> I'm simply fascinated by the idea of being repelled by a more
> eclectic radio mix. I'll certainly give you your point about
> the smug-superiority factor of AAA, but that tag absolutely does
> not apply to WNKU, one of the best Non-Comm AAA stations in the
> country.
One of the best? Yikes. I don't care whether the station's daytime mix is
eclectic or not, I care whether it plays stuff I like, or at least don't
mind, which it doesn't often do; I'm not offering a criticism of the
station, but I don't care for what it programs, for the most part. Besides,
eclecticism is, to some extent, in the eye of the beholder; as someone
without much of a background in that kind of music, I'm unable to parse the
distinctions between a lot of it, and from that ignorant perspective, it
doesn't seem especially eclectic at all (note that I'm not counting the
specialty, weekend shows). I do agree, though, that WNKU is fairly un-smug
about its self-perceived superiority, once you get past the "intelligent
news and progressive music" slogan <g>.
>Beyond having fun playing "Guess the Next Line of this Song"
>(my average hovers around .750) listening to commerical country
>radio is at worst...lame. It is a format in desperate
>need to some self-examination.
I guess I'll have to check my guessing average at AAA <g>. Commercial
country is often lame, though as far as I'm concerned there are plenty of
exceptions (they're often on a song-by-song, rather than artist-by-artist
basis, but that's nothing especially new at country radio); indeed, part of
its lameness is that even the exceptions can get wearing when you hear them
over and over and over again in a pretty brief period of time. But the
musical vocabulary I hear on commercial country radio, even when it's used
to say stuff that's not very worthwhile, is a recognizable one to me,
largely related to more "traditional" country music, and the musical
language of AAA by and large isn't; I don't care for a lot of the rhythms,
and I don't like a lot of the textures. It don't move me. I guess I'd
rather hear something less than earth-shaking but in a language I can
understand than to hear something I can't make heads or tails of at all.
That's obviously a strained metaphor, but it does kind of get at the bottom
line for me.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
