radio

Rock ‘n Roll Death Panel

Posted by 2000 Man

Apr 052012

I know, I did it to myself. What did I expect? I listened to Classic Rock radio this afternoon and it’s just so stale that I swear, it sucks the very will to live right out of you. So my mind was wandering while they were playing “Start Me Up,” which is a pretty good song by my favorite band in the whole world. But I was just thinking, “maybe I should just turn on my mp3 player or NPR.”

Then I started thinking that the Oldies station doesn’t play a steady diet of Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. In fact, they seem to have made these kinds of great artists almost invisible. I was thinking that wasn’t such a bad thing. If I were a big fan, I could listen to them until I couldn’t bear it anymore anyway. I started thinking that when Classic Rock radio became a format, it was pretty much just Rock radio, and they played old stuff and new stuff (much like people actually do in their cars and homes). Then I thought, “Program Directors need a Death Panel!”

But like our Nation’s Death Panels, these Panels need to be made up of people who care. People with a vested interest. People for whom cutting these songs out of the rotation to make some room for something new are actually going to be affected by this action. I figured if I were on this Panel, I’d have to make those hard decisions about my favorite band, The Rolling Stones, but I wouldn’t be able to chime in about a band like Led Zeppelin, which I can’t stand. It just wouldn’t be fair because I don’t have a vested interest.

So I thought members of the Hall would be good candidates for this heavy burden. We’ve got to do something! These Program Directors are obviously in way over their heads, too attached to their heroes to make rational decisions to help get some decent new Rock on the radio.

Will you step up and make the hard decisions? I’ll start off by making my own cuts. I’ll miss these songs on the radio dearly, but I understand we just can’t support them anymore. It’s for the younger generation. It’s for the greater good. Can you help cut 5 songs from your favorites?

Start Me Up. There may be no song with more private support, with all the plays it gets in stadiums and on TV.
Miss You. It’s great for dancing and parties, but it’s a pretty long song, and a lot of new artists will benefit from the amount of air time freed up.
Gimme Shelter. A stone cold classic, and I truly love the song, but Martin Scorcese has promised to use it in every movie he makes anyway.
Brown Sugar. I’m pretty sure a riff like that will never die. It doesn’t need any more help on the Public airwaves.
Angie – I love it. I really do, but face it, there are plenty of other ballads every bit as deserving.

Hope I Die Before “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Makes Oldies Radio

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Nov 092009

In a recent thread Townsman jungleland2 had the following reaction regarding my report of Billy Joel‘s “Still Rock ‘n Roll to Me” being played on a Philadelphia Oldies station, WOGL 98.1 FM:

I can not have a record that I bought with my own money be old enough to be an OLDIE (so same goes with Mr. Roboto and Start Me Up)

A lot of us are getting old enough to start running into these feelings. Nobody told us there’d be days like these!

To his credit, jungleland2 quickly slapped himself out of his anxious feelings and turned the situation into a worthwhile topic for discussion:

Question for the Townspeople..

Where does “oldies” start/end

Where does “classic rock” start/end

Where does “modern rock” start/end

a year? a song? a sub-genre?

What do you think?

Morton’s Fork: “Still Rock ‘n Roll to Me” or “Rock and Roll Band”?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Nov 062009

Yesterday, while flipping stations in my car, I was faced with an extremely challenging Morton’s Fork; that is, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. All of the stations I had programmed in were on commercial break except for our local Oldies station and our local Classic Rock station. The Oldies station was playing Billy Joel‘s “Still Rock and Roll to Me”; the Classic Rock station was playing Boston‘s “Rock and Roll Band.” I really felt like listening to something on the radio with a beat. That’s right, the local AAA station, which is commercial free, was playing some acoustic thumbsucker with a whiny voice: “N/A.”

Usually, when faced with any Joel vs Boston choice I’d go with the well-crafted but not smug Boston selection, unless it was Joel’s “Uptown Girl” on the radio, the one Joel song I kind of like. I’d never considered that any other Joel song could have a chance when stacked up against any mediocre Boston song until this match up. Continue reading »

A Classic Rock Riddle

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Oct 252008

Twice in the last week, I punched up the local “classic rock” station on the car radio, and *twice* heard the exact same song the moment I switched to the station. I’ve attached an audio collage of snippets from the tune, processed a bit to do a decent job of masking the artist in question. Your task: summon all you know about classic rock playlists — and tune your nerdy earbulbs — then tell me the artist and the song in question. First correct answer gets a coveted RTH No-Prize, and the opportunity to rant at length about how totally lame today’s “classic rock” playlists are.

Here’s the collage I offer.

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

Postscript: please note that these two times I tuned in the classic rock station were the *only* two times I’d tuned to the damn station in about three years!

Frightening FM Programming Trend: “The Rock You Grew Up With”

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Aug 262008

Longtime Philadelphia ROCK station, WYSP, a CBS affiliate, has modified its Modern Hard Rock format to fit some kind of Post-Classic Rock, Hair Farmer-friendly, ’80s demographic.

Hair bands are the thing at rock station WYSP (94.1), which this morning retooled its format, expanding its play list to include more songs from the 1970s and 1980s.

Now billed as “94YSP The Rock You Grew Up With From the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s,” the station will play more from such artists as AC/DC, Def Leppard, Guns N Roses, Ozzie Osbourne, Pink Floyd, Van Halen and Aerosmith. The station will continue to play more recent artists such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

The article, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, notes that the station’s new slogan, “The Rock You Grew Up With,” was trademarked by CBS. I wonder if similar CBS hard rock stations have or will soon also change to this format. I wonder how old school Classic Rock stations will adjust now that this new format will be skimming off the “fresh cream” of their programming.

Feel free to sniff and puff up your chest with pride in your satellite radio subscription.

Rock Town Hall and Little Jackie Explode on AM Radio!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 112008

The Great 48 dropped a fun line and radio snippet the other day that I thought you might dig. The Great One wrote:

I emailed the hosts of that AM radio show I mentioned in the Little Jackie piece, which resulted in a lengthy discussion including this plug of the board. I’ll take credit for any infusion of new blood.

As you should, Great One. Thanks! Here’s the clip:

Rock Town Hall Is On the Air! (excerpt of on-air discussion from Too Beautiful To Live)

Record Companies: Still Run by Morons

Posted by the great 48

Jul 032008

There’s an AM radio show out of Seattle that I podcast called Too Beautiful To Live. Last month, the show ran a contest called the TBT-Ella-Ella Watch, to decide on the summer single of 2008. Out of several worthy contenders (“American Boy” by Estelle and Kanye, and Snoop’s bizarre collaboration with Willie Nelson, “My Medicine,” being the other good ones), the clear winner was “The Stoop” by Little Jackie. This is a friggin’ glorious song, a sleek modern recasting of the old Invictus Records sound, circa 1971, by a Brooklyn-based duo consisting of neo-soul singer Imani Coppola (who had some solo hits in the 90s) and producer Adam Pallin. (The album, also called The Stoop, comes out Tuesday.)

Little Jackie,“The Stoop”

Well, this week there was a shocking and unexpected development in the story, which was that when the show’s producer and co-host, Jen Andrews, called Little Jackie’s label, S-Curve Records, to tell them the good news that Little Jackie’s song had won the listener poll, the PR person’s response was basically to flip out and demand to know how she had even heard the song (remember, the album isn’t out yet), and then to say that “The Stoop” wasn’t going to be released as a single.

Seriously, people. How is this song not a single?

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