When did DJs stop identifying the songs they played?

[taterguy]

I thought it was an FCC Rule.

Did it get changed when I wasn't paying attention?

[In_The_Wind]

1. That's a good question. I don't know the answer.

[X_Digger]

2. About the same time that it became illegal to pay a DJ to play (and identify) your song.

http://performingsongwriter.com/alan-freed-payola-scandal/

[WinkyDink]

19. No. Songs and DJ talk lasted long after Ala Freed!

[NYC_SKP]

3. For me, it was when I turned 50, the same time kids began appearing on my lawn.

Fucking kids.

And fucking DJs!

[taterguy]

22. You have a lawn?

I am so envious.

[NYC_SKP]

26. Really, it's mostly dirt and a few Roundup resistant weeds.

Thanks to those damned kids.

[taterguy]

28. You spray Roundup on the neighborhood kids?

Glad I don't live near you.

[NYC_SKP]

33. I hope you realize I'm playing the role of "grampa grumpy".

We xerilandscape around here. If it ain't native and happy growing here, it ain't growing here.

[Robb]

4. Don't radios tell you these days?

Seems like I rented a car recently that scrolled song/artist info on the face while radio songs were playing.

[SoCalDem]

5. Digitization?

and pre-recorded segments that are the same in every station the conglomerate owns?

Are there even DJs anymore?...other than the drive-time/shock-jocks?

[Warpy]

6. If they don't announce the song and artist

the playlist has to be readily available, usually online.

My favorite station WZBC will play an hour of indie music and then do a few minutes of announcing name and artist. Lately, they've been switching to an online playlist, instead, since so many of us are web streaming rather than trying to pick up their dinky, underpowered station in Boston.

[taterguy]

8. What's the definition of readily available?

[Nye Bevan]

7. I remember calling a radio station about 30 years ago to get the name of a song I liked.

Nowadays I just make a mental note of one of the lines of lyrics and type it into Google.

[hughee99]

17. Some of the smartphones just have an app.

Just make sure the phone can pick up the music and wait a few seconds and you'll get the title, artist, album, year and lyrics. Soundhound is the app I use to keep me from kicking myself for hours trying to remember a band's name.

[backscatter712]

9. These days, I tend to get more of my music off the Internet.

There's services like Pandora, there's zillions of podcasts with every type of music under the sun. It all makes corporate Clear-Channelized radio pale in comparison.

[taterguy]

14. I wasn't asking where you get your music

Nor do I care

[backscatter712]

18. Well, Pandora, for example identifies every song they play for you..

And they let you see lyrics, bookmark the songs, buy them for your own collection, etc. Pretty cool.

[taterguy]

29. Please read Reply #14

[msongs]

10. cuz the music comes in via satellite and real local voices just tell time and weather...

most popular music type stations are all syndicated playlists with no live announcers

[KamaAina]

11. When they got fired and replaced by automated systems.

As a former college DJ myself, I can assure you there is no such rule. The only thing a DJ (or a pretaped spot, what we used to call a "cart&quot must announce is the station's legal ID: "KCUF, San Jose" or whatever, at the top of the hour.

[TuxedoKat]

12. There's an app

called Shazam that identifies music for you. It's pretty neat -- my kids told me about it!

[Brother Buzz]

15. SoundHound is the other one

SoundHound works well if you even hum or whistle the tune. Extensive database, and it continues to grow. Amazing, what the kids bring into our houses.

[TuxedoKat]

23. Thanks!

I'll check it out -- sounds even better than Shazam.

On edit:

That is a great name too -- Sound Hound! So apropos!

[KoKo]

13. When the "Wolfman" from Florida no longer was a DJ?

sorry...that's snark.

I don't know why.

[Raine]

16. When car radios have read-outs that say what the song

is. I have a car that does but I also have an older car that doesn't have the read out, darn it.

[Hekate]

20. Decades ago, actually. It had a lot to do with my end to new record buying

I couldn't tell who a given artist was, or what the name of the song was, or the name of the album. I would fall in love with a song only to never be able to find it in a store. It was as annoying as hell.

So when I bought CDs I got artists I was already familiar with, in genres I knew for certain I liked.

The one exception was the occasional review or personal essay in the Los Angeles Times Calendar section. That's how I came to know and love both Eva Cassidy and Israel Kamakawiwole.

[MineralMan]

21. What is a DJ?

Have not heard one in years.

[taterguy]

32. It's someone who spins stacks of wax

Daddio

[HiPointDem]

24. when radio stations stopped having djs, basically. computerized playlists i believe is the answer.

[Puzzledtraveller]

25. Huh? oh yeah, radio!

Completely forgot about it.

[taterguy]

35. It's kind of cool sometimes

Especially when you're driving past the Stop and Shop

[In_The_Wind]

37. I saw a blue car.

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[kentauros]

27. Some time back in the 1970s, I think.

That's one of the reasons I stopped listening to commercial radio and switched to public stations only. That, and the idiotic habit of commercial DJs talking over the cuts.

Now, if it's Internet radio, some will give you a playlist or song history. I don't know about satellite radio as I don't listen to it. I've found it's basically commercial broadcast radio over satellite, so same shit going on there.

As I recall from being a DJ on public radio, the only FCC rules about music played was keeping a written log of what you played, and a log of every time someone said one of the seven deadlies on mic or phone. I don't think the log we kept of the music played went to the FCC, either, but maybe it was kept as a record in case they requested it. Most of the time, it was for our Music Director to seek out more music for us to play.

[Kali]

30. and a station can't stream more than two or three songs per hour of the same artist

makes doing a tribute show when somebody dies a pain - lots of covers or shut the stream off. strange rules.

[kentauros]

31. I can remember whole 2- and 3-hour long shows

that either I or some of my other friends would do at public stations, on just one theme (such as food.) Hour-long tributes weren't uncommon, either.

I haven't listened to late-night public radio in a while, but would guess those DJs still do that kind of thing. For example, WFMU

[KharmaTrain]

34. RDS...Radio Data System...

Firstly...there's never been a law requiring a station to mention the songs they're playing. It's the record companies that always pushed for it. Today many stations are either on "auto-pilot" (fully automated) or "voice tracked"...announcements inserted into the programming. Sadly there are fewer and fewer "live and local" stations these days.

Many stations have "RDS"...a system that scrolls the name of the song and artist on your radio or on their web feed. Most newer car radios now come equipped with RDS...

[pipi_k]

36. Probably around the same time

all the songs started sounding alike, so why the hell would they bother identifying them...

It's like one VERY long crappy song, all damned day long.

OK maybe that's not the case where other people live, but there's a radio station near me that plays the most useless crap that passes for "music".

and yeah...it does all sound the same.


PS...get off my lawn AND my driveway!