The End of the Dr. Demento Show On Radio 206
damnbunni writes "Dr. Demento has announced that his long-running comedy radio show will be ending (except weekly in and around Amarillo, TX). Modern 'format' radio has been less and less friendly to oddball and offbeat programming, and after years of declining station membership the Doctor announced on June 6 that his radio show will be no more. He will still stream weekly shows on Saturday from his website, drdemento.com. While I'm sad to see the show go, nearly 40 years is a good run."
A bang or a whimper (Score:4, Insightful)
It's sad to see it go. The show that helped so many of the musicians that geeks love make it big.
How will we get our entertainment in the future? I think the net will let shows like Dr. Demento thrive.
I wrote a column on Dr. Demento (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.irememberjfk.com/mt/2009/11/dr_demento.php [irememberjfk.com]
He's a legend, radio will miss him.
"Star Trekking, across the universe..."
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Nice write-up.
I agree he'll be missed, but, really, he hasn't been around for most stations since he left WW1. Music radio today doesn't even begin to resemble music radio in 1990. By the late 80s, most music stations didn't have network affiliations, much less run regular programming. The AOR formats of the 70s put a nail into that, as well as shows like Dr. Demento's. The stations who still do have significant network ties are overwhelmingly news/talk outlets. Why put on Dr. Demento when you can run
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Yes, losing his contract with radio's largest syndicator (WW1... is there anyone else left?) didn't help. When I was in high school (early 80's), the good Doctor was largely on AOR stations (at least where I was), typically late Sunday nights.
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WW1 was the big dog for a long time, but much of their reach was through the CBS and Mutual (how's that name for a blast from the past?) radio affiliates. Many of the music stations don't have any network connections at all these days. Many of the shorter network features that stations used to buy sat equipment for now come via mp3. Why spend #20k setting up a dish and a receiver, when you can just download all the history of rock morning prep clips over the internets? Pretty simple economics, unfortuna
Re:A bang or a whimper (Score:5, Interesting)
At least we can hear him on Saturdays. He hasn't been on the radio anywhere I've been for years; hooray, internet!
If it wasn't for Dr. Demento, nobody would have ever heard of Wierd Al. IMO some of Al's older stuff, like the polka versions of Rolling Stones songs, were his best; the stuff he taped at home and mailed to Dr. Demento.
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The pop stations near me played Weird Al and he was a massive hit on MTV (/me remembers music on MTV...) but if you meant Weird Al wouldn't have done what he did without Dr Demento, then I agree - in fact, I believe the live show where Another One Rides the Bus was largely his breakthrough (he had minor hits before that - My Bologna and such) and he was inspired by the show.
The live and demo recordings were fun, too - in fact, the demo version of Happy Birthday recorded on Dr Demento is FAR better than the
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you meant Weird Al wouldn't have done what he did without Dr Demento, then I agree
Yes, that's what I meant.
Ahh, the memories. (Score:4, Interesting)
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RIP for the Dr Demento Show (Score:2, Informative)
I grew up on Dr D in the 70s and even saw a live version in the 80s. Heartbreaking that it's fading into the sunset and that the current generation won't know the Dr. When I was growing up the big things on radio were the top 40 show and Dr Demento. While he had a show the truly twisted had a home. Without shows like his it's hard for such things to stand out. These days there's entertainment overkill. Unless it's a Youtube hit the odds are you'll never hear about it. Shows like Dr Demento gave a forum for
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When I grew up in the 80's and 90's the only way to listen to Dr Demento was on tape and later CD. By that time, no stations in my area were carrying him. It was all radio stations playing the major label's push-of-the-week.
The landscape changed. It used to be that the only place to find weird, unexpected, fun acts was Dr Demento. Now some kid in Texas can make a flash video [eviltrailmix.com] and suddenly [albinoblacksheep.com] the world [albinoblacksheep.com] shows up at their inbox [youtube.com]. Youtube, Digg, and even Facebook feeds all aggregate the offbeat for us.
