A few years ago, I took a “virtual radio road trip” between Florida and New York. I’d loved that drive as a kid, particularly to hear the changes in radio from market to market. I’ve only done that drive once as an adult, and there wasn’t the same tolerance among family members for button-punching or stations fading between markets. Instead, I re-created the radio trip by streaming CHR stations in “real time” (or at least taping them in order at the appropriate time in sequence).
Radio fans need their road trips more than ever this year, so I used streaming to re-create a drive through Southern New England on Memorial Day afternoon. New York to Boston was a favorite drive because of the number of cities in relatively close proximity. At most times, you can hear not just the next market over, but the market beyond it. From New Haven you can hear Springfield, Mass., or you can hear Long Island, N.Y.
On my virtual Florida trip, I had concentrated on CHR and Hot AC stations with an ear toward the state of current music. On this trip, I tried to spotlight a variety of large- and smaller-market stations, including some recommended by readers and radio friends. On Memorial Day, the fun was more often in hearing “oh wow” songs, whether on the Oldies/Classic Hits stations or on Mainstream and Adult Top 40s that are leaning more on throwbacks both as a morale-booster in the time of COVID-19 and as a commentary on current product. Also, I recently profiled both CHR WXKS (Kiss 108) Boston and WPRO-FM Providence, R.I. So I pulled out of Boston listening to …
WXRV (92.5 The River) Boston, 1:00-1:50 p.m. – Triple-A “Independent Radio” is a surprise success in the market, becoming the market’s only commercial current-based rocker. It got the trip started right with two great driving records this hour — “The Walker” by Fitz & the Tantrums and “Runnin’ Down a Dream” by Tom Petty. There was another Boston-related driving song, Jonathan Richman’s “Roadrunner,” on a hook promo. The River also played “Ain’t Hurtin’ Nobody,” the first time I’d heard John Prine on the radio since his passing. The River bills itself as “live, local, independent” at :00 and also reminds you at various times that it’s “made in Boston for Boston” by “people who love the music as much as you do.” Big owners often dismiss that type of imaging; it was nice to hear it working here.
WMEX Boston, 1:00-1:40 p.m. – Radio road trips are always best when there’s a new station involved. WMEX recently returned to the scene of its ‘50s-through-early ‘70s Top 40 triumphs, after being off the air for three years, as the new sister station of South Suburban AC WATD, always interesting in itself. The music is mostly ‘60s, including some “Nothing but a Heartache” by the Flirtations-level depth, but there was also “Rock Me Gently” and “Abracadabra,” the latter of which WMEX veteran Larry Justice segued into “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah.” “Mothers get ready,” Justice warned. “Summer camp is going to be in the basement this year.” Justice played “Born in the USA” for Memorial Day, but I also heard “PT 109” by Jimmy Dean.
WODS (103-3 Amp Radio) Boston, 1-2 p.m. – Amp was one of the last major launches of a market’s second CHR, switching from Classic Hits just under eight years ago. It came in just as the product cycle for the format was starting to calcify, in part because so many of the other second CHRs had parked themselves in a tight cubbyhole between Mainstream and Rhythmic CHR. Over the last few years, Amp had been one of the fastest major-market stations on new music, as well as one of the most enthusiastic proponents of those songs that began as streaming stories. “The Box” by Roddy Ricch had already been a power on Amp with 1800+ total spins. Rival WXKS (Kiss 108) by comparison was 28x a week and 240 total spins. Amp also played a lot of early ‘10s gold not heard elsewhere. The most distinctive I heard with middayer Corinne as I left Boston was Alexandra Stan, “Mr. Saxobeat.”
WHYA (Y101) Cape Cod, Mass., 1:15-2:15 p.m. – On Saturday night, Y101’s owner had taken to the airwaves himself for a night of requests and dedications for graduating seniors. That owner, “Open House Party” creator John Garabedian, has a little history with weekend party shows. Y101 just expanded its “Party LiveLine” to weeknights, replacing Jackson Blue’s “Party Playhouse,” with Garabedian now hosting the weekend version. When I heard it Monday, Y101 was still running the dedications and shout-outs to graduates. Y101 is tight musically and presentationally, reminiscent of KQMV (Movin’ 92.5) Seattle in its rhythmic-pop focus; it’s the station you hope to come across on every road trip that sounds bigger than its medium/small market.
