In last week’s column about trying to find good news among an almost-constant stream of bad news, the answer was trying to find the radio I liked, something more easily done when you have the world’s radio to choose from. For some ROR readers, it was the stations with local owners or small-market groups that have managed not to participate in the travails of the large groups.
With that in mind, here are four good radio experiences I’ve had this month. Three are indeed owned locally or by small groups, but one is a major-market, major-group powerhouse which has revised its programming over the last year. Here’s a Fresh Listen to WCBS-FM New York, as well as Active WJJO Madison, Wis., UK CHR Radio Kent, and Classic Hits KHBT (The Bolt) Humboldt, Iowa.
“If you want classics, I’ve got classics coming up,” said WJJO Madison, Wis., PD/middayer Randy Hawke. “That’s Pantera and Iron Maiden. Not Journey and REO Speedwagon.”
“Solid Rock” WJJO is the flagship station of the syndicated HardDrive Radio With Lou Brutus, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, and Hawke is a partner in the show. It’s often the first station named when I ask any rock-label person what station still breaks records. It’s also a better choice for “radio uncompromised by time” than a lot of larger-market stations.
The first thing I heard on my latest listen to WJJO was a promo from morning show Johnny & Dee, who will be broadcasting live next month from the 86th annual Sturgis Bike Rally, sponsored by a local Harley Davidson dealer. (There’ll also be a free station pool party in Sturgis for Wisconsin residents.) There were also ads for their podcast — “dumbing down your smartphone.”
HardDrive’s daily version is heard on WJJO. Brutus’s guests that night were A Perfect Circle and Beartooth. Broadcasting “from BruteHawk Industries HQ,” Brutus also flashed back to legendary Top 40 personality Dan Ingram by declaring that the show’s “Honor Group of the Day” was radio DJs, because “we’re all just swimming in the wake of Wolfman Jack.”
Here’s WJJO on July 1 with Randy Hawke at 10:40 a.m.:
- Mudvayne, “Dig”
- Black Crowes, “It’s Like That”
- Soundgarden, “Spoonman”
- Three Days Grace, “Don’t Wanna Go Home Tonight”
- Beastie Boys, “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
- Bush, “Machinehead”
- Five Finger Death Punch, “Eye of the Storm”
- Metallica, “The Unforgiven”
- Seether, “Fake It”
- Iron Maiden, “Run to the Hills”
- Eva Under Fire, “Villainous”
- Pantera, “This Love”
Here’s the first hour of the daily version of HardDrive, later that day:
- Pearl Jam, “Even Flow”
- Static-X, “Push It”
- Sevendust, “Unbreakable”
- Godsmack, “Keep Away”
- System of a Down, “Chop Suey”
- Evanescence, “Who Will You Follow”
- Nirvana, “In Bloom”
- Architects, “Broken Mirror”
- Alice in Chains, “No Excuses”
- Black Veil Brides, “Vindicate”
- Five Finger Death Punch, “Living the Dream”
The first UK radio station I was able to stream was Capital Radio London. The second was Norwich’s Radio Broadland, now a Heart FM affiliate. With the last decades’ consolidation of British radio, one of the things I’ve missed most have been the local CHR brands that have a slightly different take from their once-large-market-now-nationwide rivals.
Earlier this year, I was happy to rediscover Radio Essex, a rare locally owned CHR that identifies itself as “from the home of radio” (the wireless was invented in Chelmsford) and “made in Essex, loved around the world.” My most-recent listen was Wednesday afternoon, as fans prepared for the evening’s World Cup match. (“We all know somebody in Essex today who’s already in the pub,” said p.m. driver Joe Kinch.)
