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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?
