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Some LAists may remeber the halcyon days of the late '80s when Pirate Radio rocked the airwaves of many Southern Californians. For those of us who were still young and impressionable, 100.3 was cooler than KROQ could ever be; ultimately, it was also the last, dying gasp of independent radio (not counting college stations) in Los Angeles.
Radio has been in a slow decline over the past decade, slipping further and further into the corporate-controlled, advertisement-fueled abyss. Recently, however, things appear to have changed in LA. The popularity of stations like KCRW, KXLU and Indie 103 have created an upsurge in radio listening—a trend which places Los Angeles at the top of the re-burgeoning radio market.
With this news, LAist is left to wonder: are there others out there, singing along and drumming on their steering wheels while fighting traffic? Or is LA peopled with passive radio listeners, idly flipping channels for suitable white noise during the drive?
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I wasn't in LA during Pirate Radio, but my favorite was Groove Radio. I rarely drive much in LA now to listen to radio, but when I do, I end up with the radio off. I'll have to check out KCRW, KXLU, and Indie 103.
I could be wrong, but I thought Indie 103 was owned by Clear Channel. It's still really good (their online player is even linux supported!) - but it's not like I'm supported totally independent media by listening to it.
It's all about satellite radio now. Commercial free music and better news content.
People make a big deal out of the fact that Indie 103.1 is owned by Clear Channel. They are. It used to be a Mexican station, but now it plays indie rock and has shows hosted by Steve Jones and Hank Rollins. They even play local music, which is nice. And Clear Channel just announced new limits on the ammount of commercials its stations can play -- so you'll be hearing even less of them.
It could be so much worse -- NYC doesn't have a private radio station that good. Boston sort of does, but it's a bit off. So I consider myself lucky to have indie 103, and I definitely tap my hands on the steering wheel.
Oh, and KRCW's morning becomes eclectic is awesome.
I wasn't trying to imply that Indie 103 is independent. Actually, I heard about the association with Clear Channel when the original station went off the air last year around Thanksgiving, firing all their staff and going free-form until the Indie 103 staff was finalized. I tried the station out in the early days and didn't like it much, but lately I have heard that Steve Jones' show is really great from an assortment of sources.
Take that for what you will, but no, Indie 103 is not independent, despite their name. KCRW and KXLU, however, are college stations so they retain the title.
Can any radio station that isnt sitting 12 miles out in the ocean, staffed by music nerds, funded by donations be 100% indie? I think not. Everything is on a scale, and in radio (for anyone with an ounce of taste) its the crap factor that makes it MORE or LESS indie. For LA, or the country for that matter, Indie 103.1 is as good as it gets. KCRW has 3 hours of decent programming a day and the rest is robotic National Weather Station robot sounding DJs bleating on and on about some topic so obscure it could cause gall stones. White Men In Suits will always be a part of most businesses and at some point our dander has go down over it and consider that some things are a little more or a little less evil. In the end, evil is always part of the equasion. Indie 103.1 plays a ton of great music all day, has interesting interviews and Hank is on. I dont think you can realisticaly ask for a whole lot more than that. I'd rather have my kid listening to SexPistols than Brittney ANY day.
"Some LAists may remeber the halcyon days of the early '80s when Pirate Radio rocked the airwaves of many Southern Californians."
Not this LAist. This LAist remembers Pirate Radio rocking the airwaves in the LATE 80s.
Despite the "indie" tag, 103.1 still plays the same songs from the same bands repeatedly, except for the Jones and Rollins shows. With such a HUMONGOUS library of "alternative" music choose from, this is extremely disappointing.
Pirate Radio (100.3) lasted until the early nineties (92-93?), if my memory serves.
Sorry Tibor. That was a typo.
I meant late '80s, as I was barely old enough to be conscious of radio in the early '80s.
Oh, I must not forget Camp Freddy. Great show! The guys also songs that run the gamut and certainly NOT on the usual 103.1 rotation list.
All radio stations have programming -- it's just expensive to staff djs all day (whereas the college kids do it for free). So you're going to get repeats and whatnot. The rotation isn't too bad though, and usually songs are about 3 to 6 months behind the blogosphere, which isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things.
And Steve Jones gets away with murder -- especially for a lunchtime drive show on a clear channel station. I know the buddyhead kids hate him, but whatever.
Sorry to be a radio nerd, but a coupla things:
Indie 103.1 is owned by Entravision, a company that primarily owns Spanish-language radio and TV stations. They do own a few English-lingo outlets here and there, including Indie here and dance station KDL in Dallas (as you remember, KDL was also briefly tried here last year by Entravision on 103.1). Clear Channel has a deal with Entravision to sell the station's ad time.
"Pirate Radio," meanwhile, occupied the 100.3 frequency from 1989 to 1993. The station was owned by Westwood One, a pretty large radio company (which is now run by Viacom's Infinity).
Alas, there are few independent radio owners in L.A. anymore. Saul Levine still owns classical KMZT-FM and standards KSUR-AM, and Stevie Wonder's KJLH... but few others.
Yeah- lots of confusion- Indie 103.1 is NOT owned by clearchannel:
http://www.indie1031.fm/rollingstone.html
To clear up any confusion about the original post, LAist's use of the word "independent" was used in association with stations that don't adhere to the formatting used by many major radio stations. In the case of KXLU and KCRW, it also means that they are not owned by a media outlet, though KCRW is associated with NPR.
For a brief synopsis of the transfer (and my own insanely biased opinion of Indie 103), check out this post.
Pirate Radio of the 80s, yeah... but let's not forget KSCA at 101.9 which had a brief but brilliant run in the mid-90s until equally departed owner Gene Autry unloaded it (despite very vocal and active listener protest) to a buyer who immediately converted the station to a Spanish format that's now consistently tops in the ratings. T'was a sad day for the radio star then.