WMNP (Mixx 99.3) Newport, R.I., 1:30-2:30 p.m. – Adult CHR Mixx 99.3 is the other type of station you hope to hear on a road trip: the smaller-market outlet that adds new music sooner, holds on to more recurrents, and plays gold you haven’t heard on the radio. It was the first place where I’d encountered “X” by the Jonas Brothers on the radio. Then the station’s Double G went into a 2 p.m. artist feature, spotlighting the Backstreet Boys, which meant not just “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” but “The Call” and their cover of “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss.” Mixx 99.3’s studio sponsors are the local Volvo and Mercedes dealerships. And its :00 ID is even more adamant than WXRV: “Proud to be live and local with absolutely no syndication!”
WILI (I98.3) Norwich, Conn., 2-3 p.m. — Another small-market outlet with deeper gold and recurrents. PD/afternoon host Kevin “Mushroom” Vaughan and Hall Communications group PD Bob Walker shifted “I98.3” to Hot AC “with a lot of feel-good golds” two years ago, he says. I98.3 began the hour with “I Like It” by Enrique Iglesias & Pitbull. Later there was “Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani, “Feel So Close” by Calvin Harris, and “22” by Taylor Swift. (The currents were mostly on the “Say So”/”My Oh My” level. The only current that might not have been a power that hour was “Before You Go.”) I98.3 also had the best local spot encountered on the drive — medieval music backing a local exterminator’s promise to help you win “the game of homes” against termites.
WZMX (Hot 93.7) Hartford, Conn., 2-3 p.m. – “Hartford’s No. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 for R&B and Hip-Hop,” as middayer DJ Bigg Mann put it, was alternating Memorial Day “Wayback Mixes” with shorter sets of current Hip-Hop and R&B. That afternoon, the mixes ranged from ‘90s house to a ‘70s and ‘80s set with Frankie Beverly & Maze, Michael Jackson, and “Double Dutch Bus.” The mix I heard with DJ Wrexx and p.m. driver Jenny Boom Boom was ‘90s-throwback format territory, leaning heavily on female artists — Mary J. Blige, SWV, Toni Braxton, and “oh wow” titles such as Tatyana Ali, “Daydreamin.’” The set of newer songs that preceded it included Megan Thee Stallion & Beyoncé’s “Savage” and French Montana’s “Pop That.”
WTIC-FM Hartford, Conn., 2-3 p.m. – “Today’s Best Variety, 96.5 TIC-FM” was in a Throwback Weekend, so the hour I heard was bookended by Savage Garden’s “I Want You” and the Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony.” In between, there was even John Mellencamp’s 1984 “Pink Houses.” But I also heard the station’s Mike Kelley play Gabby Barrett’s “I Hope” as well, the first time I’d actually heard it on a pop station; TIC-FM and sister Mix 104.1 Boston have been leaders in Country crossover over the years. I also heard Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar,” as that song moves quickly into position as a leading Song of Summer 2020 contender. TIC-FM didn’t have any “pro-local” imaging, but it did have a sweeper that declared the station to be “always subscription-free.”
WLNG Eastern Long Island, N.Y., 2:30-3:30 p.m. – WLNG’s wide library and classic jingles have made it one of ROR readers’ most-treasured stations of all time. “The Sound of the Sound” has been under new ownership for nearly 18 months now. You can hear changes — there’s a Triple-A component to some of the gold (I heard Mellencamp again, but this time it was “Key West Intermezzo”; also Police, “Message in a Bottle,” and Traveling Wilburys, “Handle With Care”). But I also heard Dion, Dionne Warwick, and Brian “Cannon” Bannon’s “official start of summer” song, “Summer Means Fun” by Bruce & Terry. There were still plenty of vintage and vintage-sounding jingles. There was an elaborate legal ID that pronounced WLNG “the sound of the Sound,” before declaring “the legend lives on.” This hour of WLNG could have been its own “Fresh Listen,” so look for that soon.
