Radio is a formula, especially the majority of stations owned by huge corporations.

It’s also designed to attract a mass audience, so that usually means leaving tracks that appeal mainly to group super fans off rotation.

If you stream on tune in/apps or live somewhere like Port Angeles where it comes in, check out Victoria's 91.3 the zone.

www.thezone.fm

Edit to add, except at 5:00, I don't like the mixtape

KEXP

Do you happen to know the number?

Frequency: 90.3 MHz FM

Thank you.. I will check it out on my drive home after work.

Have you tried 107.7

I have.. it's programmed on my radio.

can confirm KEXP hands down is the best FM station left. KISW sucks donkey balls Krazee OK is ok, the End it seems like every time i change over to that station Kate Bush is runnin up that hill

My programmed stations are as follows: 90.3 Kexp 95.7 oldies 98.1 king fm (classical, when the kids need to sleep or I need to just relax) 99.9 (2-6pm weekdays is the men’s room, best show on radio in my option) 102.5 kzok (classic rock/overlap with 99.9). Morning show with Danny b and Sara is decent 103.7 (old school hip hop) 710 am (Seattle sports if your into it)

Hope that’s helpful. I drive a ton and have pretty much settled on these as my go to. Lifelong seattlite. They all have their place throughout the day

I listen to 99.9 BJ Shae in the morning and the Men's room is a great show.
96.5 , 102.5, 97.3 but not so much since Dori passed away, 107.7, 98.1, 94.1 and 103.7 from time to time depending on what song is playing.

KNKX 88.5, C89.5, and I think 98.9 (classical) are all public radio and much better to deal with

This describes radio for the last ... 4 decades? Longer? It's just gotten worse as a smaller number of companies own a larger share of the stations.

Nice! Yeah bj and migs are good too. In addition to 90.3 KEXP, there is (or was) also Everett’s version, I stumbled upon it about 5 years ago and was very impressed. I think it was 94.something. If you can find it it’s worth checking out

Seems like it's gotten worse over the past several months.

Probably.

As others have posted, seems like there are more ads - I wonder if that has to do with there being more choices (satellite radio, streaming services) so radio needs to sell more ads cheaper since they're not reaching as many people.

I bet there is a huge chunk of the population that just streams from their phone and doesn't bother listening to the radio at all. I'd probably do this for the most part but my phone->car audio has barely tolerable sound quality.

EDIT: Yeah, try KEXP. I like a lot of their genre specific shows, they match what I typically listen to.

Or they're just trying to get as much money as they can.

107.7 and 90.3 are going to have to be pried from my cold dead hands. i love them.

iHeart radio has entered the chat

I once worked in radio in this area. All programming decisions are informed by national music charts. Stations can see which songs were added/dropped in any given week and they all just follow those charts.

In addition to that, record labels are always pushing (often paying) for their songs to be added. I once loved this medium but, after seeing how the sausage is made and how little money it provides it's people, I can't stand it.

this is the norm for the entire industry. and why commercials at the same time? that's because they are all owned by the same company.

Space 101 (Magnuson) is actually local and has an eclectic mix

Good ?… Kisw is now Seattle’s best Talk and Roll..

Used to be Rock back in the day but no longer!! Advertisement and other BS pay the stations to over see the real music and pay themselves !

KBCS 91.3 at Bellevue College is commercial free and has a variety of programming by volunteer DJ's. Listen and you might find a fondness for Brazilian music or rediscover the Grateful Dead. It's definitely worth programming into your radio presets and checking out.

I think it changed when BJ Shea and the Men's room came over from talk radio.

It’s all ya need

KNHC, if you are into EDM

98.9 just changed formats and it's been pretty good. Not as heavy with rock or alternative, but I really like how eclectic it is. 70s rock hits mixed with 2000s deep cuts? Yeah, I've been digging it.

I love 102.5, they sometimes play some of the same 80’s rock but have cool segments like psychedelic 60’s and mix it up a bit better than some others around this area.

I don’t listen to 102.5’s morning talk show during the week, or 99.9’s either for that matter, but I do listen to the men’s room when it’s on while driving home from work because the guys make me laugh.

Other than that I like 96.5 as well, as it’s got some pretty good music 2/3’s of the time (imo).

Xm Sirius? Spotify audacy Pandora or you can still bust out CDs

Now that I'm down south out of range I find myself missing KGRG from Auburn / Green River Community College. In fact, when I travel the college stations are what I look for. Some of the music I went and bought were only ever played on college radio

I bailed out on “rock” terrestrial radio a while back. I just stream from my phone. The only terrestrial radio I listen to these days is Classic King or KNKX (that Jazz/NPR station at 88.5.)

Edit to add that I DO listen to KEXP on occasion.

I have a USB port in my car that reads songs.. so I download my own tunes for listening.

I moved away 20 years ago, I see nothing has changed, not even the songs!

I miss the Bob River days.

We like Jack FM, and where we live 103.1 comes, it's Canadian Jack so you get some random songs mixed in

They've played Smells like Teen Spirit to death.

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I guess so, I don't listen to the radio. was just trying to help the dude.

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