Over the years, the type of station most often spotlighted in Ross On Radio is the wide-playlisted station that I eventually came to describe as “Oldies XL.” Not coincidentally, that’s also the format that ROR readers most often offered up when I asked them about the online (or other) stations they programmed earlier this year.
I’m spotlighting more listener-programmed and recommended stations this year, particularly those that have never been featured in ROR. There are a lot of stations that span the history of hit music, so look for more of them in forthcoming articles. Five of the spotlights below are online only; one is an AM/FM translator combo. (Here’s our first spotlight on various listener-programmed rock outlets.)
After decades in Dallas radio, including ten years at KVIL, the model for full-service AC, Steve Eberhart bought the station where his career started in 1973, KGAF Gainesville, Texas, 75 miles north. KGAF is gold-based AC, but has enough of a current component to play Glass Animals, “Heat Waves.” Here’s KGAF around 5 p.m. on Jan. 17, an hour hosted by Eberhart and punctuated by both national and local news as well as sports and a community calendar. The station was also set to broadcast a live candidates’ forum this week on-air and on Facebook Live.
- Pointer Sisters, “I’m So Excited”
- Johnny Rivers, “Rockin’ Pneumonia — Boogie Woogie Flu”
- Michael Bolton, “When a Man Loves a Woman”
- Bruce Springsteen, “Hungry Heart”
- REO Speedwagon, “Can’t Fight This Feeling”
- Marshmello & Jonas Brothers, “Leave Before You Love Me”
- Friends of Distinction, “Grazing in the Grass”
- Colbie Caillat, “Realize”
- Harry Styles, “Adore You”
- Eagles, “No More Cloudy Days”
- Peter Frampton, “Baby, I Love Your Way”
- Chicago, “Call on Me”
- Donald Fagen, “I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)”
- Sheryl Crow, “If It Makes You Happy”
Jacksonville, Fla., radio legend Mann describes Tony Mann Radio as “great upbeat music, from the ’60s to now, with ‘oh wows’ and my retro radio moments thrown in, too.” The station also boasts that you can listen for several days without hearing a repeat. While anything can happen, a lot of the music on TMR comes from the late-‘80s-through-mid-‘00s era of Top 40 powerhouse WAPE, when Mann was APD/MD. Here’s the station at 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 18:
- Outkast, “The Way You Move”
- Pussycat Dolls, “When I Grow Up”
- Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”
- Heavy D & Boyz, “We Got Our Own Thing”
- DNA f/Suzanne Vega, “Tom’s Diner”
- Panic at the Disco, “Hey Look Ma I Made It”
- Rolling Stones, “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)”
- Britney Spears, “Toxic”
- C & C Music Factory, “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”
- INOJ, “Time After Time”
- B.W. Stevenson, “Shambala”
- Tavares, “It Only Takes a Minute”
- Bad Company, “Can’t Get Enough”
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Love Rollercoaster”
- ‘N Sync, “I Want You Back”
- Barry Manilow, “Bandstand Boogie”
- Firehouse, “Don’t Treat Me Bad”
- Foreigner, “Long, Long Way from Home”
Music Through the Tunnel of Time
R.J. Heim is a 30-year meteorologist/features reporter at WJAR-TV Providence, R.I. But he began in radio. A year ago, he launched Music Through the Tunnel of Time, an “all-genres/all-era radio station, 24/7 commercial-free — at least until I retire in 2024.” The station was recently featured in Rhode Island Monthly. If you’ve ever regretted that the Classic Hits format seems to have turned back the clock to 1982 when it comes to R&B and dance crossovers, there’s still a strong component of them here, along with Smooth Jazz and many other genres. Here’s the station on Feb. 6 at 10:30 p.m.
