The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

it's funny how they supposedly are focusing on ratings when it's their listeners -- not advertisers -- who are paying the bills with membership fees.

apart from that though, it would be nice to shrink the playlist a little. in the early days it was especially bad -- lots of downer music and 20-minute sigur ros songs. i don't mind hearing the indie hits played a little more...

Happening with Satellite radio too.... the numbers seem to show people WANT to hear the same shit over and over again.

I've been openly complaining that they play certain songs to death. It's weird, because often they're actually good songs. I might not have gotten into some bands without repeated exposure (MGMT, Carbon/Silicon, White Williams). But then they go overboard, drilling it into my head, and I get sick of those songs. Play some other tracks from the album please.

I'm really irked that they'd pursue this policy (consultants???) at the expense of DJ freedom. Danny Sigelman was easily one of my favorite DJs. He knows his shit, especially deep funk/afrobeat type stuff, and his late-night shifts made up for a lot of the schlock played during the day. I love that each DJ has areas of music knowledge and taste that they share with us.

I really hope they pull back on the hit list a bit and give the DJs room to explore. Of course it's still the greatest station on the FM dial, and we're lucky to have it. But one of the reasons it's unique and loved is that our membership dollars are supposed to shield it from consultants trying to fix ratings with a narrower playlist. Shouldn't we leave that to corporate radio?

I know it's musically incorrect, but I listen to Jack way more than the Current.

That station ever play any Miles Davis, Coltrane, Branford Marsalis?

If masses of people wanted a totally eclectic all-over-the-place ever-changing playlist, there'd be no such thing as Top 40 radio. People like to be introduced to new music, but most also like some degree of predictability. I thought the early Current was tough to listen to, because I never knew what I was going to get. And the ratio of songs I hated to songs I loved was not a good one.

I guess what I'm saying is I think they're on the right track now. At least for me. (and grote is right about it being corporate. MPR is massive. Just visit their offices.)

Actually, the Current's morning show crew did play some Coltrane the other day. However, you have to wade through the other crazy stuff they play in the morning. IE ragtimedixie from before the civil war, or something equiobscure like a czech tranny that freestyles gospel.

crazy stuff they play in the morning

Seriously, what is up with the morning playlist on the Current? It's like Uncle Sal's Ragtime Hour and it is so weird and out of place.

I had the same thought as kc!: I probably listen to any particular song on my random itunes mix 10 times, if not 17, during the course of a work week. And that's just 40 hours, not 7x24 hours. What's the big deal?

Taking the choice away from DJs, that's a bigger deal.

I don't think that the choice of the DJs has been taken away. The different shifts still sound vastly different. I hear the old 97x influence with Barb Abney in the morning and hear the Rev 105 influences with Lucia in the PM. As for the number of times a song is played, 17x/wk is nothing. The top hits on KDWB are 80x/wk or more. That's how you burn out a song.

People are talking about "masses" and "top 40" but is that what the current wants to be? I didn't think that was their original mission so it makes sense that it wouldn't appeal to everyone.

It seems as if they are feeling the pessure of being more "maintstream" as memberships drop and the $$ support starts to dwindle. Sad really.

And is that true that very few people w/iPods have at least 1,000 songs? Seems off to me, but what do I know. I'm too lazy to create playlists.

I read complaints about the state of local radio. if they weren't from you, then you weren't being addressed by me. go have a drink on your porch or somehting. ;)

If I weren't watching the game tonight, I'd be @ the 400 seeing these guys. Highly recommend it.

So, they played a Vampire Weekend song 17 times in a week. That's just over twice a day. That is NOT craming it down anyone's throat. Listen to KDWB for awhile if you want to hear something cramed down your throat.

The problem isn't so much that they're playing the same band 17 times a week, it's that they're playing the same 1 or 2 songs from the band 17 times a week.

I used to love the reports from Tuttle School on Jazz 88.

Does this mean that I need to demand that everything appeal to me? Is that really a realistic expectation?

we're dealing with young Americans of the Internet Age here, so prolly "yes".

It's still has a lot of new music you won't hear anywhere else in town, diversity during different shows, and is the best radio station in town.

I did crappy college radio for 5 years. You have to plan things out in advance. While it may only need to be a few songs in advance, it had to be.

