89.3 The Current Confirms Lame Programming
If you have noticed a bit of unwanted consistency on 89.3 the Current lately (i.e. their tendency to play songs over and over – as Josh recently pointed out) this interview conducted by Gimme Noise’s Andrea Swensson with some staff members may shed a little light on what’s long been suspected – that the station has started putting most of its programming on auto-drive. Here is how DJ Mark Wheat puts it: “this music is good enough, it should be able to stand being programmed in a way that a mainstream audience expects hit music to be programmed.” I remember early on when you could expect the unexpected from the Current – like hearing Louis Armstrong back to back with the Sex Pistols, followed by a Public Enemy jam. Sadly those days appear to be over. I am not sure who is more to blame though – the listeners who demand that they get to hear “Horchata” every time they turn on the radio, or the station who seems to have lost its guts.
And wow, could they have picked a less-flattering photo of Mary Lucia?
— Jon Behm
P.S. I am still a fan of the station in some ways – including its commitment to covering local music, its giving back to the community, and its artist in-studios. Actually listening to the station though is just something I don’t do much anymore these days.
First off, Mark Wheat said that quote, not Jim McGuinn. It was said when talking about how their programming USED to be, and the next paragraph is basically how they are changing it again to make it more diverse – via listener feedback. The most they generally play a high rotation song is about 15 times a week (via McGuinn’s statement in the article), or twice a day. They also talk about striking a fine line between the mainstream audience & the listeners who listen all the time. Yes, they are more repetitive than they were 5 years ago, but they are less repetitive than they were 6 months ago. So they are going the right direction for those of us who listen more often.
“Both Wheat and McGuinn stress that they listen to feedback from their listeners and take that feedback into account when making programming decisions — whether it means playing a request from a caller or loosening up the entire playlist to have less repetition, something they have done in recent months.”
Also, last I heard, using a photo from a commercial site or using a photographer’s photo without permission was called infringement.
Yea, Mary Lucia is not depicted in a flattering way at ALL in that photo…
I agree with a lot of what you have to say. I’ve rarely listened to 89.3 at all the last few months because every time I turned it on, it was the same 6 or 7 songs again and again. Just like when I am forced to listen to 94.5 at work, only with “trendier” songs.
I’m glad someone finally said publicly what so many people have been bitching about for months now. I agree that that their commitment to supporting local music is great (But really, shame on them if they *didn’t*. They have a goldmine here.) but their musical vision continues to narrow as time goes on. (Remember the horrid U2 single that was released last year? And remember how they played it over and over and over and over? I do.) If it is true that they’ve started returning to their roots then maybe I’ll start listening regularly again but until then, I’m going to stick with my collection and occasionally tune in to listen to in-studios and the local show. Maybe.
It seems like when that new program director from Philadelphia showed up the music has slowly gotten more safe, more predictable, more vanilla. I honestly sometimes can’t tell the difference between the Current and Cities 97. I haven’t listened for a long time. I guess it allows Radio K and KFAI, i.e. REAL independent radio stations to continue doing what they are doing- playing diverse music. The Current has become more uninspiring over the past few years. So sad.