Norway to Turn Off FM Radio in 2017

[Jerjo]

I happen to have very strong opinions on the country music.

[trurl]

Mind you I'm talking new modern "country" music, not old school actual country music. The latter (like Willie and Johnny) I still mostly don't like but I respect it. Waylon Jennings is excellent though.

[spellbound]

It does not matter if you like country music or if you don't. The point is, if country radio can start snipping out guitar solos to pander to listeners they believe (without proof) to have a short attention span, what's to keep rock and pop radio from doing the same thing? Ever since radio went corporate, there hasn't been an intelligent thought in the broadcast industry with regard to radio programming. Tell me your favorite radio station (if you have one) won't jump on the short-attention-span-editing bandwagon.

As far as radio's assumption that their listeners have short attention spans, isn't it possible that modern radio is the cause?

1) They play the same 20-40 songs all day. There is no variety. There is no band represented by more than one song. There are no deep album tracks played. It's not the guitar solo that is losing listener interest; it is hearing the same song again and again.
2) No one wants to hear back-to-back commercials for things they don't want or need, and can't afford. If the audience had money, they wouldn't be listening to free broadcast radio.
3) DJ (or the mysterious reverbed disembodied voice that substitutes for a DJ) commentary is inane. It is seldom accurate, less often interesting, and frequently (especially mornings and on station IDs) juvenile and annoying.

Additionally, consider the legality of editing out a portion of a song. It is one thing for a record company to edit a song for length in order to get it played on radio. This is called a "single edit" and is usually done with the band's permission. It is another thing entirely for a broadcaster to further edit a song that has been released as a single. Who gives them permission to do that? It's not bad enough that a DJ will talk over the beginning and end of a song, now they want to edit parts out of the middle of the song as well. Combining broadcaster edits and DJ voiceovers with radio's frequently used trick of slightly speeding up playback of a song (to squeeze in more commercials?), and you are lucky to hear one minute of any three minute song.

On almost any song lame enough to be played on broadcast radio, the guitar solo is often the best part.

[trurl]

It does not matter if you like country music or if you don't.

It does to me

[Rune Blackwings]

It does not matter if you like country music or if you don't. The point is, if country radio can start snipping out guitar solos to pander to listeners they believe (without proof) to have a short attention span, what's to keep rock and pop radio from doing the same thing? Ever since radio went corporate, there hasn't been an intelligent thought in the broadcast industry with regard to radio programming. Tell me your favorite radio station (if you have one) won't jump on the short-attention-span-editing bandwagon.

As far as radio's assumption that their listeners have short attention spans, isn't it possible that modern radio is the cause?

1) They play the same 20-40 songs all day. There is no variety. There is no band represented by more than one song. There are no deep album tracks played. It's not the guitar solo that is losing listener interest; it is hearing the same song again and again.
2) No one wants to hear back-to-back commercials for things they don't want or need, and can't afford. If the audience had money, they wouldn't be listening to free broadcast radio.
3) DJ (or the mysterious reverbed disembodied voice that substitutes for a DJ) commentary is inane. It is seldom accurate, less often interesting, and frequently (especially mornings and on station IDs) juvenile and annoying.

Additionally, consider the legality of editing out a portion of a song. It is one thing for a record company to edit a song for length in order to get it played on radio. This is called a "single edit" and is usually done with the band's permission. It is another thing entirely for a broadcaster to further edit a song that has been released as a single. Who gives them permission to do that? It's not bad enough that a DJ will talk over the beginning and end of a song, now they want to edit parts out of the middle of the song as well. Combining broadcaster edits and DJ voiceovers with radio's frequently used trick of slightly speeding up playback of a song (to squeeze in more commercials?), and you are lucky to hear one minute of any three minute song.

On almost any song lame enough to be played on broadcast radio, the guitar solo is often the best part.

Radio stations have been editing songs without permission for years. I learned this when I took a radio broadcasting class.

And one of the worst things to ever happen to radio-the morning program. Especially Howard Stern, as it went from semi amusing to fucking vulgar. On rock stations, practically everything involves talking about each other's genitals or how hot some celebrity would be without clothing or boinking someone. it's like listening to a bunch of nerdy teenagers sitting around playing Magic the Annoying in the basement and discussing the cheerleading squad. WMMR is "Everything that Rocks"-does gabbing away endlessly about tits equate rock music?

And Clear Channel plays the songs in such a way that you know it's 8:15 AM because there's that damn Adele song again!

[trurl]

At least most of the country doesn't have the Johnboy and Billy show, which is syndicated here in the south. Imagine every Morning Zoo cliche- the unfunny guy doing the bits, the idiot guy who laughs like a hyena at everything, the bad impressions guy and make it all redneck.