The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
Posted by WYTZZ95FM on April 5, 2026, 8:56 am
This social media post/image hits it on the head, what radio was and what is has evolved to, digging its grave in the process.
This is a public post, you should be able to click through and read the whole article.
Z
Walk into a radio station in the early 1960s and you didn’t just hear it… You felt it. Phones rang. Music spilled into the hallways. Air talent reacted in real time—laughing, missing cues, stretching moments because something felt right. It wasn’t perfect. It was alive. Now fast-forward to 2026. The sound is cleaner. The clocks are tighter. The music is researched, tested, optimized. And yet… something feels farther away. Not worse. Just… less human.
Ya, but "IHeartMedia has implemented a "Guaranteed Human" policy...." so there you go. So what if the human is 5 states away! Same v/o guy in Casper as in LA! "This report is brought to you by" or "This weather..." and on and on. What I, as a listener, experience is the emptiness/hollowness of the medium. There's no newscaster as they're piped in from Siberia, and the stories are things you saw 2 days ago, easily! Weather was done 12 hours ago, "this morning the fog will burn off" and that's played at 2pm. (Years ago, WGRD Grand Rapids,MI had 24 people in the newsroom! )
There's NO interaction, or very little. Ancient history: you could call to request a song, pick up the Top30 from the front desk. (NOW the "new music"(Hit-Bound) is the same in Boise as in New York, all being decided by a man behind a curtain -Wizard of Oz reference-. There is NO individuality, no room for a mistake, or a hint of being human.)
There are NO Bus ads or Billboards, NO bumper stickers, NO promotion. Everything is on FB and that's the budget, or a trade-out. Not how much get you get vs how little can we pay?
I heard a quote from someone, "you walk into the studio and you're by yourself. Alone." Radio where generations owned the stations have gone to bank ownership. There's still good "radio" out there and we all have different tastes. The pie is very thinly sliced. There's many stations locally, plus the whole world, if you want it! I've never ever been in radio, and love Top40 and 50s 60s 70s oldies. DX'ed this morning hearing XEW and XEABC Mexico City. (Good Au conditions.) W Deportes 730, and Vox 760, both from Mexico City, with current hits! https://wradio.com.mx/ ads at :27, :57 and "Musica W Deportes" tween songs. Must have a US consultant! Yikes! Check this out! https://radio.garden/listen/w-deportes-730-am/C9yubf2t Plug in any city and go!
Amazing too, how the stations are much closer in Mexico vs here in US/Canada. IE:730, 760....
I can't fawn after radio from 60 years ago. It was nice in its time. Things do evolve. A 2026 Ford isn't the 1966 Fairlane, the 5 cent stamp is now 78 cents. The 5 cent bag of chips is now 50 cents, and you get fewer chips! That's life. "Radio" is still there, though not as we knew or remembered it, I guess. Glad I'm as old as I am. A learning experience. "These are the good old days."
Now the satellite fed station has had dead air for easily 25 minutes! Nice! The Open Carriers are a great feature too.
"John from Wisconsin pukin' out the hits!" (and I can still hit the post, when songs come on. Oh yes!)
Re: The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
It's all about the streaming and digital nowdays. They really don't care as much about broadcast. Particularly iHeart and Audacy. That's where their money is.
If you go to smaller towns and markets, there is still some interaction. Smaller companies running the show. Travel around or stream some of them, you'll see what I mean.
Some formats have this problem more than others.
Re: The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
All very good points above. When was last time a d j gave out studio number and said give me a call.
I remember Alan Stagg when he did overnights with his Sanctuary program. I worked midnights and would occasionally call. He would always chat and gave me a shoutout sometimes. Hard to believe he has been gone 20 years. Class act.
Re: The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
When I was listening to radio dating back to when I was in high school, I remember there were commercials for certain radio stations and personalities.
I'm old enough to remember seeing Robert Murphy in a strait jacket promoting his old morning show at Q101, not to mention the dancing "Joey Bag O'Donuts" in commercials for The LOOP, as well as when Eric Ferguson & Kathy Hart promoted their old MIX 101.9 FM morning show to name a few.
