Do Your Local AM/FM Radio Stations Play Metal?

Is this a US-only discussion?

None here. I'm from Mumbai, India, and there's very little international music played- just a tiny fraction of the total daily programming. Not too long ago, there was enough on radio (at least two hours a week), but that was back in 1999-2000, but that show (whose anchor was my neighbour) was often cancelled. It was also a bit of a promotion for new bands and albums (and the odd retro piece) from Sony, which was disappointing. Then there were multiple options across stations and I'd memorise every one of the timings and stations, but now, there are none. Any stations that play metal are forgotten- too much Bollypop, too much Bieber (well, not quite, but international DJ-pop and pop stars of today). It's rather sad, that market dynamics seem to push metal out of the radio broadcasts here, when there are plenty of fans who are seriously interested. Opeth and Hammerfall would agree on that- crowds came from all over the country to the southern city of Chennai for their events.

In fact, when VH1 was launched in India, it was hailed as something wonderful. Not so much now. Fans here would love to listen to such stations, though the metal fans I know are more interested in seriously underground bands.

Quote :

98 Rock always seemed to play more Metal than DC 101, at least when I was in High School. Do you remember when Stern used to be on DC 101?

Now - I have no idea, I don't listen to the radio outside of the WTOP (all news station) when I am in the car

Stern was a little before my time in the area. It was the Greaseman years at that point. I could never get beyond that guy's voice. I tried, but I just found it unlistenable due to that voice. DC 101 also seemed to play more classic stuff than 98 Rock did. I used to pretty much flip between those two when in the car.

Does WTOP still do "traffic and weather on the eights"? My mom used to have it on when we'd drive to school. I remember the Capitals Mike Gartner would call in with a Caps report just about every morning during the season. Made me a big fan of his. Ha, still bitter about the Gartner/Ciccareli trade even after all these years.

DC101 was an okay station back in the 80s. My favorite (whose name I cannot remember) was a cool "underground" station out of Cumberland, MD that at the time played classic rock...but they played all the cool album tracks instead of singles.

This was back in the pre-corporate radio days, before descending into that hell during the 90s, once all radio stations were stripped of any personality.

jstate wrote:

Quote :

98 Rock always seemed to play more Metal than DC 101, at least when I was in High School. Do you remember when Stern used to be on DC 101?

Now - I have no idea, I don't listen to the radio outside of the WTOP (all news station) when I am in the car

Stern was a little before my time in the area. It was the Greaseman years at that point. I could never get beyond that guy's voice. I tried, but I just found it unlistenable due to that voice. DC 101 also seemed to play more classic stuff than 98 Rock did. I used to pretty much flip between those two when in the car.

Does WTOP still do "traffic and weather on the eights"? My mom used to have it on when we'd drive to school. I remember the Capitals Mike Gartner would call in with a Caps report just about every morning during the season. Made me a big fan of his. Ha, still bitter about the Gartner/Ciccareli trade even after all these years.

I remember the greaseman he go fired

And yes on wtop

thejokeriv wrote:

I remember the greaseman he go fired

Remember why he got fired?

It was when they declared Martin Luther King Day a national holiday. In response, Greaseman (a scumbag of the lowest possible order) said something like... "If we kill 4 more of them we can get a whole week off!".

Douchebag.

S.D. wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

I remember the greaseman he go fired

Remember why he got fired?

It was when they declared Martin Luther King Day a national holiday. In response, Greaseman (a scumbag of the lowest possible order) said something like... "If we kill 4 more of them we can get a whole week off!".

Douchebag.

wow. No wonder he got fired. talk about being a jerk.

He also got fired from another DC station later for making a joke about the James Byrd lynching. Thing I remember was how he acted all contrite until some other stations were willing to hire him because of the controversy. Then it was business as usual for him. Like I said, I couldn't stand to listen to the sound of his voice for even a minute. Lucky for me.

There was one underground station (I believe it was called 97 Underground) that used to broadcast at night. Or at least that was the only time I could get it. Lots of thrash on there (first exposure to Death Angel was from them). I wanna say that one was in Hagerstown. But it could've been Cumberland.

Once the owner consolidations took place the DC/Balt. radio went down quick. I used to drive into Baltimore with work and would hear the same songs (usually in the same order) going as I heard coming. Narrow play lists was the thing that really killed radio for me.

Wasn't a fan of DC 101.

We have three rock stations in my area (yet amazingly all we ever get in the area in the way of concerts is country music):

99 Rock - The hometown rock station here in Fort Walton Beach. A mix of 70s & 80s classic hard/heavy rock (they even do a daily hairband segment in the afternoon where they play three hairbands in a row), the big 90s alternative groups like Alice in Chains, Nirvana, STP, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and post-grunge garbage. When they play new stuff, they're really more into Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman, Pop Evil, Seether, Shinedown rather than staying up with anything metal like Disturbed or Avenged Sevenfold. I stay away from this station as much as possible. It's been the same DJs for the 15+ years, doing the same shtick, spinning the same songs over and over and over and over.

TK 101 - Based in Pensacola, FL. 90s alternative, nu metal, post-grunge, modern metal such as Avenged Sevenfold & Godsmack... You'll never hear Zeppelin or a hair band on this station! I like it because they play Lex & Terry in the mornings. Despite trying to stay hip and heavy, they don't play metalcore, which I am very thankful for.

