It’s been about 50 years since DJs at rock radio picked their own music. It’s probably been a while since non-industry listeners believed that DJs were picking the music. That one seemed to die in the flurry of critical stories alleging playlist standardization at the end of the pre-Pandora/Spotify era. As somebody who schedules radio station music for a living, I can’t honestly get too romantic about that era.

That said, I still trust the taste and judgment of personalities I like against the celebrity curated playlists of SiriusXM and the streaming world (and, hey, I like the John Mayer and Tom Petty channels). That was particularly reinforced by Bob Stroud’s final “Ten at 10” on Classic Rock WDRV (The Drive) Chicago.

It’s rare these days when a radio station introduces me to a song, much less one chosen by a DJ, but Stroud is the reason that I have the 1967 local Chicago hit “Take Me Back” by the Flock on my phone. It was on Volume Seven of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Roots series of CDs spun off from Stroud’s Sunday morning show, a hallmark of his over 45 years on more than a half-dozen AOR and Classic Rock stations. 

In those years, Stroud achieved a tricky balance in rock radio—respected as a music authority without ever being mocked as “the rock professor” like some of his peers. He retired from the Drive’s midday slot in 2022, but Tuesday’s Ten at 10 marked his final show altogether. Drive’s version of Ten at 10 usually focuses on a single year. This one was positioned as “10 great songs from 25 great years”—his tenure at the station. 

Here’s Stroud’s farewell show:

• Aliotta Hayes & Jeremiah, “Lake Shore Drive (L.S.D.)”—CS&N’ish local anthem that became a staple of local rock radio, but unknown in most other markets.
• David Bowie, “D.J.”
• Elton John, “Friends”
• Cryan’ Shames, “Sugar and Spice”—top 5 Chicago hit from 1966; Stroud became the band’s lead singer in the early 2000s; they opened for Joe Cocker at the Drive’s first anniversary show, providing a segue to…
• Jim Steinman, “Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through”
• Bruce Springsteen, “Glory Days”—Stroud sang the national anthem for the White Sox in their 2005 championship year.
• Beatles, “In My Life”
• Raspberries, “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)”—often a radio/industry person’s favorite Raspberries song.
• Blues Brothers, “Sweet Home Chicago”
• Jimmy Buffett, “Lovely Cruise”—lesser-known song from Changes In Latitude, Changes in Attitude; Buffett was a core artist at Stroud’s first station, WQSR (Quad 102.5) Sarasota, Fla., now Tampa’s WHPT; Stroud’s WQSR mentor Steve Huntington later became PD of Buffett’s Radio Margaritaville; he died in early June.

For fun, here’s Stroud’s next-to-last Ten at 10, saluting 1985:

• Survivor, “Burning Heart”
• Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Look at Little Sister”
• Hooters, “And We Danced”
• Dire Straits, “Money for Nothing”
• ZZ Top, “Rough Boy”
• Pete Townshend, “Face the Face”
• David Lee Roth, “Just A Gigolo – I Ain’t Got Nobody”
• Robert Palmer, “Addicted to Love”
• Journey, “Only the Young”
• John Mellencamp, “Minutes to Memories”