Why no Blues Radio Stations?

[51PRI]

Practically every US town, or region, has a country radio station, a Top 40 station, maybe an oldies and gospel station, but I don't ever recall any blues radio station. (Not an online station)

I wonder why that is.

 

[Al T.]

There was a good blues station online from S.Korea about 20 years ago. It was called TUBE RADIO and it was great to listen to. It disappeared after a short run.

 

[51PRI]

There was a good blues station online from S.Korea about 20 years ago. It was called TUBE RADIO and it was great to listen to. It disappeared after a short run.

Well, sure, online...but even that disappeared after a short run. Is blues WAY more of a niche genre than a lot of musicians think it is?

 

[Al T.]

Have never heard of one.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Practically every US town, or region, has a country radio station, a Top 40 station, maybe an oldies and gospel station, but I don't ever recall any blues radio station. (Not an online station)

I wonder why that is.

As much as it pains me to say this... Country sells air time, Blues doesn't.

 

[donhank]

Is blues WAY more of a niche genre than a lot of musicians think it is?

Quite possibly. Here in the Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas area we have a wonderful listener-supported public radio station - KNON 89.3 "the voice of the people." Programs only stay on the air when they have enough money pledged to be self-supporting. I think we're lucky to have the Texas Blues Radio show on three days a week !!

 

[Marko 1]

I love Blues, but they can get boring... even tedious after a couple numbers.

Better to mix one or two in your setlists if you're doing variety, but that's it.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Is blues WAY more of a niche genre than a lot of musicians think it is?

Probably. My guess is that guitar players in particular (many of them, anyway) like it a lot more than the general public does.

This isn't meant to disrespect the blues as music. But it doesn't seem to have widespread popular appeal in the US these days.

 

[JonathanPDX]

Because they'd play all three blues songs and have to start repeats after 15 minutes.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Because as soon as you dial it in, your woman will leave you for another man. Add a lost dog, truck that won't start, hungover at work and you've got a country classic.

Riis

 

[Andy Marshman]

Well, I must have been lucky in October, 1991 when driving to N'Orleans from Memphis. I didn't know what to expect on any radio station, being a tourist. I thought I'd gone to heaven hearing great blues (and I'm not just a casual blues based listener). don't ask me to remember if it was AM or FM or what the station names were. All through Mississippi into Louisiana it was delightful listening.

 

[Cave Puppy]

I only need one blues. I only need one reggae, as well. We’re talking genres. Radio stations don’t do well if they don’t have variety. Top 40, AOC, Indie, etc. radio stations - they all have a variety of genres. Blues is a very specific genre. Not much variety to it for the average listener. No variety? Few listeners. Few listeners? No advertising. No advertising? No money. No money? No radio station.

 

[ELG60]

The market dictates that there's not enough interest in most parts of the country.

 

[crazyBassClown]

Is blues WAY more of a niche genre than a lot of musicians think it is?

I think many more musicians want to play it than people want to listen to it.
The reason for this I will leave up to you to decide but simplicity is way up on my list of possible reasons...

 

[gln1955]

The local public radio station , WYSO, has run a blues show for as long as I can remember. The one longtime host, Shakin' Dave Hussong, was a true student of the blues and had an incredible knowledge base to draw from. He often played rare recordings you wouldn't hear anywhere else. Unfortunately, he died back in April at age 76. A tremendous loss to the music community here. They still run a weekly blues show, but it's not the same without Dave.

 

[Alivefor5]

Sirius/XM has a 24/7 blues channel.

 

[51PRI]

Quite possibly. Here in the Dallas / Fort Worth, Texas area we have a wonderful listener-supported public radio station - KNON 89.3 "the voice of the people." Programs only stay on the air when they have enough money pledged to be self-supporting. I think we're lucky to have the Texas Blues Radio show on three days a week !!

Okay, cool. Three days a week ALL day? In D/FW, home of the Vaughans? Sad, huh?!?

Well, I must have been lucky in October, 1991 when driving to N'Orleans from Memphis. I didn't know what to expect on any radio station, being a tourist. I thought I'd gone to heaven hearing great blues (and I'm not just a casual blues based listener). don't ask me to remember if it was AM or FM or what the station names were. All through Mississippi into Louisiana it was delightful listening.

Okay, 1991 was 31 years ago, and still in the groundswell of blues caused by SRV and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Are any of those stations playing blues now?

The local public radio station , WYSO, has run a blues show for as long as I can remember. The one longtime host, Shakin' Dave Hussong, was a true student of the blues and had an incredible knowledge base to draw from. He often played rare recordings you wouldn't hear anywhere else. Unfortunately, he died back in April at age 76. A tremendous loss to the music community here. They still run a weekly blues show, but it's not the same without Dave.

A one to two hour Blues show once a week is about all we get.

 

[micguy]

Same reason there aren’t doom metal radio stations - not enough listeners to support them.

 

[donhank]

I think we're lucky to have the Texas Blues Radio show on three days a week !!

Okay, cool. Three days a week ALL day? In D/FW, home of the Vaughans? Sad, huh?!?

ALL DAY ?!? . . . no such luck. How about 6:00 - 8:00pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

 

[KenD]

If there was money to be made from a blues-based radio station there would be ten of them in every town large enough to have a dog catcher.