Wednesday, March 09, 2005

My Favorite Online Radio Stations

Someone at the blog I post to with a group of friends posted this link today from the SF Chronicle online (sfgate.com). It's basically about radio stations that don't suck. I posted the same thing there that I'm about to post here, but I think it's deserving of being posted here. Besides, I have to try and use this blog more often now that I took the time to make it look nice.

From that Chronicle link, I highly recommend KEXP, WOXY, and one show on Indie 103.1. The show is Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and it's Monday - Friday from noon until 2 (if I remember correctly). It's great... blocks of the Clash, Iggy & the Stooges, the Cure, even the occasional MC5 track.

I used to listen to Indie 103.1 daily but then I realized they played basically the same songs in the afternoon that they played in the morning and I stopped listening. They also played this song I hate ALL the time... "Run" by Snow Patrol. I couldn't take it anymore. It's only "indie" to a degree because most of the stuff they play is in that sort of weird indie-on-the-cusp-of-mainstream category. And a lot of that stuff is honestly garbage. Snow Patrol, for instance. I hate them. And as the article mentions, Indie 103.1 is in the clutches of Clear Channel.

WOXY is pretty good too, although I was only introduced to it recently. I don't listen that much but when I do there's not much to complain about. It's more "indie" than Indie 103.1, but not nearly as well-versed in the obscure as KEXP. Their artist database is kinda weak, to be honest. They do, however, play a wider variety of genres than KEXP on an ordinary work day (for instance, right now on their recently played queue is a Buzzcocks song). One of the nicest things I've found is that if you play the station through iTunes, it will show you the name of the track currently being played. With KEXP you have to go to their website and keep the playlist page open to see the titles and artists. Also, someone else has pointed out there there is significantly less chatter on WOXY than KEXP.

KEXP is really awesome because it's listener supported and when you email a request they actually play it. It's in my opinion the best independent radio station that exists (bold claim, I know). They are always on top of the new stuff coming out yet still play the indie oldies that I remember from the days when I got the Matador Records catalog in the mail. They also have a very cool variety of shows (during the day it's basically all indie pop/rock but at night and on the weekends they play all kinds of other stuff... browse their streaming archive to get an idea) KEXP is by far my favorite radio station to stream at work. I listen to it a lot. The only thing that sucks is when they play crappy socially conscious hip hop.

Also, as a sidenote, that article is a good find, O Anonymous Poster, but the guy who wrote that piece sounds like a total tool. I mean...
This, then, is merely an overview, a sampler platter, a big sloppywet hint of the joy that awaits you once you turn away from the J.Lo/50 Cent/Kid Rock dark side and click back into the groove of what true radio was, should be and perhaps, if all stars align and the corporate choke hold is somehow loosened and the current draconian self-righteous agenda of the FCC dies a flaming white-hot death, will be again.

I guess he missed that lesson in journalism class where they warn against using clichés. CLICHÉ OVERLOAD! Yeesh! Does he even know what he's trying to say?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there Jess --- thanks for writing about us. I must agree with you that the 'artist database' portion of our website is weak. I am honestly not sure why it is still up there.

When we went off the FM dial last year and then relaunched as internet-only, our website got a new look. The artist profiles were ported over to the new site, but they haven't been updated in well over a year and it's one thing that certainly needs to be revisited!

For better or worse, there are just FOUR of us running this entire operation now that we're net-only. This means that some things on the to-do list are a little higher than others. :-)

Anyway, I came across your site while surfing for us on technorati and I wanted to thank you for tuning us in and giving us a mention. It means a lot.

cheers,
Matt Shiv
music director
WOXY.COM

aGreatNotion said...

Hey Matt...

That could possibly be the coolest comment of all time!

I always wonder if anybody *actually* reads this blog because I use it so infrequently. I usually post in my old LiveJournal because, well, it's easy, and I like the community feel of it. It's actually encouraging that you took the time to comment; I have motivation to update this damn thing. :)

Kudos to the four of you. You do an awesome job. And thanks again for taking the time to comment, it means a lot to me as well.

Cheers,
Jess

vishal said...

Its a good news for the internet radio listeners, now you can listen your favourite internet radio through this web site, we provide unlimited music 24/7, so go a head click here to rock.....
Enjoy your music,
Thank you.