Radio. A medium that most people would describe as "dying" or "dated". Most people nowadays like to stream their music on Spotify or play their downloaded music on VLC or other media players, but I still listen to Marconi's wondrous invention.
AM radio in the Boston area is a topic I've covered a handful of times here on TCOT. I've made posts about the lies and hatred spread on 680 WRKO, and my opinions on WMEX 1510, and how they're keeping music alive on AM.
But I'm here to talk about why AM radio sometimes isn't a good format for music in my honest opinion.
The spark that caused me to make this post was WJIB 720 (Cambridge) playing "The Times They Are a-Changin'" by Bob Dylan. During the instrumental breaks, as normal for Bob Dylan songs, he pulls out a harmonica. But instead of his usual single-note playing (which I don't mind), he plays high-pitched, tinny chords, something known to irk me, but of course the song is from the 60s, and I was born in 2002.
But due to the station's low quality sound and the way AM Radio works, the harmonica was drowning out the lead and bass guitars in the song, especially in the higher-pitched chords, causing me even more discomfort. Someone should change WJIB 720's call letters to WJAB, because it felt like the world's thinnest and sharpest knife being forcefully JABbed into my eardrums DIAGONALLY! That just makes me not want to listen to WJIB all together. Plus, they are a non-commercial station funded by donations. So you could say I'm not gonna donate to them if they keep blasting my eardrums out with crappy harmonica solos. I'd rather use my hard-earned money to donate to WGBH and its stations, especially after the Dumb Orange Dude in Office (DODO) decided to slowly close down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I mean, WHY DID HE HAVE THE GUTS TO DO THAT?!
The DODO also keeps on extending the deadline for the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications (PAFACA) Act, the ruling that states that ByteDance has to sell TikTok's US operations to an American company, or it will get banned. I for one want to see a PAFACA-induced ban of TikTok happen, because of the racist, ableist, sexist, and downright dangerous challenges, its eyesore of a logo, the toxicity of the community, and the way music has been ruined thanks to unoriginal content.
But back to the subject of Radio. Over on the FM dial, there are music stations worth listening to if you want a non-commercial music station. Emerson College in Boston owns and operates 88.9 WERS, which plays mostly indie rock in the mornings and afternoons, and jazz and other genres later in the day. WGBH owns and operates 99.5 WCRB, a station that plays classical music. It used to be a commercial station owned by Nassau Broadcasting, but WGBH bought the station, and kept the classical format. This station is known for being the first one to obtain an FCC waiver regarding modulation percentage rules. They did this to improve the dynamic range of the sound quality. They also applied for an FCC waiver regarding the station ID requirement, so that live broadcasts of classical music don't have to be interrupted by an announcer identifying the station during a piece.
Long story short, The AM dial is fine for some songs, but not for others.
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