Radio stations—Angela’s turn for an observation

Radio and television both are pretty different here. More on television later. I think the most annoying thing I’ve found so far—and of course this was the case when we vacationed here—is the crappy music selection on the radio. I don’t recall if CD stores have more variety, but the radio stations throughout New Zealand suck big time. And they suck because they play sucky music.

Each region has its own station so when you drive 50 km you have to constantly search for new radio stations. And there are about 3 per region, each with their own theme.

The “Classic Rock” station plays all the old rock one-hit wonders: Pink Floyd songs I’ve never heard have been big with the recent death of one of their guys, plenty of hair bands, Pearl Jam’s Last Kiss (remake of that oldie-but-goodie even though it’s still not good), and The Final Countdown give you a good idea of what is on these stations. BLECH. You may be saying, those aren’t classic rock songs? Exactly, but they call it so. It is really a selection of crappy one-hit wonders that they have reclassified as rock. I mean, the only Pearl Jam song we’ve heard—twice—is that Last Kiss. HUH?

“New Rock” stations have all your new music and the catchy line: “Today’s hits from the 80s, 90s, and whenever!” Whenever? Exactly again—they play anything they want and call it new rock. Still, Nelly Furtado is big here right now. Then there’s that stupid Gnarlys (sp?) Barkley song which is the most requested song. And that’s about it for anything familiar. Otherwise, it is crappy Euro sappy girl songs and boy bands. Have you heard the new Lily Allen song, “Smile?” Neither have I, it is absolutely dreadful. There’s another sappy pop song Forever Angel or something. One of the songs they are playing a lot is from a band called Evermore, “Running.” Eh. Oh, I can’t forget the Aussie redo of Forever Young, and there’s the redo of Somebody’s Watching Me (yes, Rollo? With Michael Jackson), and you’ll hear about every 2 hours or so the Fine Young Cannibals’ She drives me crazy. I’ll tell you what’s driving me crazy . . . take a listen to some of those on Itunes if you get a chance.

The “Old Timer Favorites” make up the last stereotypical station: one-hit wonders from the “70s 80s and whenever” I guess, but they are all oldies and even though I grew up in a house that played music from the 50s, 60s and 70s, I’ve never heard of most of these songs.

I suppose to only worsen the situation, for some reason this entire country and all three of your stereotypical stations are IN LOVE WITH Nickelback—cuz they are Canadian or something??? I have no idea, but you will hear Nickelback songs that were never even released everywhere, absolutely everywhere. I feel like I’m watching the annual NHL awards all the time.

Even though it may seem like 3 stations is a lot to choose from, remember that I told you that you have to re-scan new stations about every 50 kms? Guess what, you hear ALL THE SAME SONGS every time you get to a new town because you’ve not heard their hour-long set yet, and it is exactly like the one you just heard!!
So, I’m totally giving up on radio and will find a way to use my ipod in the car. And at least I know I can listen to KTCL online.