 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
O, where art thou on the radio?© St. Petersburg Times published March 2, 2002 You probably haven't heard any of the excellent songs from the Grammy Awards' album of the year on your favorite commercial radio station. And you fans of what passes for country music today probably haven't heard the best country album, best male country vocal performance or best country collaboration on your favorite commercial country station. The O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, full of new recordings of traditional country, bluegrass and gospel songs, originally couldn't find a place on the ever-narrowing playlists of America's homogenized radio stations. Neither could the Hank Williams tribute compilation that was named best country album. The world has come to a sad pass when Hank Williams can't find room on country radio -- and Hank Williams Jr. can. Commercial pop and rock stations have gotten just as bad. The radio industry has come under the control of a handful of media conglomerates that shove the same formulas into the ears of listeners from Seattle to Sanibel. If you're tired of hearing 1970s dinosaurs, generic rappers, thrash trashmouths and treacly Britneys and Backstreets, you're out of luck. Clear Channel Communications, the biggest conglomerate of all, would rather play the squeals of a castrated and slaughtered pig than the gorgeous songs of Lucinda Williams or Alison Krauss. The record industry is every bit as tightly controlled and predictable. Yet the almost miraculous commercial breakthrough of the O Brother soundtrack already has begun to alter industry executives' assumptions. They may even discover that millions of people still prefer good music over good marketing, if they can just find a place to hear it. (One good sign: Hank Williams III has rebelled against his daddy by making records that sound like his granddaddy.) The Tampa Bay community is lucky to have WMNF-FM, a noncommercial station that always has found room for bluegrass, reggae, rhythm-and-blues, electronica, rockabilly and other forms that don't fit the conglomerates' formats. They were playing O Brother before O Brother was cool. Now that the rest of the world is beginning to rediscover Ralph Stanley, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and other legends, finding a decent song on the radio may not require quite so much fumbling with the dial.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times Opinion page |
