Official Slacker Forums

[Yokhannan]

Hello,

I came across Slacker due to the iPhone app. Very sweet app guys.

The first thing I went looking for was a Christian Rock station. I found it -- sweeet !!

Sadly, it seems like most of this supposed "rock" music is stuff that should be getting air time under the generalized "Christian" station and NOT this Christian "Rock" station.

I have also been listening to Slacker on my computer... but it seems like after just a few minutes I end up shutting the darn thing off because of the utter lack of ROCK MUSIC.

So what do I do.... If I am on my iPhone I fire up "Tuner" and listen to http://christianrock.net/ ... and if I am on my computer I just head over to http://christianrock.net/ too. Sigh, it would be so nice to have Slacker be my one-stop place for music.

Now I am not intending to advertise them... but rather I am trying to get you to listen to them to get an understanding of what a Christian ROCK station SHOULD BE.

Those guys have been online for years... and will continue to get my money donation.

Unless, of course, you get rid of these stupid "k-love" style songs and give us something worthy of calling "ROCK".

Thanks, (and take the rant as somebody willing to become a paying customer... WILLING but NOT UNTIL this pansie "rock" music finds a place under a different station and the ROCK station starts playing Christian Rock music!)

Yokhannan (a potential new customer)

(ps: I am also a paying Rhapsody customer, and if you guys can get your act together and produce a REAL Christian Rock station... you'll have me converted from both christianrock.net AND the big boy in this industry, Rhapsody itself!)

[rjreed]

Hey Yokhannan

Thanks for taking the time to drop us a line about the music I'm programming for Slacker's Christian Rock Channel. Just a brief introduction I have 13 years of mainstream radio programming along with almost 8 years of Christian radio programming so the songs I've picked for this channel have a purpose. My main goal is to have 70% of the channel play rock or alternative songs while the other 30% is from pop or rhythmic songs. I see this as an opportunity for those that don't normally check out Christian music at all a chance to hear all of the great music these artists are making.
I'd be more than happy to kow what artists I may be missing so let me know, I'll give them a listen and consider adding them to the Slacker Christian Rock Channel.
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts!
Rodney Miller
Slacker Programmer

[Yokhannan]

My main goal is to have 70% of the channel play rock or alternative songs while the other 30% is from pop or rhythmic songs.

Thank you for being up front and honest about this.

I will be moving back to other services if this is the case.

One expects Rock music in a Rock channel... and if I am paying for it (which I was willing to do) it should be a given that I am not having to listen to pop/light in a "Rock" station... especially when a normal Christian station already exists within the Slacker services - which is where that stuff *should* be played.

Guess it is back to the iPhone Tuner app for me - sigh.

Yokhannan.

[Scott Riggs]

One of the great things about Slacker Radio is options.

If you know exactly what you want, you have the ability to create your own Christian Rock station with just the artists you want. If you prefer a bit more diversity than just what you know, you can adjust the Artist Discovery slider and Slacker will add similar artists to your station.

In the end, we hope you'll be inclined to create your own station if you don't find a Genre station to your liking.

Thanks.

[WitherWing]

One of the great things about Slacker Radio is options.

If you know exactly what you want, you have the ability to create your own Christian Rock station with just the artists you want. If you prefer a bit more diversity than just what you know, you can adjust the Artist Discovery slider and Slacker will add similar artists to your station.

In the end, we hope you'll be inclined to create your own station if you don't find a Genre station to your liking.

Thanks.

I agree that one of the upsides is the chance to "Roll your own" as it were, but it's kind of sad if it seems like the genre title is more of a suggestion instead of a description. I think it'd be a problem if the Metal station started to play Genesis just because they're a good band with the occasional hard rock tendencies. You'd get a lot of angry people after awhile, and the recommendation to make your own station would probably not get you a lot of sympathy.

There's a lot of good music on this station, but there's also a lot of pop and easy listening that shows up (a Sonicflood worship ballad just played after a Shaun Groves ballad .. on a rock station) -- and it's more than 3/10 songs.

I respect some of the decisions, but there's a already a pop station for the ballads and mellow worship songs.

[Yokhannan]

In the end, we hope you'll be inclined to create your own station if you don't find a Genre station to your liking.

