who is outside the industry….this is really spot-on.

[@MoosePockets]

The switch from diaries to the Portable People Meter for ratings was also hugely important. With diaries, radio content had to be memorable to get people to write down what that listened to. The Portable People Meter is automatic. The goal isn’t necessarily to be entertaining now but non-intrusive. The PPP will pick up whatever is around regardless of whether the person is actually paying attention. Diaries favored local talent who drew people in with local news and information and a finger on local tastes. The PPP favors getting played at stores, waiting rooms, and other places. In addition, the participant has to wear the PPP on their body regularly. That limits the type of person willing and able to be a ratings participant. There are a stunningly small number of PPP meter participants that are used to represent a stunningly large section of the population.

[@luispv]

I live in Spain and there is something in one of the main stations that caught my attention. Was that the songs that they said were in the top charts, were very different from the ones that people is listening in the Internet (Spotify, YT Music, Apple Music, etc.). That was when I realize how they (also) make money.

[@nickvickers3486]

Radio 3 gets pretty cool late at night Monday to Thursday, 11pm Metal + 12am hip-hop! Also we have a station here in Asturias that plays interesting stuff

[@iAmAllOfMii]

We need more radio stations with purely instrumental songs, that way it doesn't really get old.

[@ego-lay_atman-bay]

That's what I listen to. In fact, I listen to a classical music radio station that usually never repeats songs, unless it's some really popular songs by the more well known composers (like mozart).

[@iAmAllOfMii]

@@ego-lay_atman-bay i mean usually instrumental songs don't get very repetitive

[@SamuelVain]

Since the 80s I only listen to the radio if I don't have anything else available. Being mostly a metalhead I don't hear what I want to hear on the radio.

[@kumbah2006]

Wow, so that's how it happened! Thank you so much for creating this video. 😊. Thank you for that very relevant information!

[@POSTELVIS]

SO THATS WHAT HAPPENED!!! Essentially when the FCC stopped regulating the amount of radio stations you could own, This was the time for Corporations with an insane amount of capital to essentially make a united mafia of radio stations that could obviously outcompete with any local radio station that wasn't publicly funded.