Ross On Readers’ Spotlight #1 – The Rock of the Universe

I’m setting out to spotlight more of the stations programmed and recommended by Ross on Radio readers this year. So far, I’ve probably listened or relistened to three dozen. Over the course of the year, I hope to write about as many possible.

These were stations suggested when I asked Facebook friends for their Intriguing Stations of 2021 nominations, as well as a week later when I asked readers to tell me about their online-only radio stations. This week’s featured stations are mostly rock-leaning. The next spotlight will look at different takes on oldies/classic hits, one of online radio (and this column’s) deepest categories.

My Facebook post prompted a contentious discussion with a small-market broadcaster that prompted me to ask  “What Is Real Radio in 2022?” These stations all extend that discussion. Five are online only; one is an HD-2 outlet. All are programmed by broadcast veterans. All are eclectic by design. One tries more to replicate the traditional “radio” experience. Most ROR readers, less hung up on such distinctions, are likely to find at least a few stations they want to check out here.

WBFO-HD2 (The Bridge) Buffalo, N.Y.

The Bridge is the recently launched HD-2 channel of Buffalo’s NPR affiliate, now helmed by Tom Calderone, ex-MTV and Spotify, but notably here also PD of WDRE/WLIR Long Island, N.Y., in the early-‘90s time immediately before grunge. (It was hearing Sinead O’Connor into Electronic that first got my attention.) Calderone promises that “more local music, from both sides of the border” is coming next. Here’s WBFO-HD2 (The Bridge) at 8 p.m. on Jan. 24:

• Smashing Pumpkins, “Ava Adore”
• Lloyd Cole & Commotions, “Perfect Skin”
• Blink-182, “Bored to Death”
• Verve, “Lucky Man”
• Skid Row, “I Remember You” — might have been an accident, the “now playing” info showed the Cure, “Let’s Go to Bed”; still worked
• Arcade Fire, “Wake Up”
• k.d. Lang, “Constant Craving”
• Yung Gravy, “Oops!”
• Replacements, “Bastards of Young”
• Blues Traveler, “But Anyway”
• Capital Cities, “Safe and Sound”
• Train, “Meet Virginia”
• INXS, “What You Need”
• Claptone f/George Kranz, “The Drums (Din Daa Daa)”
• Radiohead, “High and Dry”

Brainrock Radio

Integr8 Research president Matt Bailey “wasn’t happy with Alternative stations that had moved beyond the format’s foundational songs” or “Triple-A stations that were still either boomer-oriented progressive rockers at heart or too focused on wussy singer-songwriters.” The Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Brainrock was launched to play “the songs me and my nerdy friends loved” and also “as an excuse for staying up to date on radio-related tools and software.”  Here’s Brainrock Radio on the morning of Jan. 24:

• Radiohead, “High and Dry”
• Urge Overkill, “Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon”
• Husker Dü, “Pink Turns to Blue”
• Stella Donnelly, “Tricks”
• R.E.M., “Ignoreland”
• Everclear, “Santa Monica (Watch the World Die)”
• U2, “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses”
• War on Drugs, “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”
• Sugarcubes, “Hit”
• Faith No More, “We Care a Lot”
• Depeche Mode, “Policy of Truth”
• Cannons, “Fire for You”
• Dinosaur Jr., “Feel the Pain”
• Dave Matthew Band, “Tripping Billies”
• Joe Jackson, “You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)”

(If either The Bridge or Brainrock resonates with listeners, they likely both will. So will NYTheSpirit.com, veteran programmer David Marsden’s tribute to CFNY Toronto in that era. That station was profiled in Ross on Radio nearly two years ago, but remains available by subscription and a great listen). 

“Cool 101” Buffalo, N.Y.

Tom Schuh is a Buffalo radio veteran who tried a similarly eclectic mix on AM/FM translator combo WECK (The Breeze) in the early 2010s, along the lines of the then-syndicated Adult Standards/Triple-A format Timeless Cool. WECK is now doing ‘60s/’70s oldies. “The Breeze” name is now on crosstown Soft AC WMSX. “Buffalo’s Cool Spot” is Schuh’s update of the format, now featuring recent Triple-A and heritage rock titles as well. Here’s Cool 101 on January 21:

• Collective Soul, “Run”
• Bad Company, “Shooting Star”
• Fleetwood Mac, “Love in Store”
• Booker T & the M.G.’s, “Green Onions”
• Blind Melon, “No Rain”
• Eddie Vedder, “Long Way”
• Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”
• Matchbox Twenty, “If You’re Gone”
• Spoon, “The Hardest Cut”
• Pearl Jam, “Just Breathe”
• Stevie Wonder, “Golden Lady”
• John Moore & Missing Star, “See You Again”
• Howard Jones, “No One Is to Blame”
• Bill Withers, “Lean on Me”
• Fleetwood Mac, “Silver Springs (Live)”
• Elvis Costello & the Imposters, “Magnificent Hurt”

“US 41 Radio” Fort Myers, Fla.