I'm sad t
fishheads, fishheads,... (Score:5, Informative)
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Old Much (Score:2)
They used to play the video for that on Much Music in Canada all the time, so I guess you could say it was basically main-stream up here.
You're forgetting one thing: Back then Much wasn't the rigidly-programmed corporate hellhole it is now. VJs were allowed all kinds of freedom, and the station was run by people who knew how to have fun. That's how Moses Znaimer wanted it. Remember: They let Weird Al completely take over the station on 3 occasions.
Then CHUM's influence grew, Moses was forced out, it got som
Re:fishheads, fishheads,... (Score:4, Informative)
Not quite true. It was played occasionally on Anne Nightingale's Radio 1 request show (1980s, Radio 1, UK, Sunday evenings) which in itself was a national institution, and where I first heard the song. It now has a permanent place in my iTunes collection as a result (along with Kristina's version of "Is That All There Is?" and "Win a Night Out With A Well-Known Paranoiac" by Barry Andrews).
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I can trump that. I saw the video for it on MTV. You see, long ago, MTV used to play "music videos" which were kind of like little movies for songs. Now, they play reality TV shows like every other station, having been instrumental in popularizing the format.
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[sadness]
Dead radio shows...
Dead radio shows...
Dead radio shows... aren't much fun
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WOLLLLLF CRICK PASSSSSWAY UP ON THE GREAT DIVIDE
TRUCKINNNNN ON DOWNNNNNN THE OTHER SIDE
I could not disagree with you more. There was a ton of great stuff played on Dr. Demento.
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Alas someone complained and it became "Bleepies & Beer."
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ooooooooooooh. napoleon xiv reference :)
neato. personally, i really like the "I'm In Love With My Little Red Tricycle". oh, and "nuts on my family tree". oh, and "The Place Where the Nuts Hunt the Squirrels".
i've never heard dr demento (ex-ussr, no chance), but i know that napoleon xiv appeared on demento record releases, so thanks for popularising that :)
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That was probably the only show that played Captain Beefheart, but "they're coming to take me away" was actually a pretty big hit when I was a kid in the early sixties. I had the 45, the B side hade the song played backwards.
Oh, for the youngsters here, a 45 was a 45 rpm vinyl record that was slightly larger than a CD and would hold six or seven minutes worth of music per side at most. Most were two to three minutes per side. Usually but not always the A side had the song that you heard on the radio.
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The Kids Place Live channel on Sirius/XM plays it every so often, too. My wife will leave it on that channel even after dropping our son off at school because they play more unique/entertaining stuff there than on other stations.
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Re:fishheads, fishheads,... (Score:4, Funny)
Just thinking about it gives me the Existential Blues [www.last.fm].
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I loved Addotta's work. Continuous bad puns to silly music.
"...He said I'd blown a seal. I said, 'fix the damn thing and leave my personal life out of it, OK, pal?'..."
That and "Life in the Slaw Lane" were brilliant. It's too bad I can't find my old cassettes of Kip Addotta, he had a lot of other funny songs, though none of them half as funny as "Wet Dream" or "Slaw Lane".
Doctor Demento and Larry Glick were staples of my youth.
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Dr. Demento and Larry Glick... never thought I'd hear those two in the same sentence :)
I think Kip Addotta has a site where he sells his old albums. I emailed him a couple of years ago, but alas I haven't followed through to buy the album yet.
Thanks Mr. Hansen! (Score:5, Funny)
I listened to him on every Sunday,
The Funny Five and music skits,
But now that his show is all finished,
I can't help but feeling like
Shaving cream, be nice and clean
Shave every day and you'll always look keen!
Thanks Dr. D!
W
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My big problem with the show was finding stations that broadcast it. I don't know if it was ever listed, but even his web site didn't lis
Radio? (Score:2)
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It's as dead as dead puppies [youtube.com]. And dead radio shows aren't much fun.
