Music Being Overplayed On The Radio

As I was on the way to work yesterday, I was listening to CBC Radio 2 as I have been for the last number of weeks.  It was yesterday I realized that CBC Radio also prone to overplaying songs like stations that play mainstream do.

Nada Surf's "Jewels and Gems" has been getting a lot of play.  You can say that it's been getting overplayed.  CBC Radio doesn't follow the same mold as mainstream radio.  But that doesn't mean they are not prone to this.  The difference between mainstream radio and CBC Radio is that mainstream radio overplays music that is topping the charts while CBC Radio doesn't necessarily.  Or mainstream radio plays "classic" songs and beats them to death.  

There are a number of artists and bands that should be on the radio but are not is astounding.  A lot of radio stations like to claim that they have "variety."  But if all they are playing is the same artists or bands, than how much variety do they really have?  CBC Radio 2, across all shows, do have a nice variety, but they still fall victim to overplaying music.

If I ran a radio station, I'd play certain songs more than others.  But I'd still try to incorporate a nice mix.  I don't want to fall victim to overplaying music.  With how vast the world of music is, we should strive to incorporate a lot of it.  Saying some artists or bands are not radio friendly is an archaic notion.  But with being able to make it in the music business by simply being on the Internet has left radio with a vast number of acts not being on the radio.  This also contributes to music being overplayed on the radio.

Is it wrong to want a happy medium?  If you went through the artists and bands are not considered radio friendly, than you'd see that probably a good three quarters of them could make it on the radio.  My idea for a radio station format is play not only my favourite artists, bands, and songs.  But it's to also bring the listener artists, bands, and songs that they've never heard.  Just expand the mind of the listener to want to check out new music.  I love giving people recommendations for music.  I love trying to get out of a box in terms of what they listen to by helping them expand their mind.  Sure a lot of people are stubborn and don't want to check out new music.  You can also see this as a contributor to the problem of music being overplayed on the radio.

Whatever the case maybe, music is too vast for it to be in such a funk in terms of it being played on the radio.  It's a shame that mainstream music is a slave to what is on the charts.  But if I ever setup a radio station whether it be traditional, Internet, or satellite radio, I hope to change all of this.