103.1 The Blaze - New station that started up in town last month that focuses mostly plays the same as TK 101 but focuses a lot less on '90s alternative. Most of what they play is any rock/metal from nu-metal through today. No metalcore here either.

We actually have a classic rock station that is locally owned, well, sort of, it is a state over but it focuses on the east side of Oregon/Washington and it plays some hair bands.

The corporate rock station in town might play some Metallica but it's focus is newer stuff.

So the basic message is...

...RADIO SUCKS!!!!!

Only thing i know of here is that show The House Of Hair hosted by Dee Snider if its still even on.

Wurthless wrote:

All we have is country stations (being in the south, there are like 6 of 'em), pop/rap/hip-hop stations, and a coupla classic rock stations. One of the classic rock stations, 95.7 The Ride, plays some good songs, but nothing metal besides the occasional hair metal tune. 99.7 The Fox is okay sometimes, but they play just the usual Zep, Sabbath, and Floyd.

I don't listen to radio much anymore though, so it's of no annoyance to me anyway.

6 country stations? No doubt playing such thoughtful, inspiring songs like "She thinks my tractor's sexy". Like Nashville must be out of song ideas.

The classic rock station out here plays a handful of metal songs, but it's all the ones you'd more or less expect. No surprises whatsoever.

The other current music stations don't have any metal on them. One of the "current" radio stations a number of years ago absolutely refused to play Creed (!), only giving in when they couldn't ignore them anymore. I could see them doing that with say, Metallica, but refusing to play Creed because they're "too heavy" is a bit disturbing. Eek!

I am not saying that the local radio stations should or shouldn't play metal. It's not under my control, and I really don't care. But I can see why people would be for it. There are two colleges in the area. There is a college radio station, but it's on campus only; you can't get it in your car or home stereo. Yes, the college station does have a metal show.

Animal wrote:

Wurthless wrote:

All we have is country stations (being in the south, there are like 6 of 'em), pop/rap/hip-hop stations, and a coupla classic rock stations. One of the classic rock stations, 95.7 The Ride, plays some good songs, but nothing metal besides the occasional hair metal tune. 99.7 The Fox is okay sometimes, but they play just the usual Zep, Sabbath, and Floyd.

I don't listen to radio much anymore though, so it's of no annoyance to me anyway.

6 country stations? No doubt playing such thoughtful, inspiring songs like "She thinks my tractor's sexy". Like Nashville must be out of song ideas.

well to be fair, new metal songs are exactly trendsetters either. I think the number of country stations is because of the demographic.

Plus there is different kinds of country. You have modern country (or as I call it faux country), classic county (real country), & alternative country (which is a country/rock mix).

speed101 wrote:

Only thing i know of here is that show The House Of Hair hosted by Dee Snider if its still even on.

Yes, surprisingly.

I don't think the RADIO will survive for another 10 years in highly developed countries

The Internet is killing everything in it's path

DallasBlack wrote:

So the basic message is...

...RADIO SUCKS!!!!!

AM/FM radio certainly does, especially corporate owned. You can still find good tunes on college radio, but their reception area tends to be highly limited. Overall, I've all but abandoned AM/FM for internet radio.

EmoElmo wrote:

I don't think the RADIO will survive for another 10 years in highly developed countries

The Internet is killing everything in it's path

AM/FM radio is pretty much killing itself.

Animal wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

So the basic message is...

...RADIO SUCKS!!!!!

I've all but abandoned AM/FM for internet radio.

I only open the radio during Power outages, and that only happens once in a blue moon

I used to like Internet radio, but now it has become boring for Metal (too overwhelming for me) Now I only use it primarily if I'm in the mood for some New Age, Contemporary Christian or World music

On Topic, the closest thing to Metal that you can get in my area is Maroon 5

EmoElmo wrote:

On Topic, the closest thing to Metal that you can get in my area is Maroon 5

Maroon 5...*shudder*...

There aren't that many bands out there I truly hate, but man, do I ever hate Maroon 5.

Quote :

Maroon 5...*shudder*...

There aren't that many bands out there I truly hate, but man, do I ever hate Maroon 5.

I second that, guys voice makes me want to hurt small animals.

Growing up in Ohio I could pick up a college radio station out of PA that had a 4hr metal show & played a good variety of metal throughout the day. WMMS out of Cleveland was about the closest thing commercially. Then in 86 Cleveland got Z-Rock, and well...

In the Carolinas 95.7 used to have "Strictly Metal" & "Metal Shop", and was on its way to being a full-time metal/hard rock station when it changed formats & went the album deep cuts direction. The Fox is classic rock & play the usual suspects mixed with some Skynerd, Hank Jr., CDB, etc.

S.D. wrote:

thejokeriv wrote:

I remember the greaseman he go fired

Remember why he got fired?

It was when they declared Martin Luther King Day a national holiday. In response, Greaseman (a scumbag of the lowest possible order) said something like... "If we kill 4 more of them we can get a whole week off!".

Douchebag.

Yep, I remember that - you are correct, he is a douche bag.

I haven't really listened to local radio in about 5 or 6 years now. As far as I know, there are only 2 rock stations left in my town.

One is classic rock, so they won't play anything after 1985 or so and the other is one of those corporate rock stations that has a limited playlist of all your Nickelbacks and whatever passes for modern rock these days.

So, the answer would be a resounding "no".