Time to stop those bastards

I wonder if they thought they were doing a good job. Really, I do. I think sometimes they think that they can make changes that they think are great but don’t realize that the consumer will pick up on them and not care for it.

I am talking, once again, about the suckhole that is Milwaukee radio. This time I think a station is pushing the envelope too far. For my taste at least.

I am talking about 97.3 the Brew. The local pop rock station that focuses on the same songs from the 80s again and again and again. It was good when it first came on but got boring quickly. Mainly because they lost their edge and decided that John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band 3 times a day is what made radio great.

It is bad enough their on air staff put you to sleep. They are boring talentless hacks. So bad they had to get two guys from Madision to do the morning show.

What? What was that?

The morning show consists of a man and a woman? No, it doesn’t. You are pulling my leg. April Fools Day was two days ago.

Really?

I still don’t believe it. It sounds like two guys. She sounds like a professional wrestler for Pete’s sake!

But I am not here to rant about their crappy personnel decisions. I am here to bitch about the music and what they have done. They are shortening songs. They are cutting out sections of classic rock songs, sections you know by heart. I first noticed this two week ago as I drove home from the bar. There were commercials on the stations I normally listen to. As I kept searching for some music, I popped on the Brew to hear them playing some Led Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love. Sweet! The song was just past its second chorus and I was ready to tap my finger on the steering while as Bonham would tap the cymbals. I was going to screech in my car like Jimmy Page does (Ah! Ah! Ah!) as if I would blow my load right then and there (how is that for a visual!).

But suddenly there was a guitar riff and the song jumped ahead more than a minute. WTF! They just took out the “orgasm section”. Those sons a bitches! That was an un-American thing to do! Or is that un-British?

I raged for a bit but then got home and it went away to the back side of my brain. I had taken note and would not forget.

Roughly a week later, they did it again. This time it was Foreigner’s Feels Like the First Time. They took out the keyboard interlude in the bridge section. This time it was maybe 10 or 15 seconds but it was an edit. Another song and another cut section.

I am not sure why they would do such a thing. Probably to make them more radio friendly or to be able to say they play more songs every hour than any other station in Milwaukee. Either which way, it is time to call them on the mat.

People, the Brew is changing the most we know and love. And I for one am not going to take this sitting down. Well, actually I guess I am as my plan is to discuss the next steps at a bar with my friends and we will most likely be sitting on bar stools. After all, that is where the best ideas come from. While drinking.

Maybe my friend a the local paper can leave a note on the desk of the radio and TV guy. Or let that Stingl guy know. All I know is something must be done.