Leah+K’s+2015+OpEd+Article

**Turn off the Radio** media type="file" key="FTHS_speaks.mp3" width="240" height="20" align="left" ====If I hear “because I’m happy” one more time I will make that person very unhappy for uttering such stupid, overplayed words laced in a catchy tune that embarks itself into a constant loop going around over and over again in the brain.==== ====The radio is a dominating monster that controls our likes and dislikes. It demolishes our favorite songs, turning them into a hated, meaningless noise streaming from the speakers. Seriously, who are these people who call in to request a song that they could literally hear if they only changed the station? Or how about when you change the station three times and the same song is playing on each station? These situations are more than irritating, especially as you find yourself singing these songs you have come to despise.====

====According to //The Statistics Portal//, “'All of Me' by John Legend got the most airplay [during 2014], with 816 thousand detected plays.” The following titles, “Happy” by Farrell Williams, “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry, and “Stay With Me” by Sam Smith had similar statistics. Why are we overexposed to this music? One reason is because of the media consolidation. “The sad truth of the matter is that only six companies control 90% of the media: GE, Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, and Time Warner” (Why Radio Plays Same 20 Songs). This corporate merging has led to a lack of diversity.====

====Radio stations frequently play hit songs for their target audience to entice listeners to their station more than any other station. To do that, radio programs actually use mathematical calculations to determine how often to play a message or a song to keep their listeners on their station. However, most people enjoy the freedom of switching stations and may hear the same songs attempting to entice the same audience, thus making the hits seem more obnoxious.====

====The funny thing is that even after everyone is sick of this overplayed music, it is still being shoved into our ears and we are told that it is the most popular and “most people like it.” Well I’m over it. As much as I would like to “shake it off” I find myself singing about how “I’m so fancy” but quite frankly my life would have “one less problem” without this stupid overproduction of low quality music.====