Well, maybe it would like me to listen. But it clearly does not want my opinion about the music it plays.
The other night, I received a call from a woman with a honeyed Southern accent, asking whether I’d be willing to attend a local gathering to help rate music. Sure, I said.
Then she asked what radio station I most often listened to. I told her WAPL, our local rock dinosaur in this corner of Wisconsin (and whose playlist certainly can be described as “oldies”).
Then she asked whether I listened to an oldies station. Sure, from time to time, I said. She asked me which one. I drew a blank.
Oh, OK. Never mind. Thanks, but no thanks. Uninvited.
Shunned by what I am guessing is WOGB. It’s owned by Cumulus Media, based in Atlanta. That would explain the honeyed Southern accent.
I ran this past a friend who knows a lot more about radio than I do. He assured me it’s standard procedure. He also can explain it much better than I can:
“My guess is that for some reason they want to exclude people who cross over between ‘APL and whatever the oldies station is up there, although for what reason I don’t know. … These focus groups generally rely heavily on the station’s core listeners, because they’re the people most likely to have opinions about the station; the vast majority of people like their favorite stations but don’t obsess about it.”
OK, I’ll buy that. After all, I might have suggested they play oldies like …
One from 1969: “Kick Out The Jams,” by the MC5. You really ought to.
Or one from 1971: “We Got To Have Peace,” by Curtis Mayfield. Yes, we do.
Or one from 1974: “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” by Gil Scott-Heron. Hey, I heard it on FM radio in Wausau, Wisconsin, when it came out in 1974, so why not now?
Or one from 1975: “Fight The Power (Part I),” by the Isley Brothers.
Nah, they’ll never play any of that. Talk about your bullshit going down.
AM, Then FM 
…and isn’t that why we are so intent upon starting audioblogs in the first place? Hey Jeff, Long time no talk. I could comment on this issue forever, but in the interest of time, or lack thereof, I’ll just go on record to say that the state of radio here in Baltimore is the pits for sure. Aside from the so called listener supported radio stations and occasional Jazz or Blues shows which appear on said stations, I can’t think of one station here that I would program into my car radio. Even the oldies station got bought out by Infinity (?) which hosts nothing but poor man’s Howard Stern style shock radio which I am sad to report that I stopped listening to about six years ago. In closing, I can safely say that as long as there are audioblogs and mp3 players out there, radio as a whole is becoming a thing of the past, and that goes for XM and Sirius too… Keep fighting the good fight.
Peace and blessings.