Radio (Ain't ) Free America!

I hate commercial breaks. I hate them so much that I now listen exclusively to Minnesota Public Radio. Before January 24, 2005, if you saw me at a stoplight, I would invariably be switching stations to avoid commercials and to find one playing a song I hadn't heard a thousand times that day. But nowadays, look over at a stoplight, and I am happily rocking out to the sounds of Minnesota Public Radio!

Rocking out? To Public Radio? Scoff all you like, but here in Minneapolis, we are truly blessed to have commercial-free music, a la 89.3 The Current. The Current is a member supported "antiformat" station at which the dj's pick the playlist. This means The Current has a play list of almost 20,000 songs, versus the 150 song playlists at most corporate stations. They will seldom play the same song twice in a day and they introduce me to new bands all the time, without shoving them down my throat. Other stations, like the seven Minneapolis stations owned by Clear Channel, tell you what you are going to like. The Current, on the other hand, plays a broad sampling of adult alternative, indie-rock, hip-hop, folk, rockabilly, jazz, funk, techno, and pop, and they list every song they play--by the minute--on their website with links to the artists, so I can look them up later.   

The Current has a huge following of hipsters, intellectuals, artists, and teenagers. When The Current launched in 2005, it was completely experimental. No one had ever tried a membership-driven station marketed to young people. The public classical and jazz stations survived on the donations of financially established older adults. How deep could hipster pockets possibly be? 

Pretty deep, it turns out. And Clear Channel is a little whiny about it. They are becoming a serious threat to the Clear Channel dynasty in the
Twin Cities. Radio ain't free, America. Commercials pay the bills at most stations. We get to listen for free, but even if we don't pay money for the music, we do sell our souls to corporate radio stations as we sit through twenty minutes of advertising per hour. The Current is proving that people will pay for the opportunity to hear variety without commercials.

The main complaint Clear Channel has is that MPR and The Current are non-profit organizations who get state and federal tax breaks that are denied Clear Channel. MPR's fundraising is so successful that they look more like a for-profit company. They even have donors from across the country, because the station can be streamed live from the website, and people across the nation are catching on! In my mind, this is just proof that their formula works. People are beginning to recognize that the for-profit radio system is just one giant commercial. They force feed us the artists they want to promote, because they have an interest in their label. They force feed us advertisers who pay their salaries. And here in Minneapolis, we ain't havin' it! 

Here, we have The Hold Steady, Brother Ali, Hot Chip, Tapes -n- Tapes, Diana Krall, The Platters, and Jamiroquai, all on the same station. We have dj's who have enough control over their set to actually play the requests we send in. We have Radio (Almost) Free America! And it is free, if you choose not to donate...but I think once you listen, you'll realize what an important revolution The Current is, and you'll want to keep it going!  

Wanna stream it? Click the link I provided above. You'll see the playlist from the past several hours and you'll find a link to stream on the upper right of the banner.

 Rock on!

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