Too Good to Last
I suppose I knew that having a decent commercial station in RTP was something that wouldn't last very long. Sure enough, 100.7 (The River) quietly switched from an adult-alternative format that I really liked a couple of weeks ago to classic rock. That made no sense to me until I flipped past Clear Channel's WRDU (106.1) over the weekend and realized that they've gone country. That brought back memories, since they only came into existence back in the mid-80s after the previous AOR station, WQDR, went country (as they still are).The Triangle area airwaves are dominated by Clear Channel and locally-owned Curtis Media Group and Capitol Broadcasting. With the format changes in the Clear Channel group, the only stations really playing non-oldie non-country music are G-105 (Top-40 crapola) and Curtis Media Group's 96-Rock, which skews way too heavy for my tastes (not a big Creed fan). There are, of course, a large number of university-aligned stations, but State's WKNC (We Know Numerous Cows) was still even heavier that 96-Rock last time I checked, Duke's WXDU can't really be pulled in beyond 15-501 and UNC's WXYC, once my station of choice, rarely plays anything that has, like, a tune or a recognizable song structure and I don't always want to have to work so hard to listen to music. WNCU at NC Central is a nice jazz station but jazz is not what I'm looking for.
So, crap, does this mean I have to bite the bullet and go XM? This wouldn't have been a big deal the last few years but now that I'm a daily commuter it's become a little more of an issue. Suggestions?
4 Comments:
As much as paying the fee stinks, I do LOVE my XM.
XM has lots of music variety, although if you're in it for sports coverage, Sirius may be the way to go.
I don't know I lived before XM came into my car / house / boombox I wish I could carry with me everywhere.
m.
Bite the bullet, Tony. We only listen to it at the gym, but that alone has proved it a worthy addition to the music system. If I were commuting, I'd have it myself.
Check out both XM and Sirius. You can preview them on the net. I started with XM two years ago and just switched to Sirius last month (the new truck came equipped). Both have an amazing playlist, but one thing I noted with XM lately is their trend toward commercialization of many stations.
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