It was brought to my attention by p.m. driver “Fast” Eddie Coyle, but is programmed by Southwest Florida radio veteran Matt Mangas. US 41 Radio did the best job I’ve heard recently of obscuring the boundaries between FM and IP. When I listened, it was hosted. It had local sponsors. It was promoting a then-upcoming station show, “Bacon Jam,” and another one for the following week. The music mix was heritage AOR but with beach-appropriate outliers. Here’s US41 on the morning of Jan. 14:

• ZZ Top, “Just Got Back From Baby’s”
• Modest Mouse, “The Sun Hasn’t Left”
• Sting, “Love Is the Seventh Wave” (from the feature LP, “The Dream of the Blue Turtles”)
• Elle King, “Ex’s & Oh’s”
• Eric Clapton, “Before You Accuse Me”
• Shaggy, “It Wasn’t Me”
• U2, “Pride (In the Name of Love)”
• Warren Zevon, “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner”
• Jimi Hendrix, “Purple Haze”
• Steve Miller Band, “Space Cowboy”
• Anything But Human, “Someone You Loved”—cover of the Lewis Capaldi hit by the Bacon Jam headliner
• Kinks, “Come Dancing”
• Bloodline, “Calling Me Back”
• Michael Jackson, “Rock With You”
• Frank Zappa, “Cosmic Debris”

Music Godz Radio

“With over two million songs, I describe us as a rock station playing everything,” says 40-year-rock radio veteran Ed Glass. That means you might hear glam-metal band Britny Fox. Or you might hear Britney Spears. You will likely hear metal. You may hear freestyle. “I feel we have a bigger song library than any station anywhere. We’re playing Michael Des Barres & Silverhead at the beginning of the next hour,” Glass wrote. “How many stations play any of his stuff?” Here’s Music Godz Radio on Jan 24:

• Led Zeppelin, “Fool in the Rain”
• Led Zeppelin, “The Ocean”
• Chloe Trevino & Rav Medic, “Mahna”
• Canned Heat, “On the Road Again”
• Ciara, “Paint It Black” — the R&B hitmaker covers the Rolling Stones classic for a movie soundtrack
• Warren Zevon, “Werewolves of London”
• Children of Bodom, “Mistress of Taboo”
• Chemical Brothers, “Wide Open”
• Cinema, “Sunlight”
• Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Rich Girl”
• Capital Cities, “Vowels”
• Charli XCX, “After the Afterparty (Acoustic)”
• CKY, “Replaceable”
• Band of Horses, “Crush”
• CHVRCHES, “Warning Call”
• Clutch, “Vision”

96X Memphis

96X was first recommended for Intriguing Stations by Keith Berman. PD John Michael returned to Memphis and revived Alternative call letters used in the market, but his background includes KROQ Los Angeles and KFMA Tucson, Ariz., when those stations successfully straddled Active and Alternative Rock. Alternative radio has trouble with that balance now, but I appreciated that 96X was clearly both “Alternative” and “Rock.” Here’s the station on Jan 25, just before 7:30 a.m.

• Vines, “Ride”
• Elastica, “Connection”
• Smile, “You Will Never Work in Television Again”
• Ataris, “The Boys of Summer”
• Cake, “Walk On By”
• Cage The Elephant, “Skin and Bones”
• Haim, “The Wire”
• R.E.M., “Orange Crush”
• Foals, “Wake Me Up”
• Rancid, “Roots Radicals”
• Strokes, “The Adults Are Talking”
• Queens Of The Stone Age, “I Sat by the Ocean”
• Jack White, “Taking Me Back”
• Foo Fighters, “Learn to Fly”
• Jimmy Eat World, “The Sweetness”
• James Bay, “Pink Lemonade”