WKCI (KC101) New Haven, Conn., 3-4 p.m. – KC101 has gotten a lot of attention among radio people for its “Feel Good Weekends.” It’s particularly appropriate since KC101 launched during the late-‘70s/early-‘80s doldrums with trademark solid-gold weekends (which then meant going back to the ‘50s). Now, it’s ‘N Sync, Flo Rida, Jennifer Lopez, and LFO’s “Summer Girls,” interspersed with a few recent titles. Some are the titles regularly heard at Hot AC — “No Scrubs,” the remade “The Boys of Summer” — but I also heard “Mmmbop” and “Thong Song.” It made KC101 a rare CHR that was primarily up-tempo. PD/afternoon host Adam Rivers is also very up-tempo, while the imaging is clean and offhand, the inverse of many of today’s CHRs. The station was also teasing the start of a Secret Sound contest the following day.
WPLR New Haven, Conn., 3-4 p.m.—The longtime Classic Rocker was doing a no-repeat Memorial Day Weekend with Rob Rush (from sister WWSK [The Shark] Long Island, N.Y.), which made for great segues like (“Can’t Get Enough” by) Bad Company to “Bad Reputation” (by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts) or David Bowie (“Heroes”) to Def Leppard (“Too Late for Love”). A lot of thought clearly goes into PLR’s imaging. The no-repeat promo promised, “’Won’t Get Fooled Again,’ once! ‘Come as You Are,’ once! Just the dirtiest Whitesnake songs [clip of “Slow an’ Easy”], but only once.” The promo saluting graduating seniors apologizes because “we can’t legally give you Natty Light” but only graduation shout-outs.
WDAQ (98Q) Danbury, Conn., 4-5 p.m.— After so much deep gold, Adult Top 40 98Q was the most current station I’d encountered, mostly songs from the last few years and a few from the early-to-mid-‘00s. Like Y101, it was also a well-produced station punching well above its market weight under PD (and “Beat Shazam” winner) Rich Minor. I also liked that P.M. driver “HartMan” was doing something I don’t hear enough — sly asides (which came off better than my attempts to re-create them in print might). I usually regard the “three songs coming up this hour” break as wasted time, but I appreciated that this one, over “Treat You Better,” ended not with “and here’s Shaun Mendes,” but “and the kid’s on now!” 98Q was starting its cash contest, “Greater Danbury’s Local Stimulus Package,” on Tuesday; when HartMan promised details in a few songs, he deadpanned, “It’s a tease thing.” And the promo also notes that there will be only local winners.
WXPK (The Peak) Westchester County, N.Y., 5-6 p.m. – I began and finished the trip with Triple-A. The Peak bills itself as “local radio … for New York’s backyard.” As important as the commitment to local by WXPK and WXRV is the commitment to hosted radio with content. Market veteran Jimmy Fink was on for “The Home Stretch.” Like WXRV, the Peak talks about the music it plays. Like many Triple-A stations, that’s increasingly current and classic Alternative, but Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way” played this hour, as did Black Crowes’ “High Head Blues,” which I’d missed until now. I also heard “Handle With Care” again, tying it with “Born in the USA” as the most-played oldie of the trip. But there was also Michael Kiwanuka, “Rollin,’” and Alanis Morissette, “Reasons I Drink,” two recent favorites.
Perhaps because it’s a month later, nobody made “living through the pandemic” as much of an ongoing theme as Kiss 108. But inevitably the topic was there a few times an hour. The “are you inviting me to your barbecue” banter between jocks this year was Hot 93.7’s DJ Wrexx saying “you could throw me a burger” and Jenny warning, “I’ll throw it at you,” lest listeners think she was ignoring social distancing.
WILI’s Mushroom promised that hearing Nicki Minaj “will always get you in a good mood, no matter where you are.” The middayer on WXRV front-sold “Bad Decisions” by the Strokes, adding “try not to make too many of these, right around now.” A KC101 sweeper asked, “Why did we ever think public drinking fountains were a good idea?” In the absence of being able to do traditional van stops, WLNG was going to Eastern Long Island Hospital to play a “thank you” song for staffers.
With so many markets and stations to choose from, I could have done this “trip” 10 times over with 12 different stations each time. I came away from the ones I’d heard feeling like I’d had the sort of radio experiences I was looking for. Here’s hoping you have great radio experiences this summer and real road trips soon.