Formative years... (Score:5, Insightful)
When I read this today, a was quite saddened. For whatever reason, I identified with Dr. Demento. I remember listening to him when I was 10/11/12. It appealed to me and helped me form my identity today. It wasn't like I was introduced to it, it was patently "un-cool", but the show and the music struck a chord with me. I understood it and I understood there were obviously other people out there who thought like me and were interested in the same things. Call it "geeky" or "nerdy" if you wish, but it was uniquely me in a way that few people around me could even begin to understand. A friend at a time I didn't have any.
Sigh... (Score:4, Funny)
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Alas... It's no longer time for number ooonnne! That was it, here it (no longer) comes... NUMBER ONE!!!
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Another one rides the bus.
Wrong artist... that's Weird Al.
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Heh! I have the LP that is from... "When you're in love, the whole world is jewish"
Lol, Irving :-)
Wow (Score:5, Interesting)
Reading through his website announcements there is like a timeline of and old school radio guy dying. I'm not going to pretend I'm a big Demento fan, but still kind of sad. We're closing up, we're losing money. We got only 100 orders for a last ditch money making idea. We're clearly being hurt by the decline of CD sales. We can't fill orders because we're working with Yahoo Small Business for some reason.
Just out of curiosity, why the hell is going online/podcast a last-last ditch effort for this guy? He's got a name recognition that would draw people in, and the format would seem to work well for podcasting. At the very least a podcast could drive people to his website and help him sell a few CD's/tshirts. I get he's an old school guy and up until recently still had a terrestrial broadcast to do, but you'd think someone would have come to them at some point and suggested this.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
Just out of curiosity, why the hell is going online/podcast a last-last ditch effort for this guy? He's got a name recognition that would draw people in, and the format would seem to work well for podcasting. At the very least a podcast could drive people to his website and help him sell a few CD's/tshirts. I get he's an old school guy and up until recently still had a terrestrial broadcast to do, but you'd think someone would have come to them at some point and suggested this.
Radio is a wasteland. Honestly, I didn't even know he was still on the air. I never got to hear him locally.
There are so many weird and wonderful new things online. Just look at all the stuff that's being produced, from song parodies to music video parodies to fan films and the like. The impetus never went away, it's just not channeled through his show. As a case in point, MST3K. Had a great run, died a horrible death on the Skiffy Channel. Resurrected in the form of Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax. They both seem to be making money doing what they're doing. I just get a kick out of hearing Tom Servo's voice riffing on new, crappy movies. I only wish Trace was working on that project, too. Mike I could do without -- I'm still hoping Joel comes back. (Give it up, man. Yeah, I know.)
All that being said, I agree with the other poster -- Demento has huge name recognition. He should be able to get enormous traffic with it. Look at what the Onion's done with their online presence. And they seem to be making money -- at the very least they haven't closed up shop yet.
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There are so many weird and wonderful new things online. Just look at all the stuff that's being produced, from song parodies to music video parodies to fan films and the like. The impetus never went away, it's just not channeled through his show. As a case in point, MST3K. Had a great run, died a horrible death on the Skiffy Channel. Resurrected in the form of Cinematic Titanic and Rifftrax. They both seem to be making money doing what they're doing. I just get a kick out of hearing Tom Servo's voice riffi
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He is old school media. He thinks that way, and he is reacting that way.
The fact that he doesn't cornball radio doesn't mean he is avant guard in accepting new media paradigm.
Yes, he should have been doing this for years, but is seems to me being entrenched in the old ways killed him.
Ads (Score:2)
I've never heard the Dr Demento show. Did it have advertisements? or was it listener supported?
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No thanks. I prefer to post obliviously, because the conversation was part of what I wanted.
Obligatory (Score:2)
Guess this is the most appropriate response to a radio host dropping off the air, particularly one as famous as Dr. Demento.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwuy4hHO3YQ [youtube.com]
Missed but Not Missed (Score:2)
I didn't know it was still on, but that's mostly because I don't know what's on radio anymore except for the morning news station. I guess I'll just go out back and eat worms.
