Countdown to Labor Day Weekend

One of the constants of holiday long-weekend special programming previews has been Alternative radio throwback weekends. WNNX (99X) Atlanta got an early start last week with its “New Wave Weekend,” focusing on First Generation/pre-Grunge titles. Some were songs you’d hear on Adult Hits stations (“99 Luftballons,” “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Enjoy the Silence”), but it was also possible to hear 99X go from the Ramones’ “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” to the Pixies’ “Debaser” to the English Beat’s “Mirror in the Bathroom.” (There was also Hüsker Dü’s “Makes No Sense at All,” which one reader messaged me about.)

“We had an amazing response to the weekend!” writes PD/middayer Steve Craig. “Great socials, and people are actually calling a radio station again!” This weekend, 99X exhumes Resurrection Sunday, a trademark of the original 99X’s ’90s heyday, “with a live show from a tavern deck like we used to.” You can hear it starting this Sunday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Rewound Radio goes back even further with its second annual “WLS/WCFL Rewound,” with three days of audio (Saturday through Monday) from Chicago’s legendary Top 40 battle of the ’60s and ’70s. (The battle ended in 1976, but there will also be “a splash of the early ’80s,” according to Forgotten Hits’ Kent Kotal.) 

If you’re looking ahead instead, Radio Exe Devon has just unveiled full-time UK DAB channel Radio Exe Mas, the first all-holiday format of the year. When monitored this week, Radio Exe was leaning heavily on the Classic Hits/contemporary side of Christmas music (without the ’60s or pre-rock standards component). You can hear the American version on AC WSPA (Magic 106.3) Greenville, S.C.’s “Countdown to Christmas.”

There’s a lot of action on the countdown front this weekend:

• The syndicated ”Throwback 2K with Chris Cruise” has an 18-hour 2K Top 200 on Labor Day. It will cap off WHBC-FM (Mix 94.1) Canton, Ohio’s Throwback Weekend. 
• Classic Hits WWZY (107.1 the Boss) Monmouth/Ocean, N.J., is doing a Top 100 of the ’90s.
• Classic Hits WWBB (B101) Providence, R.I., has a “Top 500 Labor Day Countdown.” Playing as I write this, “Throwing It All Away” by Genesis (No. 465).
• SiriusXM ’60s Gold host Dave Hoeffel is teaming with ’70s on 7’s Lisa Evans for the “Top 50 Listener-Voted Summer Hits of the ’60s and ’70s.”  SXM has a “Fan-Voted Top 100 Countdown” on Elvis Radio and its Hip-Hop Top 500 Countdown Channel. (Insert Public Enemy “Fight the Power” joke here.)
• G Networks’ syndicated History of Rock ‘n’ Roll With Wink Martindale is playing 33 of “The Most Requested Hits of 1964.” 

Other Themed Weekends:

• Active Rock WMMR Philadelphia does its annual “Back to School A-to-Z Weekend.” There is also a “Labor Day A-to-Z” at most of the Audacy Alternative outlets, including KROQ Los Angeles and KNRK Portland, Ore.
• AC WDEF (Sunny 92.3) Chattanooga, Tenn.’s “Girl Power Weekend” will spotlight the Go-Go’s, the Bangles, Madonna, Alanis Morissette, Rhianna, Cyndi Lauper, Mariah Carey, and Taylor Swift, among others. Adult Top 40 KINY (Mix 106) Juneau, Alaska, is doing a “Taylor Day Weekend.”
• Country KSON San Diego’s “Hard Workin’ Weekend” will feature “listener shout-outs all weekend with a focus on blue-collar workers,” says Audacy’s Scott Roddy. Classic Hits sister KXSN (Sunny 98.1) is doing a “Totally ’80s Labor Day Weekend.” Classic Hits WCZY Mount Pleasant, Mich., also rewards hard work with the “Workin’ Man’s Labor Day Weekend,” playing several work-related songs throughout the hour.
• CFRK (New Country 92.1) Fredericton, N.B., has a “’90s Long Weekend.” CIAT (Cat Country 98) is “hitting every last campground in southern Saskatchewan to deliver free ice-cold beer,” says the station’s Steve Huber.
• WBTI Port Huron, Mich., morning host Conrad Reed reports a “Labor Day Mixed Tape Weekend” with “party music from the ’80s to today.” WKAY (105.3 KFM) Galesburg, Ill., is doing a “Party Songs Weekend” focused on ’70s and ’80s.
• Washington, D.C., radio veteran Loo Katz plays summer hits on the “So Long to Summer Weekend” on his Hound Radio. Indiana’s revived WNAP (The Buzzard) offers a “Million Dollar Weekend.” 
• British Columbia-based Pop Shop Radio, a reliable source for tasty ’60s and ’70s, celebrates its third birthday. The show is syndicated to shortwave stations worldwide, but also available to stream on its website.
• We’ve written about a lot of “Yacht Rock Weekends” this summer. Auston Douglas’ Mix 105 Internet Radio is doing one tied in with a concert starring Player’s Peter Beckett and a live broadcast at the Indianapolis Yacht Club. WHTG (The Breeze) Monmouth/Ocean’s Jeff Rafter quips that this week will be a “Yacht Rock Weekend” because that’s his Soft AC’s regular format.
• For two of consultant Jon Holiday’s Radio Consulting Services clients, the Labor Day weekend is the kickoff of Zeptember. Hear it on Classic Rockers WJAD (Rock 103) Albany, Ga., and WPKO-2 (107.3 the Drive) Bellefontaine, Ohio.
• Sirius XM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard is celebrating the 35th anniversary of Metallica’s …And Justice for All.

Mix-Show Weekends

• Audacy is mixing throughout its Hip-Hop/R&B outlets for Labor Day weekend, but WPGC Washington, D.C.’s “Live & Lit Labor Day Mix” finds the station hosting go-go music’s Rare Essence and North East Groovers for the first time they’ve shared a stage in 25 years. Sister WBTJ (The Beat) Richmond, Va., is hosting a cigar-lounge concert with E.U. and Trouble Funk (“Smoking Under the Stars.”) Sister WVEE (V103) Atlanta is qualifying listeners to win $5,000 all weekend; it’s also supporting the Atlanta Black Pride Weekend.
• Miami One Radio’s “Labor Day Mixathon Weekend” is your chance to check out market veteran Funkee Frank Walsh’s rhythmic oldies stations, featuring many of the freestyle and other Miami hits he played on WPOW (Power 96). 

On the format change front, WYEP (Throwback 102.3) South Bend, Ind., has flipped from Classic Hits to Adult R&B as The New 102.3 in anticipation of the sale to Christian broadcasters of rival WUBU (Mix 106.3). As I write this, Mix p.m. driver “Godfather” Gino J is playing “Bootzilla” by Bootsy’s Rubber Band. So stream them both.