Heart and Mind

Calling up the Radio

You know what I've never really gotten?

People who call radio stations and request songs.

I mean, I haven't really been a radio listener since I was in about 7th grade, and largely that's because I don't choose to consume music based on someone else's play list. Oh, sure there is value to that, as listening to radio stations (traditional or Internet) can help expose you to new music you don't know about. However, I generally choose what I want to hear. I listen to my own albums.

And, yes, I still call them "albums" or "records," and I do so unabashedly and with no sense that I'm being cheeky or retro or anything like that. That's what a packaged collection should be called whether you buy it on CD or via a download, because it's still a collection of songs (like a photo album is a collection of photos) and it's still a recording. I get annoyed when people think they're smart by making fun of me and saying, "Ooh...'album.' Ha ha!" because they think I'm an unhip dinosaur clamoring for the days of vinyl LPs.

Getting back to the subject at hand, I pretty much stopped listening to music on the radio a million years ago when I discovered it's way better to just play your albums, because then you don't have to a wait around in the hopes that you'll hear some songs you like. When I'm spinning the discs, I like all the songs. Know what I mean? I bat 1.000 in that game, and I do it commercial free. And, of course, you can take this in a more philosophical direction and question why anyone would willingly want someone else to determine what product should be marketed and pushed in one's face. I mean, in this day and age, you should be able to find your own leads to stuff you like and not have to rely on some corporate entity to determine what the people, in a more global sense, want to hear.

(I know that some people seem to really like radio, especially XM or Internet, where there are niche stations that surprise you with little nuggets from a less-than-mainstream genre that's right up one's alley. So do take what I say with a grain of salt.)

Personally, I like albums and the full-album experience, so there's more to all this than just the "other person's playlist" discussion. But that much said, let's stick to the point about how silly it seems to wait around for songs you want to hear. Well, we can tie that back into the very first concept I threw out there.

It seems to me that requesting songs on the radio is like taking the dependency on radio to an entirely new level.

Put simply, if a song means that much to you or you like it so much that you're willing to waste your time calling a radio station over it, wouldn't it make sense to go out and buy that song? Or, if you already own it, which I can't imagine not being the case if it means that much to you, why not just go put the song on yourself? Go dig out your copy of American Fool and play "Jack and Diane" if you want to hear it. Don't call some radio station over it.

I'e never called a radio station, save for one time in college when I called the college station as a lark and told them to play "No Presents for Christmas" by ex-Mercyful Fate, supposedly pro-satan singer King Diamond. And I never will call a radio station, because there is no instance where I would ever want to hear a song that badly that I wouldn't also want to own.

Now, of course, I kind of know why a lot of these radio station callers do what they do. A lot of them probably do own the record in question. They probably own all the records by the band they're requesting. They're probably huge fans, and sometimes when people become huge fans, they also become like the equivalent of religious zealots, who want to—or feel it is their obligation—to spread the word about this wonderful band they love so much. They make it their personal mission to canvas for the band, especially if it's a band that didn't achieve particularly wide-spread fame. "The world needs to know about the great music of (this band)! It is a tragedy that everyone doesn't know of them! If they did, we wouldn't be subjected to crap like (some other band that is more popular)!"

Get real and get a grip, I say.

Look, I'm as rabid a fan as the next guy. Music has been my absolute passion for my whole life, and I listen to tons of things that no one has ever heard of. And, if you're my friend and you're semi-interested, I may at times try to sell you on the virtues of band that I love and that I think you'll love, too. Maybe. But call a radio station to spread the word so that "the masses" can somehow latch onto something I like and that I, filled with shortsightedness, assume that everyone else will like, as well, because I'm some kind of authority? Like I am in a position where I know best and need to educate people? And the band isn't paying me to do their marketing and promotion? That's not happening.

I'll live in my own little world, happy with my secret discovery of this wonderful group making brilliant music. It makes me happy listening to it. But I trust you are capable of finding whatever it is that makes you happy without needing me to spread the word. And if you aren't capable of that and you've never discovered a new band without it being spoon-fed to you by someone else, well... then I guess you're not a particularly big music fan and that kind of thing is not that important to you, so it's no loss for you either way.

posted by Steve @ 4:42 PM