Here’s Radio Essex just before 4 p.m., July 15:
- Olivia Rodrigo, “Stupid Song”
- Holly Humberstone, “To Love Somebody”
- Bruno Mars, “24k Magic”
- Tame Impala & Jennie, “Dracula”
- Sam Ryder, “Space Man”
- Sombr, “My Body Isn’t Ready” — “so raw and emotional for him,” said Kinch
- BTS, “Dynamite”
- Olivia Rodrigo, “Drop Dead”
- Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, “Rush of Blood” — would have filled the same need as “Too Sweet” or “Dracula” if it had been worked to America
- Olivia Dean, “Man I Need”
- Miley Cyrus, “End of the World”
- Chaka Khan & Snoop Dogg, “Boogie’s in My Soul” — revives the recently dormant tradition of hearing an American R&B or dance song on UK radio that you can’t hear at home; Kinch declared it “the sound of summer” that he didn’t know he needed
- Cat Burns, “There’s Just Something About Her”
- Take That, “You’re a Superstar”
KHBT (The Bolt 97.7) Humboldt, Iowa’s Craig Russell has been a regular contributor to my Facebook dialogues. When the iHeart layoffs hit a few weeks ago, he was one of the small-market radio people who declared their stations had remained healthy by focusing on their market, and particularly local news. (The Bolt’s website declares it “your only source for daily news.”)
I’ve often written that my acid test of the good radio experience is sense of place, and there was certainly that on The Bolt in abundance. The Humboldt County Fair is coming up in two weeks, and it was as big a deal on The Bolt as any radio-station Jingle Ball has ever been. There was also an ad for another town’s festival, a Country show called “Chords in the Corn,” and an ad for an upcoming kids’ obstacle course called “Ninja U.”
Bolt is a good choice for ROR readers in search of “hits-plus,” a broader/deeper alternative to major-market Classic Hits. In the last hour, it had played Charles & Eddie’s “Would I Lie to You,” the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” and Elvis Presley’s “A Little Less Conversation.” Here’s Bolt 97.7 around 1:45 p.m., leading into Russell’s 2 p.m., afternoon show, July 14:
- Philip Bailey & Phil Collins, “Easy Lover”
- Dead or Alive, “You Spin Me Round”
- Bananarama, “Cruel Summer”
- ZZ Top, “Legs”
- Go-Go’s, “Vacation”
- Levert, “Casanova”
- Billy Joel, “I Go to Extremes”
- Huey Lewis & News, “Do You Believe in Love”
- Bonnie Tyler, “Total Eclipse of the Heart”
- Tiffany, “I Think We’re Alone Now”
- Kim Carnes, “Crazy in the Night (Barking at Airplanes)”
- Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust”
- Romantics, “What I Like About You”
- Filter, “Take a Picture”
When WCBS-FM New York modernized a few years ago, it didn’t just make its music newer. The venerable Classic Hits outlet also changed its presentation to sound, well, less venerable. Suddenly, jocks were often over music beds and not intros, not unlike the changes at SiriusXM ’70s on 7. Among readers, that often provoked as much dissent as hearing the station play more ’90s and ’00s.
WCBS-FM hasn’t exactly walked away from the ’90s and ’00s; a reader messaged me yesterday because he heard “Rolling in the Deep.” But PD John Foxx has backed off some newer titles and is reaching back further for others. In listening to the last hour of morning host Race Taylor yesterday, the station also had a more real-time feel in part because he was taking the first “Ticket Tag” winner for Bon Jovi tickets. (Contestants had to remember the listener’s name and hometown to win the next time that day.)
Here’s WCBS-FM, July 13 just before 9 a.m.:
- Cutting Crew, “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”
- Weather Girls, “It’s Raining Men”
- Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”
- Ace of Base, “The Sign”
- R.E.M., “The One I Love”
- Stevie Wonder, “I Just Called to Say I Love You”
- Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”
- Genesis, “That’s All”
- Marvin Gaye, “Sexual Healing”
- Katrina & the Waves, “Walking on Sunshine”
- John Lennon, “Imagine”
- Jacksons, “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”
- Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”
- Fine Young Cannibals, “She Drives Me Crazy”
- TLC, “No Scrubs”
- Kim Wilde, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”
- Black Eyed Peas, “Let’s Get It Started”
