The cracks did begin to show with Indie around October 2008 when they canceled the Camp Freddy radio show featuring Dave Navarro, Billy Morrison, Matt Sorum and Donovan Leitch. They instead gave Dave Navarro his own show called Dark Matter which couldn’t compare to the previous show. It sounded more cynical, than playful (click here to read Dave’s playlist). According to Dave Navarro’s homepage (click here for his homepage), he states :
“Well, as you many of you have mentioned, Indie is officially over and done with. This is final nail in the coffin of LA terrestrial radio as there is really nothing else on the dial worth listening to for an extended period of time. The remaining rock stations in this city are so drenched in corporate mediocrity… They will play any and all popular genres so they can sell ad space and ultimately stand for nothing in the process. It is a dark day for the up and coming artists in LA.”
He’s also parting ways with his online tv show ManiaTV. If you do get a chance, he has a great interview with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth where they trade guitar licks.
Indie 103.1 FM adds itself to a list of stations that I loved, as well. For me, it started with Pirate Radio 100.3 FM (click here to check out their site or here to listen live). They would play more rock, metal and grunge tunes (originally it played everything from Madonna to Metallica). I first heard Alice In Chains “Rooster” and Stone Temple Pilots “Plush” on this station. This was still during the times bands would release singles to radio stations and then some time later release a video. Surprisingly, it went off air by 1993 even before the release of landmark grunge albums such as Nirvana’s In Utero or Pearl Jam Vs. The other station was KNAC (click here to check out their site or here to listen live). This was definitely more of a heavy metal station which would play Guns N’ Roses and Metallica tunes (I even remember getting a magnet of theirs at a a Metallica concert). They at least went out with a great tune (Metallica’s “Fade To Black”). Even tv shows such as Headbangers Ball went off the air (although they did make a shitty comeback a few years ago). So just looking at this history, we know its inevitable that any radio station that has balls and plays what it wants can’t survive in the corporate world (at least now with all these old folks running them).
Is this something that was inevitable? Yes.
Did it happen suddenly? Yes.
Will the terrestrial radio survive after this? Probably.
Will it happen again? Yes.
Is the future of radio going to be disparate and streamed online (and hopefully into your car some day)? I hope so.
Once again here is the list of now online radio sites (click to be linked) :
- Indie 103.1 – Listen Live (check out the shows Harmony In My Head with Henry Rollins, Chaos with Full Metal Jackie, and Reggae Smoke In with Native Wayne) (Also, note you can get most of the archive shows from Jonesy’s Jukebox by clicking here)
punky songs were played, so i listen to the same playlist until i went to sleep. theres this song im still looking for from the playist. i believe it was the lightest song on the playlist. it sounded like panic! at the disco behind the sea,im talking about the voice, just giving an example. can you help. i been looking for it for almost two years.