dirtyDogStink

The sad, sad state of radio in Seattle

Wednesday, January 18 2006

Please bear with me on this personal rant....

I love music, but I'll be honest...I'm no afficianado. I just know what I like. Mostly that consists of various forms of rock (alternative, hard, classic, metal, etc.) with some Blues and Pop rock thrown in for good measure along with just a pinch of Country [yes, I'm a closet Country fan].

I moved to Seattle, WA in June of 1995 during the wake of Pearl Jam's Vitalogy [not their best work, but it still rocked] and little more than a year after Kurt Cobain had committed suicide [only 7 months after Nirvana released their powerhouse In Utero]. Soundgarden had released Superunknown a year before [who of you have not rocked out to Spoonman?] and Alice In Chains had recently released Jar of Flies. Not too mention the classic artists from the area like Jimi Hendrix and Heart! My point? It was a damn fine time, in fact an awesome time, for [alternative] rock in Seattle.

As far as radio stations went, my top choice was always 107.7 KNDD The End [alternative rock] and not too far behind was 99.9 KISW [hard rock]. A few others came and went over the past 10 [almost 11] years, but those two have been staples. I could always count on The End to give me the staples of rock that I loved while also showcasing new and upcoming artists [local, national and international]. In fact, when I was working day shift and driving in the early mornings I primarily listened to Andy Savage (with Jodi and Steve the producer).

Then a little over a year ago KNDD decided to fire half of their DJs and "update" their format. Andy Savage was let go and the afternoon guy, DJ No-Name [what a stupid handle...and no, I never cared for him] took over the morning show. Andy and his crew were pretty funny, but along with that they were really in tune with the local music scene and were always promoting our Seattle bands. So replacing them irritated me, but the thing that really pissed me off is that they f'd up their music format. They started focusing more and more on obscure and esoteric alternative music...I wouldn't even call some of it rock. I couldn't tune them in to hear some U2, No Doubt, Weezer, Nickelback and then a little [insert latest cool rock artist here]. I had to listen to 4 or 5 songs that I'd never heard of [and honestly didn't care too] before I'd even hear an artist that I knew...and I don't live in a vacuum!

The final straw came yesterday morning as I was driving into work [which isn't normal for me because I ride a vanpool and we generally listen to light music that everyone agrees too]. As 6:00 AM rolled over on my clock I heard them announcing the Adam Corolla show weekday mornings. WTF? The station that used to have an awesome handle on the local music scene has now gone the route of syndication. It's a sad, sad day for my radio...because I think I'll retire that #1 memory location. Or I could do the unthinkable and reprogram it to something else.

~tod