When Ross on Radio was first launched as a standalone publication more than a decade ago, I would boil down my radio listening in a weekly column called Radio’s Best & Worst. For a while, it became a Tweet thread, slightly before the time when tweet threads became popular. RBAW was a way for me to give listening tips and share observations that didn’t quite rate an entire column. Eventually, I switched my efforts into creating an extra full-length story or two every week and drifted away from RBAW.
In recent weeks, however, I’ve found myself making more notes on my radio, audio, podcast, and other listening. Without denying any of radio’s travails, I’ve never stopped hearing radio that I wanted to share with readers. I felt like writing another Radio’s Best & Worst this week. It will probably not be a weekly occurrence. But I’m looking forward to your feedback.
(Update, on April 21, I added in a few more items from the previous week. They’re marked “new.”)
Most Encouraging: Last Friday, Country’s Cole Swindell released the album Stereotype. Programmers and others quickly began buzzing about various cuts on Twitter, particularly “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” (a “flip” of Jo Dee Messina’s “Heads Carolina, Tails California”), but also “Walk On Whiskey” and the title track. It reminded me of the early ‘90s Country boom when radio PDs routinely went through advance copies of every new album looking for the next hit.
Least Encouraging: Only one Country station immediately started playing “She Had Me At Heads Carolina.” That was KBEQ (Q104) Kansas City, still one of the format’s most aggressive outlets on new music. Swindell’s current hit is No. 4, so presumably another single from the album isn’t far off, and “Heads Carolina” remains an early contender for Country Song of the Summer. Meanwhile, Brian Mansfield of Country Insider’s ongoing reporting on secret-weapon records remains my favorite thing in the radio trades.
NEW: Most Intriguing: WYCZ (Young Country) Nashville is nearly three years old. It continues on mixing new pop and Hip-Hop with new Country: Tyga’s “Freaky Deaky” followed by Little Big Town’s “Hell Yeah”; Harry Styles’ “Like It Was” into Kodak Black’s “Super Gremlin.” And it’s worth noting that “Yo-Co” did have a new song from the Swindell album, “How Is She,” when I heard them.
Best Station (Domestic): I also hadn’t been back to WMOT Nashville since shortly after the station adapted a full-time Americana format more than five years ago. I was pleasantly surprised by how uptempo it was, although that may have also been a function of listening on Friday afternoon. If you time your listening correctly, you can time your listening to hear Friday afternoon’s chart show, The List at 2 p.m.
Best Station (International): CKWR Waterloo, Ontario is a community station that came to my attention through MD/morning host and longtime reader Steve Sobczuk. For column fans still buzzing about the recent relaunch of XETRA-FM (91X) San Diego, CKWR is an ‘80s/’90s-based Alternative gold outlet that goes, well, one step beyond in its “oh wow” factor. (They’re also made instantly different by the Cancon, of course.)
Best Stream: AccuRadio’s Yacht Rock/Wedding Reception channel—one of the “House Blend” channels the streaming service is promoting during April, although listeners have the ability to make their own mixes of AccuRadio’s many channels. The “Featured Artists” page shows Grover Washington, Jr. & Bill Withers and Avicii. My listening had both early-‘80s one-hit-wonders Larsen-Feiten Band and Daft Punk.
Best Jock Line: “I would not be sad if we played that song six times in a row.”—Tricia Jenkins on Hot AC KSTP-FM (KS95) Minneapolis after playing Latto’s “Big Energy.” Jenkins was filling in for the latter half of afternoon team Staci & Hutch. The resulting two-woman afternoon show also had a great discussion of plastic surgery and female body image among kids. Given KS95’s recent double-digit ratings, the hour I heard was a great reminder of the power of full-service radio.
Worst Jock Line: “Coming up, more Drake.” Because it was on a heritage Hip-Hop/R&B outlet that had just played two Drake songs in a row (without staging it as such). The amount of Drake on Hip-Hop radio is hardly a revelation, and hasn’t been quite as much of an issue vs. a decade ago when there was less excitement about current Hip-Hop. But it was still ironic to hear it flagged this way, unless, of course, the intent was ironic, in which case it becomes the week’s best jock line.