And we were required to play two "new music" selections every hour. Basically you had about 30 CDs to choose from and you had to work the music into what you were doing. If you just threw a Ani DiFranco song in the middle of your hardcore set, you sucked as a DJ. If you worked it in logically with the Indigo Girls on one side and Liz Phair on the other, you were awesome.

Not that I listen to any of that now, but damn, didn't I love some Ani DiFranco as a 21 year old feminist.

Since I listened to KBEM for a long time, I know that the DJ's picked the jazz that they played. Thus, it is comparable to the Current in that way. The reason I do not listen to KBEM much any more is that the DJ's that work when I am most likely to listen do not play the type of jazz I like to hear. (The kids, while painful to listen to, generally play some good music.) However, their prime time DJ's like music that I find boring. In some cases, painfully boring. Thus, I have taken my poor demographic ears elsewhere. I find all radio lacking because none of it is aimed at me. The same can happen to the Current. They can replace an on air personality with someone who has a different appeal, and it changes the radio station. It is easier for KDWB because the music stays the same no matter the on air staff. This is the troubled waters that the Current must endure.

And KUMM can be a cool station sometimes, it just depends on the dj. Check it out.

KUMM! I have been listening to it at work. Of course as a former Alumni, DJ, and Music Director of KUMM I have a soft spot for college radio. Even the dead air and news read cold warms my heart a little.

I did get to interview the Cramps on air and meet a lot of cool people at shows. They would even just let us back stage at First Ave to chat with the bands since we were in radio. Nothing beats sitting on a musty couch with Mike Watt sipping a beer.

Check them out, they have no play list just a ban on top 40 radio.

I love School News on KBEM.

I also like SSM but can't make the show tonight; bummer.

I was a KUMM dj too. I did the 3-6 am show for years. Then I got the 12-3am show and I knew I had hit it big time.

The best part was the free tickets to first ave. If you could get your ass to the cities you could see pretty much any show for free. It was just hard to get here and back on a Tuesday night.

I started on 10 pm -12 Saturdays then moved to 12-3 am on Saturdays so I could play songs with swearing. I would sometimes have more than 10 people listening!

I doubt we ever had 10 people listening, but I still have tapes of old shows, so I can listen.

Always in the middle of the 3 hours we would put on a 10-15 minute song so we could have a smoke break. There aren't a lot of long songs that I can stand, so it tended to be a Dylan song or Alice's Restaurant.

Rock on, Lucia!

Right on.

Swimming in cold water always shrinks my playlist.

I'm so glad the band Vampire Hands came along and drained the life out of Vampire Weekend.

Lunch!, I don't think "hero" is strong enough a word. College radio is my life, and it's my wife. All those jim-jims in this town.

Mary Lucia's at her best when she busts out the old-school Run DMC or AC/DC.

My stance is that it's true The Current seems to have significantly shortened their playlist. However, The Current is still a better station than anything else out there. (I don't have satellite so I cannot talk about them.)

Living in Pittsburgh I stream The Current while at home, since nothing on the radio here even comes close.

Bob Collins, et. al -- Just because I'm critiquing the station doesn't mean I hate it or don't appreciate it. Please don't setup that false choice.

Because I love The Current, and because we've given them plenty of money, I'm speaking up to say (1) I've noticed the narrowing of the playlist, the repetition of the same songs over and over, and I say it's too much. I am not alone. (2) Please give the DJs freedom to play some stuff not on the list. If Danny Sigelman left over musical differences, there is definitely a problem.

Of course I switch over to Jack, etc. when there's a song I don't like. I'm not going to pay for satellite radio. I'm exactly the kind of music lover The Current is aimed at. Yes, I have 1000 songs on my iPod and I don't care what they do on Top 40 radio - The Current should be a refuge from that and I think they'd agree.

i like mary too, as a personality. i just think other DJs have better playlists, that's all. MarkWheat being on of my favs. He plays more diverse music, it seems.

I used to love the reports from Tuttle School on Jazz 88.

Awh yeah. School news.

And I've got lots of love for Radio K. And KBEM. And KFAI. And the Current. Often, I don't like what a particular station is playing, but there's a reason that your tuner has presets.

Flip around a little bit... there's lots of good stuff out there. I'm not sure why people expect that they'll always like what a given radio station is playing.

"Oh, wait ... I must have hit the wrong button ... this is 89.3 ... not the Philip Fuller station"

Hilarious!

