This Weekend, All My Friends Are on the Radio

A few Sundays ago, I was tagged in a Facebook posting from Joe Crain, a radio friend turned TV weathercaster, now director of community engagement for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill. Crain was doing his Sunday afternoon show on KYMO Sikeston, Mo., the station where he started many years ago, now running a broader/deeper ’70s/’80s format. (Crain had sent me a sample hour that featured both “Slippin’ Away” by Dave Edmunds and “Hello Again” by the Cars.) Crain is on again noon-6 p.m. CT this Sunday (as well as nights next week.)

I was just starting to listen to Crain when I heard from Matthew Rudd, host of Forgotten 80s, heard Sunday afternoons on the UK’s Absolute Radio 80s. While that show’s title already says it all, the program is celebrating its 10th anniversary, so Rudd is devoting each week’s show to a different year from the decade. Last weekend was 1981, and a typical four-song set was Rainbow, “I Surrender”; Duran Duran, “Careless Memories”; Shalamar, “Make That Move”; and Shakin’ Stevens, “You Drive Me Crazy.” This weekend’s show is 1987. The show is on 9-11 p.m. Sunday nights London time, or 5 p.m. ET.

In general, I could spend most of my weekend listening to friends on the radio, particularly those doing oldies specialty shows of some sort. Some, like Crain, are veteran broadcasters who have moved on, except on weekends. Others have long held other jobs, like Crap From the Past’s Ron Gerber or Inside Radio’s Rich Appel of That Thing With Rich Appel. Those are two of the weekend shows I’ve written the most about over the years, along with The Lost 45s with Barry Scott.

Brad Savage, PD of Triple-A WAPS (The Summit) Akron, Ohio, started Cruisin’ the Decades: The 100 Year Playlist during COVID lockdown. It has since expanded to stations ranging from WRLT (Lightning 100) Nashville to the already eclectic WTOP-HD-3 (The Gamut) Washington, D.C. Cruisin’ the Decades is an hour-long show that plays one song from each decade of recorded music, beginning with the 1910s and working up to the 2020s. Here’s one of his early playlists.

Tom Natoli will be on Pop Gold Radio at 12:30 on Saturday as part of his series on the British Invasion ’60s, but he also does an unusual monthly variant on the “this day in 19__” countdown. The List invites listeners to vote on the hits from a given month, then reorders the chart based on their votes. Natoli just aired a 1971 show, but you can vote on May 1963 here. 

Classic Rock WPLR New Haven does special weekends regularly, but this weekend’s theme is the station’s 52^nd anniversary.  Alternative CIND (Indie88) Toronto launches its Triple-A/Americana The Sunday Show this weekend, starting at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Finally, if you want to hear David Carroll, Chattanooga radio veteran and current TV news anchor, you’ll have to check out his Vinyl Express this weekend on the market’s WALV-HD-2 (Big 106.9). After seven years, Carroll’s last shows are on April 29-30. Carroll is a longtime fan and friend of the column, but it was another reader, Steve Helms (a former local who now listens from Pennsylvania), who let me know.