Music to my ears

This evening it struck me that political blogging is a pale, distant second to playing good music with good friends over numerous beers. It also occurred to me that there are actually a number of really talented musicians around here, and I never hear any of them. Partly this is due to the full-time parenting position I hold, and partly this is due to an inexplicable lack of local exposure for local musicians outside the bar scene. Why is it that local radio stations almost never play local musicians?

I listened to a CD of a local musician here I’d never even heard of which was really fantastic, and I really feel like there’s some absurd negligence on the part of local radio stations in not playing these local bands.  It’s not as if locals listening to the radio wouldn’t be thrilled to hear their very own best and brightest on the airwaves. It’s some diabolically foolish strategy that radio stations have adopted over the last few decades which dictates that every song heard be a hit or at the very least a near hit if it is ever to be played.

Local talent is crowded out, ignored, not even acknowledged.

I think radio DJs should be more like bloggers and the radio industry should be more like the internet. Anyone who wants to start a station should be able to, and should be able to play any damn song they choose.