I heard you on the wireless back in fifty two
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you
If I was young it didn’t stop you coming through

They took the credit for your second symphony
Rewritten by machine and new technology
And now I understand the problems you can see

- The Buggles “Video Killed The Radio Star”

If video killed the radio star in 1979, what is killing the radio star in 2009? Is it the iPod? Or satellite radio? Or just bad music? We all know it’s no longer video, since MTV doesn’t actually show videos anymore, but as I drove in this morning, and switched over to the FM dial to program in a new radio station that Alex had told me about, 97.1 Amp Radio, I poked around my presets a bit to see what else was out there.

To my disappointment, but sadly, not my surprise, radio sucks. Since I was spending some quality time with the 101, I had time to search around the dial to see what was playing. One unfortunate aspect for me at least, is that in the LA market, hip-hop radio is hard to find. I think this is a direct result of the quality of rap music in a severe decline, and even Power 106 is left playing crap like Akon, T-Pain, Soulja Boy, and Lady Gaga, which somehow makes it on a hip hop station. The previous quality hip-hop station, The Beat, underwent a series of format changes from hip-hop to adult contemporary (think Brian McKnight) and after a frequency change to 100.3, it is now dead and is a rock station called The Sound. After quickly giving up on Power 106, and modern hip-hop in general, I switched over to KIIS-FM, which has more of a pop theme. Unfortunately this means Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers are in heavy rotation, but it also means Ryan Seacrest. And when they’re not playing that garbage, they’re playing commercials. Alot of commercials. Since Amp is pretty new, I don’t have much to base an opinion on, but I do like that they have no commercial Mondays. Overall, I was severely disappointed with the current state of Los Angeles hip-hop radio, and even though I have hopes for the newly formed K-DAY which apparently merged with The Beat, I think I’ll stick to satellite radio. I’ll take Backspin XM any day over FM radio in LA. You can have your Soulja Boy, I’ll take Kool Moe Dee and Naughty By Nature.