My understanding from Danny was that he had no choices on his shifts anymore, and that was going too far.

Yes, I have 1000 songs on my iPod and I don't care what they do on Top 40 radio

Having them is one thing. The real question, though, is: how often do you play some of them? You likely have some favorites you willingly listen to time and time again. That's the basic formatic behind commercial radio, a medium that has to appeal to a mass audience. I've worked at stations that do have a thousand songs (or more) in their library ... but they only played a chunk of 200 at any one time.

My first real disc-jockey job was on a free-form AOR-oriented FM. This was before Lee Abrams raped the format. We really did have 3000 vinyl albums in the library, and it took almost a full year for me to learn the library well enough before I was given a daytime, weekend airshift. (Loved those 8-hour Saturday overnights, Mr. Zind! LOL) Quite honestly, though, disc jockeys have their favorites, too, and the challenge is to know when enough is enough. For example, we loved most everything that came out on the Stiff label ... until it hit the Billboard chart, at which point we figured we'd help make the song a hit and the mainstream could have fun with it from now on while we moved on to find the next "big thing."

Our PD had a rudimentary rotation system in place: a bona fide "hit" at least every third or fourth song (we weren't in a very sophisticated, or even urban, market), and at least one new song per set. The rest of it he left up to us. We were known to lobby the PD on behalf of new bands. At the end of my tenure there, I couldn't say enough about The Clash (years before Rock The Casbah) but had previously gone through periods where, for example, I spun maybe more contemporary black gospel than I should have (during a morning show, no less). Linda, working middays, had a liking for Cris Williamson and Holly Near; Doug could be counted to play some obscure Who or Eagles or Stones every shift; the PD himself was an encyclopedia of R&B oldies.

Sadly, what the radio industry (and the music industry, too) lacks nowadays is imagination, curiosity and the ability to lead listeners into new directions. The bean counters are in control (even on the public radio level, it seems), and consultants rule the roost. Radio is a commodity; no different than a breakfast sandwich. Ownership has become an investment rather than an adventure ... and Bill Kling would probably use that same language, too.

Having them is one thing. The real question, though, is: how often do you play some of them?

I have about 15k songs on my iPod and I listen to Shuffle 80% of the time. So I hear them all.

Mary Lucia's at her best when she busts out the old-school Run DMC or AC/DC.

Amen. Also when she tosses in the occasional Raspberries or KISS gem. (Am I imagining this? She HAS played KISS during her shift, right? For comic value I think but hey, I loved me some Cold Gin back in the day.)

Steve Seel or whoever was covering the lunch shift played Run DMC today while I was in the car and it was so much awesomeness on a spring Friday I didn't even mind sitting at a 5-minute stoplight.

I didn't realize Danny S. had moved on. The ranks of the rockers are pretty thin at this point.

I put together a playlist so good the othernight it gave me chills just transfering it to my iPod shuffle. Only when I got to the gym I realized I didn't sync it properly and my night was ruined.

@JACC & Cattryingtopack:

iPod shuffle animism: Steven Levy's experience

Plus, shuffle works fine in theory but if it discovers that you do have a preference for one song over another, it will play that one song more often than another.

Just FYI.

Noodleman: Yup. I kinda figured that about iPod and that's mostly why I don't set up playlists as I tend to pick a song that I haven't listened to for awhile and then see where the iPod goes.

@Cat2lazy4playlistsandpacking

:)

Re: Top 40. It wasn't *just* about the music back then, either. It was also what happened inbetween the songs that kept many of us tuned in to hear the "hits." That doesn't happen anymore. Go to Reel Radio to explore a library of some great Top 40 disc jockeys who knew how to entertain. Even at the free-form AOR level, it wasn't *all* about the music. A listener would learn things instead of just hearing some jock repeatedly say "... and before that we heard ..." during their backsell, and who's "talent" nowadays extends only as far as the liner cards that've been written for them to use.

The learning aspect is one reason why I do enjoy The Current even if they are repetitive with some music. I'm not tuned in 18-hours a day, anyway, so it's all "new" to me most of the time.

Music has become a disposable commodity, too. It's become a "what's the flavor of the week?" world for listeners because that's the way our world of celebrity works. We dispose of things in our culture, including our art. People forget bands like the Beatles and Stones used to issue TWO albums per YEAR. And it was all great stuff. But once they sign with a label, most bands or solo artists today either aren't allowed to, or are afraid to, rock the boat ... unlike the Clash that twice told CBS Records "screw you, we're putting out a double album priced the same as a single album." Even if half the album really wasn't all great, it still sent a message.

