What I Would do if I Were in Charge of the Radio

This one is inspired by the hours and hours of music I've had to listen to for exams and assignments this week. My mind is just about exploding with the million songs running on repeat in my head, so I figured I'd do a sound-centric post today!

I have to make a confession. I never listen to the radio. I listened to it one day over the summer while painting and got so sick of the same five horrible songs being played on repeat that I never listened to it again. I next listened to it a few days ago while in a taxi, and, let me tell you, that alone is enough to make me want to walk for hours through rain and snow instead. The music all sounded the same and, frankly, awful. I don't want to hear someone rapping about sex/singing about sex while auto tuned over a horrible thumping beat and maybe two chords alternating. If you like that, then I really mean no offence. It's not to my taste, personally, though! So, if I were in charge of the radio, here is what I would do:

1. No station is allowed to play a song twice within a month. Yes, that means no playing the same song five times a day. You get ONE play a month, so you'd better start finding some more stuff.

2. At least some of the bands would have to be local. It makes me sad that we don't do more to support our country's own artists! I'd love to hear a mix of music by Canadian composers or sung/played by Canadian musicians. In fact, I think it would be interesting. There are some great Francophone artists in Québec who no one gets to hear in the rest of Canada.

3. At least half of the stations must play classical music/opera/art song. Sorry, guys, but there are some great classical pieces from the past and also still being composed. There are great classical artists around too, who spend years and years perfecting their craft. It would just be nice if we had more respect as a society for people who did that instead of just auto tuning everything. Before every song, they could also give a little bit of information on it. I'd love to hear what it's about and some of the context. That also means new jobs for music researchers! (Just saying)

4. Minimal commercials. There have to be some, sure, but can they please be less frequent? No, hearing you tell me to buy a mattress 20 times is not going to make me buy one if I don't need it.

5. Happy news! The news is so depressing. As someone who has issues with depression, I never listen/look at the news. Want to know why? BECAUSE IT'S DEPRESSING. Yes, not all news can be happy, but can they please put an effort in to make it at least 50/50?

6. Maybe there could be something a bit more intellectual on the radio occasionally. There are some great comedy shows (have you ever heard of "Grown-ups Read Things They Wrote as Kids"? Hilarious!) but it would be nice to have something more serious, too. Maybe there could be a radio station of audiobooks or poetry!

Anyway, I can dream. It's not going to happen anytime soon, but I certainly wish it would. The next time I have to listen to a song about some pimp or someone objectifying women, I may just go crazy. Which is impressive, because I'm already pretty crazy.

-Laura