Editor's note: Anyone who’s spent any time in a car with me has by now heard my rant about the long downward slide of radio in America several times. Online streaming stations and satellite radio are but glimmers in a deep deep hole. Perhaps with the next change of administration we’ll get an FCC commissioner who’s not in the pocket of industry. And ponies. Everyone will get a magical pony, too, that poops Skittles. In the meantime, Lisa Iannucci provides a look at what radio meant to a lot of us back in the day. Thanks, Lisa, and welcome aboard!
What is it about 1970's radio? Lately I have been bombarded with those bastions of K-Tel Records, Jim Croce and Cher, and I have been reveling in it. And it's not just the insipid nostalgia involved (though that plays a part, I'll admit.) What is it about the music of this era that has such a powerful hold on me?
Well, for one thing, we had Top 40 radio, and (aside from the occasional Paul Anka song) it was pretty amazing. When we were kids listening to the radio, we could hear almost anything in the space of an hour. And we could almost learn as much about our country from listening to Top 40 as we could by studying a social studies textbook. In an hour, we could hear out and out genius like The Beatles or Marvin Gaye followed by one-hit wonders like Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show followed by country gems by Tanya Tucker followed by what-are-they-doing-on-pop-radio classics like "The Lord's Prayer.” We could hear this stuff, and it would blow our minds. It would pick us up and shake us, would make us think about things we had never thought about before. Who were these people and what were they talking about? What’s going on outside my house, down my street, in my city, in my country? And how do I find out more? Top 40 radio was the quintessential American melting pot come to life on the airwaves. Sadly, that era has come and gone. The geniuses of today, with a few exceptions, seem not to be on the radio but tucked away on obscure websites or buried on Myspace. And music of and for the masses appears more polarized than a Bill O'Reilly booksigning.
I wonder how people discover music anymore. How do they know where to look? And when they do find it, is there still that thrill of discovery, that rush we used to get from hearing a really great new song on the radio for the first time? Are there songs out there now that are so instantly amazing that they make people want to get in their cars, roll down the windows and rush headlong into the night with the radio blasting?
It's not quite the same sampling a download on an iPod. There's not that immediacy, that sense of shared discovery, of knowing that though we may be alone in our bedrooms, there are thousands out there like us also hearing this great thing for the first time at the exact same time. And ironically enough, this incredible diversity, this vast selection that we have nowadays really seems to do nothing so much as push people farther and farther apart as the mainstream disappears and everyone retreats into his or her own favorite genre. It used to be that a single artist could galvanize the entire country, but no more. Will there be any Elvis Presleys in the 21st Century?
And what about the thrill of going into a favorite record store to buy a record we had heard on the radio and discovering some new band, meeting a new friend, hearing a great new tune? The excitement of waiting for the release of a brand new single or album by our favorite Top 40 artist? The fevered anticipation of saving up our money, waiting for the record store to open, rushing down after school and standing in line with other music fans and then rushing home to put the record on our turntables? The intensity of endlessly scanning the album’s liner notes hoping to gain some secret insight into that musician’s world? The thrill of sneaking one last listen with our headphones when our parents thought we were asleep?
Time passes and tastes change, and all of those rituals that once seemed so important to us are now forgotten. The radio of the ’70s and the pure excitement, the spirit of community it fostered are gone forever. And that's a big loss, no matter how cool the modern gadgets are. It’s funny how the passage of time alters our perspective on things, too. When we were living through them, we thought that as a decade, the ‘70s really sucked. Nixon. Gas lines. Vietnam. Watergate. Energy crisis. Farrah Fawcett. Yeah, they were all pretty darn putrid. But the radio—that was pretty damn cool.
Comments