Radio is not what it used to be. Copycats all.

It is possible that I am the last one listening to regular FM radio as the rest of my cohort have gone off and gotten satellite radio or an iPod or any number of devices to deliver sound to their ears that is not radio.

First of all Philadelphia is in a radio free zone so no good music is allowed in a 100 mile radius from the city center. My one tolerable radio station in philadelphia, Y100, was switched to urban format on a whim, not due to any financial decision. Y100 now exists only on the internet and actually all of their morning staff has joined WMMR across town.

I used to like listening to some of the morning shows because they would have weird news or talk about what was on TV the night before and I used to think I was getting a little information before some of the rest of the world. This has ceased to be true. I can no longer delude myself into thinking that the weird news and antics are actually thought up by anyone at the radio station. They go onto the internet like the rest of us. The new radio morning shows seem to consist of little more than web browsing during the show and reading it to us, yet they couch it as original material, or worse yet, their own ideas.

I became starkly aware of it when I heard some radio personalities talking about the television show Lost the other day. They were so excited about all of the hidden clues in the show, and then each would pipe up about one and make a comment. They were so fake, you could tell they had gone to the fansites and cribbed the answers. I don't even think they watched the show. I could tell because I have been to fansites (not for Lost, not watching that one) and the commentsthey read on air were about the obsessive details that only the true fans with TiVo's know. Why am I listening to these boobs when I can read web pages myself if I want to.

Perhaps my readers have noticed this phenomena before, but I really had it thrown up in my face that time. I am sure all of you go read Fark, and slashdot, and Boing Boing, and Engadget everyday, but most of you do not go on the radio and claim the work as your own. I have also noticed that all of these popular blogs feed off of each other as well, the same post makes the rounds, which makes hearing it on the radio even more tedious. By the time it has reached the Today Show, it is old, old news.

I am going to have to start using my Treo for its internet radio capabilities and slowly start finding my music somewhere else besides FM radio.