There are also more choices from which we can listen to music than there were 20 or 30 years ago. The Walkman radically changed the way people consumed music, even more than the iPod ever will. The Walkman made it possible for the music consumer to program their own "radio station" wherever they were because of its portability and was only limited by the length of tape.

We've also lost our penchant for loyalty. If A station isn't playing what we want to hear, we immediately switch to B or C station. I fear that that is what the Current is experiencing now, and which is probably why they feel the need to play the formatics game. Sad but true.

Like much of the Current staff, I used to work at Radio K (made their first web site) and still have much love for them. Even Radio K has "the hit list." No doubt, people do want some familiarity and repetition. The question I'm raising is - how much is too much?

My better half says I notice the repetition more because I listen a lot more - definitely some truth to that.

I think The Current's mix of music is great. People saying "hey if you don't like this song, wait for the next one!" are missing the point of the City Pages article - they've brought in a consultant, made some policy changes, and lost a great DJ. As a huge supporter and listener, I owe it to the station to point out they might be pushing the new formula too far.

"The question I'm raising is - how much is too much?"
That's a great question. For me it depends on "what is repeated".

I don't mean what songs, per se, but is it "new". If so then I understand.

I like to hear new songs a few times (or more) before I make opinions.

As for the material that isn't in their winnowed "new" list; I think it should be up to the dj's to decide what and how often a song is played.

I myself have listened to the Kinks "Come Dancing" a dozen times in the last two days and could have another go.

But if I hear "Sister Christian" for the first time in twelve years, I still find I'm sick of it.

It's all about what song it is.

The Current, like many non-profits and arts organizations, is very smart to emphasize the local. It's one way they can stand out from a zillion choices (like satellite and internet radio). Both Lucia and Wheat have strong, longstanding connections to Minnesota music.

Bob: Sorry to exaggerate, you know those damn bloggers always do that! You just seemed to be saying "Put me down in favor of stations doing creative things" like SXSW, etc. - sort of implying that I wasn't in favor of all that. But I was probably reading between the lines too much.

Overall it seems not many people care that The Current narrowed its playlist or lost a DJ over that - so I must be the vocal minority. I guess the real test will be whether their ratings stop declining. I just don't want the format to be dumbed down. I honestly do love the station and hope it will be around for a long time.

Now, excuse me while I fire up Karaoke Revolution: American Idol.
Sister Christian! More Than a Feeling! What Is Love?

I myself have listened to the Kinks "Come Dancing" a dozen times in the last two days and could have another go.

How many more times could you do it before they catch you gnawing through the restraints?

Can't some of these songs die with a little dignity?

Why don't you people get iPods or MP3 players or something. Then you can listen to anything you want. Whenever you want. Must be a collectivist thing.

What up, Bob Collins! Love your and Mary's repartee!

Chuck - I wish I could be won over by Jim Ed and Dale but I.Just.Can't.Stand.Them. When the Current first came on the air, that's the part of the day I would catch and think, "This is SO not for me". I avoided the station for the whole first year until I finally discovered Mary (and Bob). I've tried a little the last few weeks and did notice them playing some non-banjo-pickin'-folk-suckness but I can't handle the skits.

Although I didn't realize Danny left, I listen to the Current a lot, I check out performances on the website and I read the blog. I loved the SXSW coverage. But, I can't seem to become a member because of that big shiny facility they've got and because Wheat is downright insulting during pledge weeks. Is it just me or is his tone uber judgmental? I do have persistent guilt about this though. :)

I think because of the piss poor state of radio in the Twin Cities, we're putting too high of expectations on the Current. They obviously can't be all things to all people but they're doing a fine job, in my opinion. (Just ditch the morning show and I'll be completely happy.)

Chuck: If it is true that quarter hour listeners are down 24% and cumulative listeners are down 15% in 3ish years, I would say that you are not the only one who cares about the changes going on at The Current.

Bob: Do you think the majority of online listeners are out of the "local" market? If this is true, it's an interesting dilemma.

But after listening to the show, Jim & Dale totally won me over. Those guys are hilarious and real radio treasures

Chuck, no offense, but you might want to give up your wake & baking.

