I’ve had a lot of computer jobs. Typically one of the joys of working on a computer was I could listen to free radio online while I was at work. I’ve had great experiences with a couple of specific services. A while ago I had a job actually at a radio station with an online service. I scheduled ads and created a daily log the DJs used as they went through each programming hour. At the radio station anywhere you were in the building you could hear what was currently on-air. At your desk you could turn it off and since they played primarily indie rock at that time and I didn’t like it, many times I’d just pick things myself from their music library.
The radio station had morphed from a small college station into a fairly popular NPR music station. It had been listener funded and still was somewhat, but it was also funded by a museum run by a wealthy local. We had to constantly cycle ads for the museum because of that funding.
If you wanted, the station had a service where you could listen to radio online free all over the world. A friend from Seattle lived in Asia and he streamed the station in there. Because of the big time difference he only heard the nighttime broadcasts.
He thought the station was still as creative as it had always been.
Since I knew better I wished I could listen to radio online free for the night broadcasts too. I couldn’t of course, but there were no ads and DJs could play the music they personally selected.
In daytime the programming manager made each on-air DJ cycle specific numbers of songs from a group of CDs he selected. These were currently popular CDs only. And the ads got more mainstream too even though as an NPR music station they had to use a list of guidelines.
I wasn’t the only one who stopped listening. Only indie rock fans continued to be excited by the station. I love music and like most styles except ironically much pop and indie rock. I got bored and frustration with the music at the station and after a while I needed to quit my job. As scheduler I had been given many perks. I got to see a lot of free concerts. I did miss that.
The concert choice got more restricted because of the limited genres they were now playing. My friend visited from Thailand and heard the prime time programming. He disliked it as much as I did. They may be different these days but I have not tried the station for a long time now.
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