At this writing, I’m listening to a lot of Classic Hits radio from around the country and around the world as broadcasters prepare to gather at Radiodays Europe. Here are four very quick hits from my international listening.
Gold 104.3 Melbourne
Currently Melbourne’s No. 1 station, Gold 104.3 is owned by ARN, the Australian group broadcaster whose 4KQ Brisbane has been featured in these pages recently for its impending sale and format change.
On paper, Gold 104.3 is the station I heard this week with the most musical similarities to a large-market U.S. outlet. The difference was in presentation and promotion. The afternoon shift with Dave “Higgo” Higgins is positioned as “more music,” but that’s only when you compare it to morning host Christian O’Connell or some of Australia’s full-personality p.m. drive shows. Gold 104.3 also had the best “steal this” sweeper that I’ve heard this week: “Gold 104.3. Lowering the IQ of smart speakers everywhere.”
Like a lot of Australian radio, most of the hour here was structured around the contest execution. Higgo was qualifying listeners for the “Trip of a Lifetime”—a choice of multiple concert trips that included the Backstreet Boys in Los Angeles (along with a side trip to Daryl Hall & John Oates in Reno) and the tag-line “fall in love with live music again.” Here’s Gold 104.3 at 2 p.m. on May 12:
- Toto, “Africa”
- Nirvana “Come As You Are”
- Nena, “99 Luftballons”
- Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust”
- Sting, “Fields of Gold”
- Genesis, “Invisible Touch”
- Bee Gees, “Night Fever”
- Icehouse, “Crazy”
- Faith No More, “Easy”
- John Farnham, “Two Strong Hearts”
- Cyndi Lauper, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
- Cranberries, “Zombie”
Radio 10 Netherlands
Over the last twenty years, the Classic Hits format around the world has been ahead of our version in terms of pushing into the ‘90s, or beyond, and blurring the lines between Classic Hits and gold-based AC in a way that is only starting to happen in the U.S. recently. In the hour I heard them, Radio 10’s music spanned 1977 to 2013. They were one of the stations I enjoyed most in terms of imaging and presentational energy. Here’s Radio 10 just before 1 p.m. on May 10:
- Romantics, “Talking in Your Sleep”
- Corrs, “Radio”
- 2 Unlimited, “No One”
- Fleetwood Mac, “Little Lies”
- Depeche Mode, “Enjoy the Silence”
- Kate Ryan, “Ella Elle L’a”
- Toto, “Africa”
- B-52’s, “Love Shack”
- Maitre Gims, “J’me Tire”—2013 reggae-inflected hit that sounded the most like something you would still hear in a CHR library now
- Michael Jackson, “Leave Me Alone”
- Vanessa Carlton, “A Thousand Miles”
- John Miles, “Music”
Vinyl FM Sweden
Vinyl was one of the first European oldies stations to be available worldwide via streaming. It has always been older-leaning than its American counterparts. At the outset, that meant hearing Elvis, now it means still having some ‘60s component Here’s Sweden’s Vinyl from the same afternoon at 2:45 p.m.:
- Elton John, “I’m Still Standing”
- Rolling Stones, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
- Madonna, “Like A Virgin”
- Roxette, “It Must Have Been Love”
- Sandra, “Maria Magdalena”—beginning of a three song set that was all-‘80s Europop
- Modern Talking, “You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul”
- Alphaville, “Forever Young”
- Abba, “S.O.S.”
- U2, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
- Aretha Franklin, “Think”
- Nik Kershaw, “The Riddle”
- Pink Floyd, “Another Brick in the Wall (Pt. 2)”
- Madness, “Our House”
Greatest Hits London
For years, it looked like London might be the most prominent English-language market with no Classic Hits FM. The former Capitol Gold AM was now available on digital. There were plenty of decade-based choices elsewhere on digital radio. But last year, the London FM frequency of Absolute Radio began carrying Bauer’s fast-growing Greatest Hits network.
Greatest Hits is more rock-leaning than Bauer’s successful Magic London, but it’s still more rhythmic and more varied than the Classic Hits format as it has taken shape in North America recently. Drive time host Simon Mayo also had two featured songs over the course of the hour. Here’s Greatest Hits as heard on their London feed with Simon Mayo on May 10:
- Freda Payne, “Band of Gold”
- David Bowie, “Modern Love”
- Doobie Brothers, “Listen to the Music”
- Junior Mervyn, “Police and Thieves”—a special feature; the original version of the song better known by the Clash
- George Michael & Mary J. Blige, “As”
- Aztec Camera, “Somewhere in My Heart”
- Beat, “Mirror in the Bathroom”—another feature, this one tied to an album spotlight, but also a major U.K. hit in 1980
- Diana Ross, “Upside Down”
- Go West, “King of Wishful Thinking”
- T’pau, “China in Your Hands”—in the U.K., this, not “Heart and Soul,” was their biggest, most enduring hit
- Jacksons, “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”
