This has been on my mind for years now:
Why do most radio stations insist on playing the same selection of songs over and over?
I imagine it must be a copyrights thing? Pay for usage of this particular catalogue for a year?
Don’t those DJs get absolutely sick of it after a while?
Radio stations used to have actual, human DJs. They were smart, funny and they knew what people really wanted. After the ClearChannel takeover, almost all of those stations are automated. The music playlists are decided by corporations and have no connection to the real world.
There was a radio station who’s whole thing was that they would never play nickleback. Then one day they accidentally played nickleback. The Playlists were coming from some head office 5000 miles away, and they missed pulling a nickleback track once it got to the local station.
And the Clearchannel takeover was set loose by the Telecoms Act of 1996. Prior to that, it was illegal in the US to own more than 7 units of media - any combo of radio or TV stations, magazines, newpapers, etc. There was too much media for the billionaires to own it all under the old regulations.
Jack FM was a joy to listen to - at least in the early days - because they got rid of DJs. They wanted the effect of listening to mp3s on shuffle. I have never enjoyed DJs and I think it’s pretty common. Just play music and back announce the tracks.
Good DJs can play a set and back announce the tracks. Jim Ladd on KLOS comes to mind as a DJ I would specifically tune into back in the early 00’s. This was because of the awesome sets he’d produce, intermixing top hits with b-sides and deep cuts, truly expanding my knowledge and love of classic rock.