Looks like you have to pay to stream (Score:2)
No freebies - you pay $2 per show, or buy a membership and get access to everything.
Surprised (Score:2)
Another old media type that (Score:2)
doesn't get it.
2 bucks a show for 32 kbps?
Podcast it, sell ads. There are companies now the specialize in doing just that, and company have opened their doors to advertising on podcasts. 2 bucks a show ir a rip off.
Don't get me wrong, I used to listen to his show all the time. In fact I had 8 track tapes of weird AL that I recorded off the air.
Another step towards totally homogenous radio (Score:2)
It's too bad that this oasis of unusuality is leaving the airwaves. I listened religiously to the Doctor from around 1973 to about 1980. After that time, it was harder to set aside the time to listen every week and I gradually lost interest.
I did see a live Doctor Demento show sometime around 1977, when he came to my college and played some records from his vast collection that couldn't be played on the radio. I suppose that's one advantage of Internet broadcasting -- fewer restrictions on obscenity.
I'd totally listen if... (Score:2)
if he went back to his original format. On Sunday night I used to listen from 6 to 10 on KMET.
Back then he wouldn't just play wacky crap--at the time he claimed to have the largest music collection in the world and would play cuts from the 1920's, old jazz, and various bizarre stuff. I remember "My big 10 inch" long before Steven Tyler recorded it.
It also wasn't the same stuff over and over. The top 20 (I think it was 20 or 25 at the time, or was it always top 10?) rotated frequently and once a song got
KACV in Amarillo (Score:2)
KACV is the student-run radio station for Amarillo College. Frankly, it's one of the best college radio stations in the country. Now that ClearChannel/Cirrus own all the other radio stations, it's one of the best period.
http://kacvfm.org/ [kacvfm.org]
Yeah, it's got some 'Dead air... uhm.... .... .... Dead air...' due to the student DJing and announcing, but has otherwise excellent programming, including new release and jazz shows. It's also got some of the nicest, most competent staff I've ever had the privilege to meet
Where else would we have heard... (Score:2)
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown
Kinko, Kinko, the kid loving clown
if the kids just love me back I'll never wear a frown!!!
Kinko's in his Kinko car, pockets full of change
lots of dirty pictures and sticky candy canes.
All the kids love Kinko for the presents that they get
silly leather clothes to wear and happy cigarettes.
-Hi boys and girls, my name is Kinko the clown!!!
-Hi Kinko!!!
-And I really love you boys and girls!!!
Really, really....
-Aw
Ouch.. kiss Michigan goodbye.. (Score:2)
With the Good Doctor taking a bow, my former home state will be left to the not so tender mercies of that sinkhole of mediocrity and self congratulatory comedy, http://www.bobandtom.com./ [www.bobandtom.com] I weep for the future.
Re:I'm ignorant (Score:5, Insightful)
I live in a small town. Clear Channel is one more way to erode something unique. The corporate whores at the FCC have decide to server their corporate masters, and this is just one more sympton.
Re:I'm ignorant (Score:5, Funny)
The corporate whores at the FCC have decide to server their corporate masters
Yes, I too have servered my corporate masters every now and then. From great distances I have hurled 1U, 2U and every now and then 4U servers towards their heads. Sadly, despite their weight and looking very sturdy, servers break too easily for servering my corporate masters on a regular basis.
I'm planning to bring out a book in a year or two: How to server man.
FWIW, I make the same typo nearly all the time ;)
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Fixed that for ya.
Re:I'm ignorant (Score:4, Interesting)
Dr. Demento was syndicated, not local. He is definately niche.
Too bad there is not some system that can allow people to connect and search for content using computers.
I also live in a small town and if it weren't for the clear channel stations, I'd receive no radio stations (we have weak local stations with lots of static).
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Dr. Demento was syndicated, not local. He is definately niche.
