If the new "Big Buck Country" and the "Radio Now" play-lists aren't any more interesting to you than the other lineups up and down Milwaukee's radio dial, there is an increasing number of alternatives that break the bonds with local radio.
Ultimately, that's bad news for local radio -- which needs to keep listeners in the habit of listening. But from a listener's perspective, there's really little to keep them listening to repetitive and bland collections of hits in each of the genres and sub-genres created by the radio business.
There is, of course, satellite radio, which seems have to have survived a merger of XM and Sirius that took forever, partly because of pressure from broadcasters.
The stock price for Sirius XM is hovering around $1, far better than the 30 cents it was, and making it more likely that your satellite radio company won't be disappearing. Satellite, of course, offers countless music choices, talk and news. I have a unit that plugs into my car, my home stereo and a boom box for portability.
Start your shopping at Sirius.
I've never been confident in the the long-term survivability of terrestrial broadcasting's alternative to satellite, the so-called "HD" radio. It's not high-definition, but it is digital and Milwaukee stations are offering sub-channels of programming if you buy an HD radio.
HD radio is where you'll find smooth jazz as a sub-channel of the main classic country format at 106.9 on Milwaukee's FM dial. It's where you can find classical music as a sub-channel of Wisconsin Public Radio's WHAD-FM (90.7).
But the secondary channels are mostly programmed robo-radio channels from the radio chains. And, since consumers don't seem to have taken to HD radio, I'm still not convinced that it's here to stay. Luckily, radio prices have dropped so that it may be worth the investment if you have a specific musical need that's not being met by a conventional radio station.
You can find more information on HD Radio here.
Personally, I enjoy using the Internet as a radio source. The choices are endless, and when I plug my laptop into my stereo, I've got great sound through the main areas of my house.
But the latest way of breaking the bonds with Milwaukee radio is in your hand, or in your pocket. Smart radio stations have created mobile applications that put radio stations onto your phone.
The drawback, at least in the case of my iPhone, remains the battery. But phones are as portable as you can get, and with a simple adapter, I plug mine into my car stereo.
You'll have to shop around to find out what's out there that might suit your needs better than what's available locally, but the number of stations is growing all the time.
The bottom line here is that there's no real need to be tied to a Milwaukee radio station if you don't like what you're hearing.
Obviously, that's the case in every local radio market and it's one more sign that commercial radio has to offer entertaining local personalities and music formats that reach local audiences if it's going to survive. It's expensive at a time when the business still wants to cut costs.
But without that kind of investment, local stations are often less-interesting versions of what's increasingly available elsewhere.
On TV: Fox has ordered a third season of "The Cleveland Show."
- David Hasselhoff may be gone from "America's Got Talent," but he returns to his old home, "The Young and the Restless," next week. The CBS soap airs at 11 a.m. weekdays on Channel 58.
- Wednesday night's Chicago win in the Stanley Cup finals pulled in 8.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research numbers, making it the most-watched NHL game in 36 years.
- Speaking of Channel 58, it's one of the first five stations to pick up "Big Bang Theory" reruns in syndication starting next year. Broadcasting and Cable notes that Milwaukee is a "particularly competitive" market for such reruns.
An alternate TV universe: Thanks to YouTube (and to TV Tattle) , we can look at the un-aired pilot for CBS' "Big Bang Theory."
As you'll see, it's somewhat different -- and lacks one of the show's best features, Kaley Cuoco:
Update: The video has been pulled from YouTube by Warner Bros. You'll have to believe that it was entertaining if you're fan of the show. It demonstrates the improvements that frequently happen before a show actually gets on the air.
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
