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Why no Blues Radio Stations?
- Thread starter 51PRI
- Start date
Everyone talking about the lack of variety in blues keeping it off the radio, did you ever listen to top 40 radio? There is not much variety there either.
Yes super niche. Even most musicians other than guitar players aren't in to it. For the rest of us it's just providing a sound track for endless pentatonic solos.
Seriously? Have you listened to Top 40 lately?
There's plenty of variety in blues, too.
I live in the Triad area here in NC, and we have a great radio station affiliated with Winston-Salem State University, which is a historical Black college. There's a station, WSNC/90.5 which is fantastic. They pretty much play everything, spotlighting jazz, but also blues, funk, you name it. So yeah, I can get my dose of blues, but like many of you who have mentioned this - it's a very diverse station, with a diverse playlist, and that's why, IMO, it's very successful and highly listened to in our area.
It's kinda weird that blues as a genre is popular enough to "support" many artists but not popular enough to support its own radio stations. OTOH there are plenty of Top 40 radio stations and no Top 40 cover bands. Or are there Top 40 bands?No one makes any $ playing da bluz least of all a radio station. Just sayin’…
I wonder why there aren't any ragtime stations. Or skiffle stations.
STOP!!! Hold the presses!!!
Yeah, it's way niche and been that way forever unless you live in Chicago, Memphis, etc. Around Boston, it's only on college and public stations for the most part. There are a couple of commercial stations that play an hour or two a week at odd hours (like after midnight).
I was a DJ at WCUW in Worcester, we have the most blues programming of any station in the area...7 hours on Friday (5PM to midnight) and 4 hours on Saturday (5-9PM).
Our local public stations often had scheduled blues blocks of 2-4 hours. I don't know if they still do, as I haven't listened to broadcast radio in years.
XM / Sirius "B.B. King's Bluesville" channel is pretty good. They have regular hosts including Joe Bonnamassa and Shemekia Copeland. BB Kings Bluesville | SiriusXM
XM / Sirius "B.B. King's Bluesville" channel is pretty good. They have regular hosts including Joe Bonnamassa and Shemekia Copeland. BB Kings Bluesville | SiriusXM
I hate to be the Millennial in the room, but you do have dedicated Blues stations on satellite radio and there are numerous curated playlists for Blues on music streaming services (Spotify comes to mind).
It's an iconic genre, and arguably "Rock n' Roll" wouldn't have existed without it, but I don't run into much of the "average" listening population who is that into it. Satellite and streaming services usually have more cultured listeners mixed in, thus why they probably have better options for Blues music as opposed to traditional AM/FM broadcast radio.
It's an iconic genre, and arguably "Rock n' Roll" wouldn't have existed without it, but I don't run into much of the "average" listening population who is that into it. Satellite and streaming services usually have more cultured listeners mixed in, thus why they probably have better options for Blues music as opposed to traditional AM/FM broadcast radio.
There are a couple in Mississippi on AM. If people bought blues recordings or streamed blues with any regularity I Heart Radio or other conglomerate would broadcast it. But as it stands, media conglomerates aren’t just trying to be “cool”.
I enjoy blues. Chicago, please! Hence my user name, just saying. But stuff people don’t generally want to listen to or see live is a hard sell for radio stations.
I play Leadbelly when my friends come visit. And they hate it. But I love it.
I even wear out the online library of gospel at Baylor because of the thousands of rare blues based recordings available. But you don't have any friends who would listen to a blues radio station and neither do I.
I enjoy blues. Chicago, please! Hence my user name, just saying. But stuff people don’t generally want to listen to or see live is a hard sell for radio stations.
I play Leadbelly when my friends come visit. And they hate it. But I love it.
I even wear out the online library of gospel at Baylor because of the thousands of rare blues based recordings available. But you don't have any friends who would listen to a blues radio station and neither do I.
It's all about selling advertising. If enough people in ANY market listened to blues on the radio then advertising for that would sell and blues would be on the radio. We used to have a station here that played smooth R&B. I loved it but it didn't last because, according to a friend who worked at the station, they just couldn't sell enough advertising.
Right. As discussed above, you can find ANY genre online.
Even satellite radio, there are a handful of blues shows. But that’s more Joe Bonamassa. Great guitarist. But, let’s just say if you want a blues station you’re going to play a lot more Joe B and save the 3 AM slot for Lefty Dizz or Willy Foster.
Because most, except for college stations, are top 40 format. You have to find independent stations that specialize and most of them now are on line. My favorits is New Orleans' WWOZ (they have a streaming app). They let the DJs play what they want, within a framework. The DJs that play blues music paly the original stuff, and they really know the music.
