Bam! This Weekend: The Future of Rock & Roll Is Throwbacks

Some Memorial Day Weekend 2023 listening tips — many of them involving readers and friends of the column. They begin with a big weekend for fans of classic Alternative.

Inhailer Radio celebrates the 40th anniversary of Alternative WOXY (97X) Cincinnati, the station with the “future of modern rock” sweeper heard around the world, thanks to Rain Man. All week long, the station has been saluting the Modern Rock 500 in hundred-song chunks. On May 27-29, the full top 500 plays. Dozens of former 97X DJs will be heard. The show will also be available on demand next week.

New Jersey’s Alternative Radio Felician is rolling deep as well on its Totally ’80s Weekend, which (based on a page of log posted by the station’s Ed Robinson) will be roughly a 50/50 mix of crossover hits and Alt-only gems. There’s also a Time Warp Weekend on KQCJ (The Planet) Davenport, Iowa, a Throwback Weekend on WNWV (107.3 Alternative Cleveland), and the UK’s Absolute ’80s wraps up its 10-years-in-10-weeks tribute to the “Forgotten ’80s” with a special three-hour Sunday-night (UK-time) focus on1984.

In the spirit of last month’s look at which ROR friends and readers were on the radio that weekend, here are some other options:

• Liveline’s Party Songs Weekend: After three years of hosting the syndicated Liveline on Monday-Friday, Liveline’s Mason Kelter recently extended the personality-heavy, phone-intensive show to weekends. Kelter is back this weekend; last weekend, the show was hosted by executive producer John Garabedian, putting him back on weekends for just the second time since he hosted Open House Party. Here’s our review of Liveline at its launch.
• Sign-Ons and Sign-Offs: They both involve stations with big signals. KUCD (Pop 101.9) Honolulu recently moved its Asian Pop format from an FM translator to the frequency of its Alternative sister station. There’s no last day set for WTSS (Star 102.5) Buffalo, N.Y., but the heritage Hot AC, a great local station in a distinctive radio market, is running promos steering listeners to CHR sister WKSE (Kiss 98.5) ahead of its sale to K-Love. 
• Yacht Rock Weekends on both WTOJ (Magic 103.1) Watertown, N.Y., and WEBE Bridgeport, Conn. The latter occasioned an exchange between Connoisseur’s Keith Dakin and morning-show consultant Steve Reynolds, who often posts on Facebook taking issue with whether certain songs on SiriusXM’s Yacht Rock Radio qualify. Reynolds “will be listening with a fine-tooth comb.” 
• CKLW Detroit’s Top 100 of 1967 on Charlie O’Brien’s Big8Radio.com. It’s a great year in a particularly great market to hear it in. Central Michigan’s WUPS is doing a Motown Monday as a nod to vacationing Detroiters.
• The Boss Summer Blast-Off: Classic Hits WWZY (107.1 the Boss) Monmouth/Ocean, N.J., PD Robby Bridges has picked up the weekend tradition from WPLJ New York’s Hot AC era. Scott Shannon, Patty Steele, and Joe Nolan are helping kick off a Summer Songs Weekend. So are Collective Soul’s Ed Roland, Constantine Maroulis, John Ford Coley, and Idol’s Cole Hallman.
• The Vinyl Summer Weekend with album sides on vinyl each hour on Heritage Rock WMMR Philadelphia. Across town, Triple-A WXPN Through The Years is saluting a different year every hour, beginning at 4 p.m. on Dan Reed’s Funky Friday.
• The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Block Party Weekend, playing only inducted artists, on Classic Rock WEGH (Eagle 107.3) Sunbury, Pa. There are also Block Party Weekends on Triple-A KTBG (The Bridge) Kansas City, which is also taking votes for the Top 909 of All-Time, and Classic Rock KDDQ (The Eagle) Duncan, Okla.  
• Wisconsin’s eclectic Triple-A 106.9 The Lodge is promising a “Triple Play Weekend” but “unlike any other,” with an emphasis on local music, artist interviews, and deep cuts.
• A-To-Z Weekends on Classic Hits WRWN (Rewind 107.9) Savannah, Ga., or of a very different sort at reader Brandon Charles’s online Triple-A The Mountain. 
• The “Back to the Beach” Weekend on Carolina Gold — Steve Clendenin’s regional network serving Wilmington, N.C., and Myrtle Beach, S.C. Listeners’ three-song sets of summer songs (including some Carolina Beach music, but going way beyond it).

Finally, there’s an all-’80s and ’90s weekend planned on WDEF (Sunny 92.3) Chattanooga, Tenn., a Summer Songs Weekend on Top 40 WQQO (Q105) Toledo, Ohio, while WKCI (KC101) New Haven, Conn., which helped propel the CHR throwback trend several years ago, is doing a “Feel Good Weekend.” And I’ll be adding a few more listening tips as I get them.