He wasn't always syndicated.
I used to listen to his (four hour) show on KMET 94.7 in Los Angeles in the 70s. Went to see one of his live shows broadcast from Los Angeles Pierce College once too.
Dang I'm old.
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Ahhh, "The Mighty Met!"
With Patrick "Paraquat" Kelley talking about 'face saddles', and 'belly stirrups', Dr. D, and a bunch of other good on air talent.
Also played great album rock. I was very disappointed the first time I heard them play a Flock of Seagulls song. They were dead to me after that.
Appears I'm old too.
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Don't bring up bad memories. The day I drove in to work, flipped on KMET (94.7) and heard New Age music coming out of my speakers was one of the saddest days of my life.
Re: The grandparent post
I loved the 4 hour format and the "Top 10". When the show was cut to two hours, a lot of the more obscure stuff was also cut out. The show also really grated on me when every week for a year or so Weird Al's "Another one Rides the Bus" came in #1 over and over and over again.
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Most of the Mighty Met staff gravitated to KLOS, but it's just not the same. KLOS is a Disney-owned corporate whore.
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Yes, I heard that. Back then I listed to KMET and KROQ quite a bit.
I remembered when I switched over to 95.5 (KLOS) out of disgust, the hosts there were discussing the overnight format change and subsequent lockout of all the KMET employees (who they said showed up for work to find all the locks had been changed). Such was the birth of 94.7 (The Wave). The rival station then hired quite a few of the ex-station's employees. That showed a lot of class.
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Dang I'm old.
Sounds to me like a case of the Existential Blues.
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You are incorrectly assuming that, in the absence of Clear Channel stations, some other broadcaster would not choose to use those same frequencies.
Another way to look at is that Clear Channel owns all the high-power stations in the area, leaving the little guys no room but to broadcast on low-power frequencies.
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If no-one values his work enough to pay for it, perhaps his work isn't that important after all.
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Yes, because as we all know, the only value of something is how much money it's worth.
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And how many Big Macs are sold, [pop artist here] albums are sold, etc., etc...
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I would suspect he wouldn't have too much trouble finding sponsors for the show. Leo LaPorte [slashdot.org] seems to be doing quite well for himself, for example.
Added bonus is that Dr. D has likely made his retirement money, and would be doing it for kicks and beer.
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Local radio and opportunities for niche programming are disappearing. We are left with Clear Channel drones broadcasting across the nation the same drab crap.
Dr. Demento was carried in my area by a clearchannel station, so while I agree with you that they are eroding creativity, that has nothing to do with this.
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Whoa. Is Clear Channel still in operation? Wow, I haven't heard a Clear Channel radio station for, sheesh, it must be eight or nine years now. I totally agree: it sucks badly; people should turn it off like so many of us already have.
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It is a shame that it is harder to find a place for something different in this world.
College radio has always been my favorite. We have WQNA [wqna.org] her in Springfield, "roughly the power of four light bulbs". They play pretty much anything and everything; I once heard Tennessee Ernie Ford followed by the Dead Kennedies followed by Johnny Cash.
In St Louis you have to be in Forest Park (or on the bluff with a very good reciever) to hear Washington University's ten watt station.
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Local Radio now online! (Score:2)
I recommend MIT WMBR if your in the boston/cambridge area, but being online it works anywhere:
http://www.wmbr.org/ [wmbr.org]
they keep a 2 week archive of shows online, if you miss one live. Lost and Found sounds is particularly interesting. Quality of DJs and music subject to programing. The pdf program guide gives descriptions of shows.
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Re:I'm ignorant (Score:4, Informative)
I have an email folder full of emails from NPR on how they wanted to support low power radio.
You are full of shit.
I have dealt with both organizations. Clear channel is full of entitled ass holes who think cities should do what they say because they own the radio stations.
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FYI, I live in a foreign (to the US) country, and I think NPR over the internet is fantastic. Better than anything else I can find for radio news. And I say this as an I.T. worker that listens to a LOT of radio every day.
