When are we going to do something about FM radio?
America has an amazing amount of incredible music, some even
recorded before the 20th Century. But only occasionally do we
hear a smattering of '20s and '30s jazz, vintage country & western, hillbilly, blues and folk recordings,
and usually only at odd hours on non-commercial radio stations. Instead of providing its listeners with the
rich tradition of American music (and other great music from around the world)
FM radio permeates the airwaves with absolute rubbish.
As a truck driver I am constantly scanning the FM dial as I
travel the country over the roads, far and wide. I have come to detect that
music is roughly being corralled into genres of horribleness on the radio dial.
Toward the top of the dial you’ll find top-forty schmaltz. What
comes out of the speakers is some sort of cacophony of music-like sound, played
by bands with names unknown to anyone much over 25 who play as if music has no
past. It is fluff, built on nothing faintly solid. Listening for any length of
time to this bitsy drivel makes me worry for future generations.
Next in line are a few “classic rock” stations. Instead of
playing “the music of my (baby-boomer) life” we are treated to endless
iterations of Eagles, Fleetwood Mac songs and the like. You are lucky to hear
an occasional Beatles or Rolling Stone song (but always the same ones, never
their more obscure and creative and interesting tunes). I guess the “classic”
age of rock was the 70s and 80s. But as far as I’m concerned the most classic year
for rock was 1967 – or any rock ‘n’ roll or doo-wop or (real) rhythm and blues from
the 1950s through the early psychedelic era and up until about 1972.
As you continue down the dial you’ll hear heavy metal,
hard-driving, worn-out guitar riff-raff
junk. Especially when I hear the hideous screaming that accompanies this
headachy noise (that stands-in for lyrics) I sometimes think this stuff comes
directly from the depths of hell, appreciated mostly by soldier-robots who have
delighted in mindless killing out and about the Middle East, or by tow
truck-driving grundoons who just plain hate to think about much of anything.
Around the middle of the dial are the “new country”
stations. Here the listener is treated to the latest from representatives of
the dumbed-down idiocracy, bleating in puerile-sounding glissandos, oft times
rap-like, but with an affected country twang. I’d vote this genre as the most
tasteless and degenerative. Its lyrics are banal and offensive to the ear. They
have zero musicality. One gets the feeling that these tunes are contracted for
by some factory that pumps this gruel for witless twits to mouth for deluded
masses with bad eating habits whose brain cells have been misfiring since they
began to teethe.
Sprinkled in the middle of the dial is the equally no-talent
black, hip-hop stuff that hardly qualifies as music. This recorded, repetitive
ignorance is more like a virus that implants mind parasites guaranteed to leech
the goodness from the soul. There is also another brand of black music to be
found around mid-to-low dial that is a caricature of earlier, real soul
singers. These no-voice pretenders just swoon in a mock “black style”. The
music has no originality, let alone any true, heartfelt authenticity capable of
stirring the soul of even a chipmunk.
Besides the burgeoning Spanish-speaking stations, as we
continue down the dial we inevitably encounter what is termed “National Public
Radio.” In fact, this is the voice of your nanny government disguised as caring
and concerned, complete with reasonable-sounding poseurs who are paid to spout
the latest propaganda. It is a sugar-coated version of events from the
perspective of those who stage-manage the actions of Empire, and who also control
the media. You’ll probably be best off if you accept the opposite of what is
being preached here. The same goes for the BBC. True, (unlike NPR) the Brits
broadcast for an audience on a higher level than a four-year old. So they are
more intelligent in their delivery. And with their oh-so-authoritative British
accents they offer up more believable hodge-podge of news and interviews. But
be not fooled – it is more of the mind control of Empire coming at you. (This
becomes especially noticeable when you hear a pompous, Brit Interviewer talking
in a strident and hectoring manner to some “more indigenous” interviewee – who
may even happen to be a deputy head of state.)
Also on the lower end of the dial are the preachers, most
with Southern accents, pandering to the audience with such terms as “family radio”
and “Bible-based theology”. It seems mostly Baptist, but there is also Catholic
radio to be had. I sometimes listen to their Bible stories and their moralizing.
I used to enjoy listening to gospel music, occasionally, but there’s not a
whole lot of that left. Instead there is this something else going on – I cannot
fathom the value of recently minted, so-called “Christian music” with its
cloying and saccharin vibes and “Godly” (or should it be “goodly”?) sentiments.
Other than NPR, the BBC and the preachers, there is very little,
if any, talk to be had on FM radio anymore. Mostly it comes in the form of
morning radio shows, like the Bob and Mike show or Lisa and John in the morning
– jackasses all, spewing their trash talk and mindlessly guffawing about
nothing. One can occasionally tune in
the deluded branch of the right wing, like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Mark
Levin. The role of these dupes is to fire up the audience anxiety level and
give the impression that We the People know what’s going on. It’s a game of blame shifting, usually to the
puppets in Congress, instead of exposing their paymasters and handlers. This
type of invective is noteworthy for what it leaves out in the overall calculus
of corruption and deceit.
And so, as a purveyor of the FM dial I have come to some
conclusions. Nanny government controls the otherwise freely accessible FM dial stations (recently known as music and talk radio). Commercial interests advertise their products
here – even the latest TV shows and internet social media feeds are hawked on
FM now. Disc jockeys and radio announcers are not allowed much discretion in
analysis and presentation. It seems that Clear Channel (or its successor) runs the whole show now,
together with the FCC. There seems to be a big suspicion and fear of real music
and authentic, public discussions of issues. I’ve heard that real jazz (not the
imitation, easy-listening variety) arouses the anarchist soul – and of course
discussion kindles thinking (an anachronism no longer wanted or tolerated by
our would-be, globo-masters). But I think there's really
something more demonic going on than the mere political; I think the government wants to
keep the populace who listen to FM radio in a state of demoralization or “vibrational deprivation,”
for lack of a better term. All I know is that there is some asinine desire by
those who think of themselves as our controllers to deprive us of our rich musical
legacy - those vibrations that soothe, educate, and please. Why?
When are we going to do something about FM radio?