@Splinkster - I see the Raindog of music has spoken.

@Bob Collins I do think the question becomes far less important if the Current should decide it lives on the strength of its Internet audience and not necessarily its Twin Cities audience. That's not a slam against the TC, just so we're clear ... But the ability to stream, it seems to me, makes the concept of terrestrial limitations irrelevant ...

Bob, I think you forget that commercial radio (and public radio, to a great degree) is a business. As such, it depends on revenue that is derived, for the most part, locally. It's one thing to stream 24/7 around the world; it's another thing entirely to be able to leverage that listenership in such a way that appeals to advertisers (and underwriters). Denny Hecker doesn't want to sell cars to someone living in Maine or Austria. Cub Foods knows that a listener in California won't come shopping to one of their Twin Cities stores. Claiming a worldwide listener is great for the individual ego but does nothing at all to a local radio station's bottom line.

The amount of national advertising dollars is limited, too. Advertisers do not buy 12+ numbers; they buy targeted demographics. So a station like KQRS does very well in attracting ad dollars targeting Men 18-34 but Women 25-54 not quite as well as a station like WLTE. The typical agency buy is spread between the top 3 stations in any one target demo, with the #1 station getting the lion's share of the buy. If you're #3, #4 or #5 in a demo, you're much more dependent on direct, local buys. If you're #6, you'd better be really, really good at knocking on doors. And this doesn't even begin to address the challenges facing out-state, non-metro market stations around the country.

Yes, terrestrial commercial radio has created its own problems. I've addressed that before, and it's sad to think that the paradigm shift will result in many talented people losing their jobs as the megamediacorporaglomerates are forced by their bean counters to reduce expensives because advertisers are shifting their attentions to new media. Corporate Darwinism is not a fun thing to watch or, worse, be directly affected by. Public radio is now entering that competitive arena, too, by the way, as corporate underwriters will address the same concerns of "reach" that commercial broadcasters have always dealt with.

The fact is a great majority of people do not yet have access to streaming media while on the move. Heck, half the Internet population in the US doesn't even subscribe to broadband; most people still only have broadband access at work but how much radio-via-Internet listening goes on in the workplace? Not much. The portability of terrestrial and satellite radio is still a big selling point to advertisers. IMHO, commercial broadcasters are wasting time promoting HD radio instead of promoting radio's portability. Plus, splintering the wavelengths into smaller and smaller niche formats, i.e. "narrow-casting," is doing nothing more than splintering the revenue potential of any one broadcaster.

About a decade ago, the big buzz words in radio were "super-serving the listener." Consultants twisted that around to mean that focus groups of P1 listeners (the most loyal to a particular station within its very narrow target demo, e.g. Woman 31-44) would ultimately determine a station's playlist. Rather than throwing out a wide net, radio broadcasters started causing their own demise by casting with a single bait to attract listeners. I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys a more varied diet when I eat; the same goes for the music I consume, too.

There's no easy solution now. The Clear Channels of this country misread the tea leaves a decade ago. So, too, have traditional music distributors. It is an established fact that commercial radio has lost an entire generation of listeners ... the 12-24 year old audience that would grow into the next 25-54 demo generation advertisers want to reach. Blame it on limited playlists; blame it on the iPod and music portability. Both share the blame.

One thing I still do believe, though, is that those 12-24 listeners could be enticed back to terrestrial radio if given a reason to listen. The Current, at least, attempts to communicate with its listeners and presents to them an intelligent product. How well they manage the backlash sure to ensue (as evidenced here already) will determine how successful they become in growing their listenership.

Oops! My photo broke.

"It looks good on you, though."

(just needed closure on that Caddyshack riff.)

Too bad about Danny, he was one of the better DJs there.

About a month ago, I emailed Dale Connolly because I kept hearing Current playlist tracks at the end of the Morning Show and he confirmed that they'd been told to bridge the gap between their show and the Current's. They want Current listeners to listen to the Morning Show after 9 and vice versa.

I thought that was a bad idea all around. It's like telling the shows on KFAI to bleed into each other (more Hmong News Hour with my surf music please!) Besides no one's listening to marble mouth Abney in the first place.

Form what I hear MPR doesn't respond to praise - only criticism, so if you're mad enough, send Steve Nelson, program director, an email: snelson@mpr.org.