Best Studio Sponsorship: Classic Rock WNCX Cleveland is “live from the Michael Stanley Broadcast Studio,” recently renamed in honor of the late p.m. driver and local rock legend and “powered by Rock & Roll City Harley Davidson,” not by 1-800-INJURED.
Podcast Tip: All-news WTOP Washington’s new DMV Download doesn’t kick off until next Tuesday, April 19, but there are already two episodes posted. The first was on the traffic nightmare that trapped drivers on I-95 in Northern Virginia for 24 hours. This week, there’s a second episode on the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard lawsuit. While “DMV Download” has gotten a lot of attention, WTOP, not surprisingly, has a lot of content including this recently posted episode of entertainment podcast Beyond the Fame tied to a recent appearance by ‘90s dance hitmaker CeCe Peniston.
Streaming Tip: WAKY Louisville, Ky., a decade-long favorite of this column, has been geofenced outside its local area for at least a year. Last week, I was able to listen to it again through a workaround. (The hint is in the recent headlines about the perhaps temporary format change at one of their sister stations.) WAKY has a deeper-than-most library and still goes back to the ‘60s a few times an hour along with jingles from the market’s historic Top 40 AM version of WAKY. It has been a surprise winner in local ratings. Not surprisingly, it’s been a streamers’ favorite. Like KOAI (The Wow Factor) Phoenix, they are exactly the type of station that should find a worldwide audience, and I hope they’ll find a way to make it viable.
Oh Wow Oldie: MC Hammer’s “Addams Groove” on KNET Palestine, Texas, a recently launched small-market Classic Hits station that had a heavier-than-usual early-‘90s component (but also “Cotton Jenny” by Anne Murray).
NEW: Oh Wow Bringback: I always thought “I Like” by Guy had the potential to be a crossover smash. It was uptempo-but-sweet in the same way as “Rock Steady” by the Whispers. When WFLZ (The Power Pig) Tampa launched, they were one of the few Top 40s that played it. But last week it made the “Trending 10” on SiriusXM Tik Tok Radio.
NEW: Station Sweeper: “Bad Boy, So So Def, and the Roc–all on New York’s new No. 1 for throwbacks.”–WXBK (The Block) conjures the time when labels (or imprints) were still distinct entities and part of Hip-Hop culture.
NEW: Promotion: As part of “Wellness Wednesday,” Tyler’s co-owned Country KJKE (Jake FM) and KMGL (Magic 104.1) Oklahoma City’s morning shows compete with each other to see which station’s listeners can complete the most fitness challenges.
Listener’s Personal Best: WJFX/WWFW Ft. Wayne, Ind., PD Rob Mack drove to his new job as PD of KNDE (Candy 95) College Station, Texas, and had a few highlights:
- “The one-hit wonders weekend on WYXB (B105.7) Indianapolis. Lots of ‘oh-wow’ records on a major-market signal that I hadn’t heard in years.
- “Live and local jocks in Paducah, Ky., on the CHR and Country stations on a Saturday afternoon.
- “The wide playlist (‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ a few songs after ‘Wherever I May Roam’) of KKPT (The Point 94.1) Little Rock, Ark. They were also live and local on a Saturday.https://kkpt.com/
- Morning guy Ted on KNDE coming up with creative contests to give away concert tickets. (“Mr. 305 or These are Lies” for Pitbull.)
Out of Office Message: “Error 404: Meg Not Found. It appears the Dowdy you’re trying to reach is currently on the road visiting her markets in Louisiana. Please be patient. She’ll respond as soon as she can.” – Meg Dowdy, Regional Director of Content, Townsquare Media.
yeesh… not enough time in a day or week to take all your suggestions and enjoy them. LOVE the list.