Why hasnt radio changed?

darius

30 million songs available for free to anyone on the internet.
And still every radio station playlist consist of Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, George Ezra and Rag And Bone Man on repeat every hour. For Alternative radio, add one old song by REM. 
It does my head in. Why are they unchanged?

prowla

The only music station I listen to is Planet Rock

chromatuna

Maybe because the broadcasters aren't really interested in music and it's all about drawing an audience to the advertising?

6 Music is much broader although I do think that, like John Peel, they play a lot of stuff because it's 'happening' rather than because it's actually any good (old fogey alert!)

i also like Planet Rock when I am in the mood and the specialist jazz and blues shows on Radio 2 but other than that it's news or classical for me with Spotify providing a 'radio' station that I can tune to my tastes 

DiscoStu

I guess because some stations are based around the charts and playing popular acts to get the large listener base that their funding requires.
Radio 1 being the obvious choice but my local radio is just as frustrating music-wise.

I listen to 6Music now. They still have a playlist but it's lesser known stuff plus you get all sorts of music in between (not much 'pop'). It's a great mix but has much lower listener figures as a result and almost got shut down at one point. David Bowie helped keep them on air.

If you want a station that rarely repeats then try Radio Paradise.

Philly_Q

Planet Rock is as guilty as anyone else.  For any given artist they only ever play the best known songs.  It's all Wanted Dead Or Alive and Boys Are Back In Town.

ICBM

Because it's about ratings, advertising and the charts.

I don't hear much Noel and Liam Gallagher on the stations I usually listen to - if I did I would probably change the channel - but I do hear the same selection of songs too much for long periods of time... worse with some stations than others, but usually a different narrow range, so I don't always listen to the same stations.

Phil_aka_Pip

Its also about Funders. They have their ideas about what "should" be broadcast (at various times of day, even). Phil's Music Magazine on Ipswich Community Radio used to raise eyebrows because I wasn't playing up-beat pop at the time of day when conventional wisdom said I should have been. (I never played it anyway, and I also had Radio3-style silences between speech and music, despite being told not to).

TheBigDipper

Nearly all music radio says nothing to me about my life. 6 Music is an exception. Commercial stations exist to make money, they do it by selling advertising, so their programming reflects that. It's generally aural wallpaper. I can't stand any of them, apart from maybe Planet Rock if I'm feeling in a nostalgic mood and have the strength to tune out the ads when they pop up. 

To try and answer the OPs question - they haven't changed because their audience likes it that way. One benefit of radio is that someone else picks the songs and you don't have to do anything other than turn it on.

EricTheWeary

When I could get Planet Rock on FM in the car it used a really limited playlist most of the time. There was a bit in the day when a listener chose the tracks. And, FFS, you'd get the same old Sweet Child, Boys are Back,etc. I don't know if your chances of getting on air where greater if you made the least interesting choices or if most listeners simply only want the most familiar tracks. 
IIRC the listening figures for R6 are pretty tiny, I guess partly because it's DAB/ internet only but I'm fairly sure most people most of the time aren't interested in radio being challenging or even varied. I'm not saying that's a bad thing it's just about how people use music radio.

thecolourbox

darius said:

30 million songs available for free to anyone on the internet.
And still every radio station playlist consist of Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, George Ezra and Rag And Bone Man on repeat every hour. For Alternative radio, add one old song by REM. 
It does my head in. Why are they unchanged?

Well George Ezra and Rag and Bone Man haven't been around that long so that list has changed at least once in the last few years

scrumhalf

You have to understand that our view of music is heavily skewed.

For most people it's something in the background and if the choice of listening is left to someone else then it's one thing less they don't have to think about.

JAYJO

I just leave it to do its thing in the background. You see Im easy like sunday morning and the higher you build your barriers the taller i become!. Honestly would i lie to you baby? 
You and me were solid as Rock. 

randella

BBC 6Music is the answer to some, if not all, of those problems.

proggy

You could always re-tune your radio.

darthed1981

randella said:

BBC 6Music is the answer to some, if not all, of those problems.

It may be an answer to most problems, bless it.

Only the BBC could have a station like that.

Phil_aka_Pip

proggy said:

You could always re-tune your radio.

Or whack a CD in the slot. Thing is, you have to use a few brain cells to select it ...

Stuckfast

Radio 3 is and always has been brilliant. And I have never heard an Oasis song on R3.

thecolourbox

darthed1981 said:

randella said:

BBC 6Music is the answer to some, if not all, of those problems.

It may be an answer to most problems, bless it.

Only the BBC could have a station like that.

If anything, 6 music to me is rather unlike the BBC on the basis that it is listenable, not political propaganda, not arrogant and smug etc etc

darius

I get that there are one or two stations have some variety, I just dont understand why mainstream radio is still in the same rut formula of a playlist of 20 songs repeated repeatedly ad infinitum, changing one song every couple of months. 
I thought spotify would have forced some variety to keep listeners.

Rocker

Radio and TV are merely vehicles to sell advertising. Music, chat shows, all the other types of shows are only to keep you listening or watching. They are not and never were meant to entertain or inform. If they do either, it is simply a happy accident.

richardhomer

darius said:

30 million songs available for free to anyone on the internet.
And still every radio station playlist consist of Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, George Ezra and Rag And Bone Man on repeat every hour. For Alternative radio, add one old song by REM. 
It does my head in. Why are they unchanged?

Would you be happier if they played ‘Colourblind’ - or one of your other early singles?