- Naked Eyes, “Promises Promises”
- Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio, “For Those Who Love to Groove”
- Goo Goo Dolls, “Name”
- Talking Heads, “Burning Down the House”
- Norman Greenbaum, “Spirit in the Sky”
- Juice Newton, “Angel of the Morning”
- Kiss, “I Was Made for Loving You”
- Clairo, “Alewife”
- Neiked f/Mae Muller & Polo G, “Better Days”
- Journey, “Only the Young”
- Little River Band, “Reminiscing”
- Charlie Rich, “The Most Beautiful Girl”
- Cure, “Just Like Heaven”
- Triangle Sun, “Beautiful”
- Supremes, “Up the Ladder to the Roof”
- Steely Dan, “Only a Fool Would Say That”
- Paul Hardcastle, “Rain Forest”
Both Mann and Heim’s stations have R&B and dance crossovers not heard everywhere. Tom Lawler’s Jammin 105 is an outright tribute to “Jammin’ Oldies” as heard during that format’s late ‘90s/early ‘00s heyday on WTJM New York, but “with better processing, and reverb.” Lawler also programs Oldies 100 “with lots of Philly/NYC” favorites. That one has a constant 150+ listeners at any given moment.” Here’s Jammin Oldies Radio on Feb. 6 at 4:45 p.m.
- Rick James, “Give It to Me Baby”
- GQ, “Disco Nights (Rock – Freak)”
- Staple Singers, “Respect Yourself”
- ABC, “Broken Arrow”
- Spinners, “One of a Kind (Love Affair)”
- Soul Survivors, “Expressway to Your Heart”
- Temptations, “Treat Her Like a Lady”
- Pointer Sisters, “Jump (For My Love)”
- Bee Gees, “Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)”
- George Benson, “Turn Your Love Around’
- Stylistics, “Rockin’ Roll Baby”
- Foundations, “Build Me Up Buttercup”
- Jackson 5, “ABC”
- Johnny Kemp, “Just Got Paid”
- James Brown, “Get on the Good Foot”
John Harlow’s Eagle Online Radio is heavily produced and hosted from 5:30 a.m. to midnight. There’s a Sunday-morning Top 30 retro countdown, and Harlow hosts a Friday-afternoon “blast-off” feature. “We have a very talented team, and I really think we are doing good radio. We just don’t have a stick to put it on.” Musically, Eagle’s ‘80s Classic Hits are a little deeper than its broadcast counterparts; what makes it different is the ‘90s that you’ll hear. Here’s the station from afternoons in mid-January.
- Lightning Seeds, “Pure”
- Billy Ocean, “Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)”
- EMF, “Unbelievable”
- Gary “U.S.” Bonds, “This Little Girl”
- Eric Carmen, “Hungry Eyes”
- Beach Boys, “Kokomo”
- Everything But the Girl, “Missing”
- Letters to Cleo, “Here and Now”
- Rod Stewart, “Hot Legs”
- Third Eye Blind, “Semi-Charmed Life”
- Cars, “You Are the Girl”
- Pink, “Most Girls”
- Jimmy Ray, “Are You Jimmy Ray”
- Janet Jackson, “Control”
- Snap!, “Rhythm Is a Dancer”
Recently retired programmer Forrest “Chip” Mosley operates Jukebox927.com like a local station for Peoria, Ill., with local time and weather and “computer-generated DJs.” Music stretches from ‘50s and early ‘60s MOR to the ‘80s (“and sometimes beyond”). There are also top-6 “this-day-in…” countdowns at noon and midnight CT. Here’s Jukebox 92.7 on Jan. 17:
- Les Baxter, “Unchained Melody”
- George Harrison, “Blow Away”
- Electric Light Orchestra, “Mr. Blue Sky”
- Barrett Strong, “Money (That’s What I Want)”
- Cher, “I Found Someone”
- American Breed, “Green Light” — with a “Class of ‘68” sweeper
- Lynn Anderson, “Rose Garden”
- Glen Campbell, “Rhinestone Cowboy”
- Dion, “Ruby Baby”
- B.J. Thomas, “Eyes of a New York Woman”
- Steely Dan, “Deacon Blues” — with a shout-out to the “at-work network”
- Fats Domino, “Lady Madonna”
- Kitty Kallen, “Little Things Mean a Lot” — staged as a “Jukebox Classic”
Another one to check out is Jeffro Radio out of Chicago. Programmed by Jeffrey T. Mason, who continues to work for iHeartMedia in Chicago and on their national formats, this is his hobby project of love and the rest of us get to enjoy the ride. It’s completely commercial-free, has a 40+ year playlist of hits, stiffs and gems, 80s style JAM jingles and that loud Optimod sound. No jocks, but they do occasional special weekends that are themed, with an even wider playlist. They also feature currents, so they would be a worthy station, even if they were terrestrial.