FWIW, I also really enjoy 2 of the 3 www.groovera.com stations too, because what I really dislike is musical repetition; but I still need something funky and cool to work all those hours behind Le Machiné.
Viva le internet radio!
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WTF?
I can't stand to listen to NPR either, but it's mostly because ever since sometime shortly after 2000 they became another branch of cheerleaders for the so-called "centrist" Democrats and the GOP who want to bend over every time Wall Street asks for something. They're like CNN, only slightly more pompous about it. They may be somewhat harsh on the neo-"Know Nothings" who have been trying to take over the GOP in recent years, but that doesn't mean that they're liberal.
If you seriously think that NPR is
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Re:I'm ignorant (Score:5, Insightful)
Dr. Demento ran a syndicated radio show that focussed on the weird, offbeat, and just silly. Weird Al got his start there, for example. A large number of people in the geek community grew up listening to his show, especially as it's had a forty year run.
What's being lost? A bit of the unique, a bit of the oddball and unusual. Radio has become that little bit more boring and bland.
Re:I'm ignorant (Score:5, Insightful)
Though I agree with your sentiments, I have to point out, nothing is being lost. It is being redirected. As the Demento audience declines internet useage increases. Your strange, silly, and plain funny are now online. Radio is going the way of the newspaper. There is a new medium in town.
Re:I'm ignorant (Score:4, Funny)
What a bunch of ga-ga. I happen to have it on very good authority that radio is yet to have its finest hour.
Re:I'm ignorant (Score:5, Interesting)
Althought the commercial stations complain about the dominance of the BBC, the fact that there are so many quality channels on the BBC (no adverts, mandate to produce quality programming) forces the commercial stations to push similar content quality in order to remain competetive.
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mandate to produce quality programming
"You there! Entertain me! I demand it!"
How do you mandate that? (I do love Top Gear here in the US, and the US version of The Office... so I give them that.)
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Though I agree with your sentiments, I have to point out, nothing is being lost. It is being redirected. As the Demento audience declines internet useage increases. Your strange, silly, and plain funny are now online. Radio is going the way of the newspaper. There is a new medium in town.
I agree in general... There's plenty of strange, silly, and funny available online. Assorted videos on YouTube... Streaming stuff from Pandora... Assorted podcasts and blogs and Internet radio stations and whatnot...
But none of that is really as accessible as radio is.
Sure, if I'm sitting in the office or at home I can listen/watch as much as I want. But when I'm driving around in my car, or out on a bike, or walking, or whatever - it isn't nearly as accessible. Maybe if I've dumped a podcast to an MP
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Your last sentence hits the nail on the head, you should get a smart phone.
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Your last sentence hits the nail on the head, you should get a smart phone.
Except that isn't equivalent to buying a radio.
I'd have to purchase a smartphone for a couple hundred dollars. I'd have to sign up with a provider. I'd either be signing a multi-year contract or paying more for the phone. I'd have to pay monthly bills.
By contrast, you can buy a radio for less than $20 and tune in to whatever is available. No monthly bills (aside from whatever it takes to power the thing). No subscriptions. Nothing.
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There's a show on Tuesday mornings on WQNA [wqna.org], a local college station here, that plays Dr. Demento type music (I can't think of the name of the show). That's a very geeky station; there's one DJ there named "Commander Riker", there's a show called "Pemberton's Basement", and a friend of mine and fellow nerd, Mike King, has a blues show on Sundays at noon.
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The archive is right here. http://drdemento.com/online.html [drdemento.com]
It's not complete, and it's not free, but it's there!
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La Jolla. Like Pico, Sepulveda, Alvarado, Santa Monica, and Beverly Drive, it is a street in Los Angeles. La Brea (Tar Pits) [Tar Pits!] is both street and famous tar pits. Figueroa (as in Felix Figueroa) is also an LA street.
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