I also remember when the old AM 1000 used to have a courtside sign when they used to be the flagship of the Chicago Bulls Radio Network in the late '80s as well as billboards at Rate Field when 670 AM The SCORE was the flagship of the Chicago White Sox Radio Network about 20 years ago.
You can find these old radio station commercials on YouTube. That's one of the things that's long gone. The lack of TV commercials for Chicago radio stations.
What also seems to be missing...The lack of live DJs, let alone listeners calling in to make on air requests. I don't know if part of that has to do with budget cuts. I also wonder if personality-driven radio, let alone multi-million dollar salaries are also a thing of the past in Chicago radio.
Re: The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
And really...you don't have to go all the way back to the 60's. I would suggest even up until the year 2000 stations and listenership were in many cases still done and seen in the "old" way. But my, how fast have things have changed since then.
Re: The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
I would suggest even up until the year 2000 stations and listenership were in many cases still done and seen in the "old" way.
Agreed. Bonneville was against VT and having 1 person in the building overnights. BCR was totally against VT or just board ops. WGN was on board too. How times have changed!
Z
Re: The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
"That's one of the things that's long gone. The lack of TV commercials for Chicago radio stations."
TV commercials for radio stations are no longer effective because no one is watching. The networks are suffering from low ratings. Streaming has taken over.
The commercials themselves are **boring!** A bunch of album or CD covers along with a montage of music from said artists. Yawn. "This is ______fill in the radio station>>>>music." It's cheap. A bunch of selected snippets of songs to demonstrate what you will hear if you stick with the station. Think of a bunch of appetizers without the main course in a restaurant.
Today, social media is where you will find activity with radio stations. Facebook pages are maintained and announcements are usually found on that platform before it reaches the air.
The days of radio bumper stickers, bus signs, billboards and TV ads are either long gone or soon to be.
Why call a radio station to hear a song? Really. Most songs can be heard on YouTube, satellite and other platforms. Why wait 30 minutes or longer to hear your song when it can be accessed within a minute?
What I'm reading are notes from listeners who miss radio from 1985. Lots of contests, requests, music surveys, specialty weekends and more. This could be the case in much smaller markets. As for major markets, it's not likely. If it is, I would file it under seldom.
A Classic Hits station may count back the Top 500 songs on the July 4th holiday.
Music is tested within an inch of its life. There have been rock stations in major cities who played the top cuts from the most popular albums. Think lots of repetition. The second cut from a hit album is released and that track is burned to a crisp.
I was listening to talk radio from another state recently and a mother called in from her car. Her 11-year-old son was with her, and the host spoke to him. He asked the lad if he listened to WXYZ station. (Made up call letters.) The kid went silent. The host said on his air, many 11-year-olds aren't listening to the radio. He isn't the only one these days.
Re: The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
There was a Sun-Times' feature story years ago about Allan Stagg and his old "Sanctuary" overnight show that used to air 6 nights a week on the long defunct CD 94.7 FM during its Classic Rock identity.
There was a photo of Stagg, who looked like a cross between Howard Hesseman, the actor who played Dr. Johnny Fever on "WKRP in Cincinnati" & Charlie Moore on "Head of the Class", and The Who's Pete Townshend outside the radio station's studio at 190 N. State, which is ABC 7's famous address. Back then, it was also the home of WLS-AM 890, 94.7 FM and most recently, ESPN Radio 1000 AM before all 3 stations relocated. Stagg looked like he was posing for an album cover and had a thing for smoking cigarettes when he wasn't in the studio when the Sun-Times took a photo coinciding with the feature story I read about.
There are still a few clips of Stagg's old "Sanctuary", complete with movie & TV soundbites & various sound effects to make the show sound like what FM radio sounded like decades ago available on YouTube if you're interested.
Re: The Distance Between Radio Then and Now Isn’t Time—It’s Feeling
Not necessarily. It is where it is heading to. The ultimate goal was to nationalize the terrestrial stations. Now it is the goal to have 1 stream and target ads according to your location. That is where the money will be at being able to ultimately shut off all the terrestrial signals saving money on the maintenance and the rent, equipment, etc.
on April 5, 2026, 8:56 am
