On Media....

Since the first of the year.... have had the radio on a lot. Since the tee-vee doesn't work. And have done a lot of listening, but not so much of the mind-numbing variety.

Austrian radio has three national stations. We have to pay a fee for them every two months. And for the tee-vee as well. Ostensibly, this was to stop them from having advertising, and remaining independent of vested interests. Except, well, they started sneaking in blocks of commercials between shows on television, for instance, and and the news blocks started getting shorter and shorter, and more superficial compared to the incisive sort of reporting they used to be. This has led to a lot of criticism, which sort of comes and goes in waves, usually when it's time to elect another 'impartial' director of the networks.

Radio sort of went the same way, with only one station truly maintaining an impartial and educationally valuable agenda once restrictions were dropped, and private stations began taking over the airwaves. And most of the stations suddenly became a mindless potpourri of trivial crap with most of them playin the same flavour of the day music. Except some have an emphasis on hits from the 80's or classic rock, or the 90's, interspersed with mind-numbing things like someone named Katy Perry, who seems to be getting divorced, which is supposed to make her juvenile meanderings more interesting. Or something. Had never heard of her, nor did I want to, in retrospect.

So... there are three national stations. There's the rock and pop schlock one, which used to have some moderators who were actually funny, only to be replaced with a current crop who have no grounding in reality. Case in point? Make a big deal of all the wealthy people being 'cut off from civilisation' in the west of the country over the horridays. In places like St. Anton, where Princess Di took her sons skiing a few times, which is how 'everyday people' that place is. And others like it. But the thing is... they get snowed in every year, so why the drama? They alre always pampered, And there were the usual traffic jams of people trying to get back home before January sixth, which was the official end of said horridays. Again... not really news. But these dunderheads made it into drama, and what came across was that 'EVERYONE' had been on holiday. Odd, in that there were enough worn faces and people trudging wearily about their business out on the square, and they obviousy hadn't been skiing. It smacks of a certain elitism.

The second is a regional station... so you get a lot of oldies from the Seventies with a sprinkling of really good Austrian artists... and yes Virginia, there used to be a lot of them who got loads of air time but do not any more. And a lot of unlistenable stuff where the schmalz runs out of your ears, or you get dumbed down. But it's good for local news with a sort of bonus of 'the weird story of the day', like the sixty year old woman who got accidently locked in her wc for two days before someone heard her calls for help, and they could break her out of there. Turned out the door handle had been installed wrong. Did they go ON? Yup. It's good for local traffic reports and weather, but hardly anything I enjoy.

And then there is the one that still really fulfills what had been intended in the first place. Still no advertising, and classical music mixed with some very amazing things. The evening news journal is still one full hour of real information and in-depth analysis without too much slant. There are really interesting interviews with notable and remarkable people. And there is something called the radio college, with sort-of lectures on a huge range of topics, such as a nature one, which explains an animal a week. Sounds weird, but isn't. This past week was about the increase in the population of wild boars in Europe over the past few decades, how they live, how they propogate... such as learing that they run in matriarchal groups, for instance, and the males are loners. And how, thanks to man, they have propogated out of control, and are encroaching on cities and towns now, and are incredibly smart. Or a full week covering the seeds of the so-called Arab Spring, and really getting into how and why it all happened. So most of it is very interesting and entertaining... although there was one on architecture that was so abstruse and incomprehensible, I switched over to Katy Perry for a while. (smile) And there is lots of classical music, live transmissions of terrific concerts you would never have the money to attend, and discussions of new books, new films, and best of all, no advertising. It's a terrific mix. Which is why I still don't mind having to pay a bi-monthly fee for listening.

So did opening up the airwaves to private stations provide anything positive? Tja... if you call dumbing people down a good thing, I suppose they did. And if you think constant advertising is bearable. Which reminds me... am surprised that slogans or 'branding' of businesses are still using the worn out ones that were fresh and funny thirty years ago or so. It gets sort of tiring, at least to me.

The one thing the three had in common this weekend? The second of shock that lasted thirty six hours when Standard and Poor's took away Austria's triple A+ credit rating on Friday in a sneak attack, as well as downgrading many other EU countries. Just like they did to the US after the jerks in congress played chicken with Obama on raising the debt ceiling. This was a real blow to the national psyche, as people are proud of their international standing. And I have some preliminary thoughts on this development, but am waiting for more info before I go and spout off... which I certainly will do.

One thing running on the pop station that I love... came out in November and is currently nearly on a loop here... the late Amy Winehouse.