I am an audio enthusiast and live in Kansas City. Every once in a while I give local radio a try, and I’m sad to say, every time I dial up a station, I’m disappointed. No matter the station, no matter the time, it almost always sucks!
Now, I’m sure that most of you know that the radio industry has been bought up by just a few big media companies, and that the play lists that these stations play are spoon fed by these companies which limits the amount of good music and material available to listen to. This is one of the big problems I have with FM radio. Radio stations have fooled people into thinking that these radio stations are “local” and care about the communities they serve all because they will do a local radio spot in the community advertising someone’s wares, a special sale, or even touting a “grand opening” for a new business. And that’s good. But, where are the local bands? Local music? I mean, this IS a radio station, right? Their main attraction is music! Yet, it’s only the music that has been approved by the head office which, of course is the top 40 singles on the Billboard Chart for the specific genre of the radio station. BORING! Add in all the commercials they play to make more money and what are you left with? Boring radio that plays only a fraction of the music that’s available and a bunch of commercials nobody wants to hear.
Now that I got FM radio out of the way, I want to talk about AM radio in Kansas City. In case you didn’t notice, AM radio has become the talk radio band. The reasons for this come down to audio quality. AM doesn’t sound as good as FM for music and therefore, the big radio station companies, for the most part, dedicate FM to music and AM for talk radio.
If you dial around the AM band in Kansas City, you will notice that there are only a small handful of stations on the air. Below is the list of AM stations I can dial up from my location. There are probably more stations but I can’t hear them so, they don’t count here.
- 610Khz – KCSP Sports Radio
- 680Hkz – KFEQ Talk Radio – Fox Network News
- 710Khz – KCMO Talk Radio – Fox Network News
- 980Khz – KMBZ Talk Radio – Fox Network News
- 1190Khz – KDMR Religious
- 1480Khz – KCZZ Spanish Variety
As you can see, there are only two stations that are talk radio and BOTH of them are HEAVY right-wing stations. Where is the balance? There are the left-wing / left-leaning stations? There are none.
Kansas City, for whatever reason, only spews right-wing talk radio! It’s no wonder why people here are mostly republicans, that’s the only stuff they hear! I’m sure it makes them feel better about their political stance, but it does no service to educate people on the issues. They never hear what the left is trying to do. They never get the information needed to make a smart decision when voting. All they get is rush limbaugh and micheal savage and other right-wing talk radio shows. And, to make matters worse, these shows are far-right propaganda shows! I’ve listened to them. All these personalities do is fluff their own brand, make outrageous claims, spin the truth, and anything else they can do to bash the left and liberals.
Kansas City needs a right-leaning radio station to help educate the public, which is what radio is supposed to do!