Slacker clearly does not get things....

I should NOT have to "create my own station" just to get what the station itself is about!

If I have to create my own station to actually get "Christian Rock" than seriously... what the * is there even a "Christian Rock" station for in the first place?

Slacker needs to find a DJ that is willing to be true to the stations genre's if they expect free members to become paying members and to gain any level of loyality from it's users.

I am clearly not the only person who feels this way. There is clearly evidence to support our case.

[Vlaktor]

If you are wanting something along the lines of Red and Ra, what you are wanting is Christian Hard Rock. I'm sure Rodney could whip up that station really quick. I can as well, but my station won't be listed as his would.

I'm not understanding why you're being a bit insulting and saying Slacker should get it's act together. Keep in mind "rock" is a HUGE genre with many, many, many sub-genres beneath it. Therefore, Christian Rock which does include some of the harder stuff as well as the more sissy stuff is still very accurate. It only takes a few minutes to create your own station. The time used to post your concern could have been used to create the station.

If you would rather have someone else controlling the programming, I'd recommend a different approach. Coming in here and saying "Hey Slacker... you better get your act together or I'm leaving" isn't very forth coming. How about simply asking to have a Christian Hard Rock station created?

I'll give that a shot for you. Hey Rodney.... would you mind programming a Christian Hard Rock station and having it listed? Many thanks in advance!

[mcrawford]

I like the Christian Rock station the way it is for the most part. "Rock" does include a lot of different sounds and styles.

It sounds like mostly you don't like the name of the station, really. If the station were called Christian Rock which includes all varieties of Rock like Pop and Alternative and Hard Rock maybe that would do it?

It's really not that hard to create your own station, or even easier to just go in and Ban all the artists on the current station.

Don't get so upset about the name. The options are still better than most radio options -- there's a station in my area that brands itself as "World Class Rock" but personally I think it plays about 50% crap. I don't have any options to ban that 50% like I do with Slacker.

[Vlaktor]

It sounds like mostly you don't like the name of the station, really. If the station were called Christian Rock which includes all varieties of Rock like Pop and Alternative and Hard Rock maybe that would do it?

LOL! Perfect! Hey Rodney... be sure to change it to that to alleviate further confusion.

[kellman]

While I think yokhannon's approach was all wrong, I do want to echo his 'request' for a Christian hard rock station. I was always disappointed that the 'Christian Rock' station wasn't very rockin' and that there were only 4 spiritual stations in general.

I had been just using the free Blackberry version for the longest time and only recently purchased a subscription because I wanted more skips. Now I also use the online version and have just discovered the ability to cache other's play lists (that I found here in the forum) so I'm starting to 'get' it.

How about a Christian rap station as well? I haven't even found a users play list for that yet either.
Thanks!

[Mat Diablo]

Hey all-

This is all really valuable feedback, and for that we are grateful. Based on your input and the expert opinion of Rodney- our Christian Rock programmer- I think we have reached a solution to your concerns.

Moving forward, Christian Rock will be programmed as exactly that- a rock station. With that comes an opportunity to potentially add more CCM-based formats, such as a Hip-Hop/Rhythmic station and a Country station. This way, you'll be able to get the music that you expect and want to hear on a particular station, rather than trying to cram three different formats into one station.

I hope you'll enjoy these changes, and continue to contribute to the community. In addition to hiring the best genre experts to program our stations- like Rodney- your input really shapes the programming that we offer. Thanks for listening!

-Mat
Sr. Radio Program Manager at Slacker Radio

[mcrawford]

Thanks for listening. For what it's worth, my feedback is that I have always found the Christian and Gospel stations don't play enough of the current Hits that are in heavy rotation on the terrestrial stations. So I made my own stations that play a lot more current-music hits:

Christian Hits:
http://slacker.com/r/CvqcR

Gospel Hits:
http://slacker.com/r/Cvqch

It's great that I can easily make the stations that suit me, but it's too bad that the Christian and Gospel stations stray so far away from what the terrestrial radio stations sound like (in my opinion). A lot of the currently charting hits aren't on the Christian station at all, as far as I can tell from browsing the artist list. Tastes vary of course, but that's my take.