• Radio Daze

    Ick’s Radio Daze: KOSI Denver

    Denver correspondent Kathy B. checks in after spending an hour with Denver’s “Continuous Lite Rock” station, KOSI. – Pete

    Station: 101.1 FM, KOSI
    Format: Lite Rock
    Type: Terrestrial (Denver, CO)
    Slogan: “Continuous Lite Rock”
    Date / Time: Friday, Feb. 19th, 2010 / 10:30-11:35 am MST
    Commercials: 16 minutes
    Streaming Online? Yes
    Hot Dude on Home Page of Web Site? No. In fact, I don’t see a single man, hot or otherwise.
    Hot Chick? Not really. Amy Grant is the closest thing.
    DJ: Jackie Selby
    Favorite Song: (a complete guilty pleasure, I fully admit, and I’m prepared to take my lumps for this) Air Supply — “Lost in Love”

    Runners-up: Seal — “Kiss from a Rose,” Jason Mraz — “I’m Yours,” Sheryl Crow — “All I Wanna Do”
    Least Favorite Song: David Cook — “Light On” Gads, is this AWFUL.

    Song List:
    Amy Grant & Peter Cetera — “The Next Time I Fall”
    No Doubt — “It’s My Life”
    Seal — “Kiss from a Rose”
    David Cook — Light On
    Air Supply — “Lost in Love”
    John Mayer — “Your Body Is a Wonderland”
    Faith Hill — “This Kiss”
    Bryan Adams — “Straight from the Heart”
    Sheryl Crow — “All I Wanna Do”
    Five for Fighting — “Superman”
    Whispers — “Rock Steady”
    Jason Mraz — “I’m Yours”
    Daniel Powter — “Bad Day”
    Eric Clapton — “Layla” (Unplugged)
    Plain White T’s — “Hey There Delilah”

    Comments: This is the number one radio station in Denver and has been for a while, probably because it’s so inoffensive that it gets played in a lot of offices, restaurants and reception areas. However, “inoffensive” often translates into “boring” for me. I’ve gotten really sick of hearing it in the Chinese restaurant across the street or while I’m waiting on hold, so I was surprised that I actually mildly enjoyed this hour, David Cook notwithstanding.

    Although none of the music was what I would call “adventurous,” there were quite a few songs I can genuinely say I like quite a bit. And nothing that made me want to have a screaming fit and throw the radio out the window, although if I hear that David Cook song a couple more times, who knows what might snap (This was the first time I’ve heard it).

    Maybe it’s because it’s not the time of year where they play 24-hour-a-day holiday music, which becomes excruciating after a while because so much of it is BAD holiday music. Every American Idol winner or runner up singing “Jingle Bells”! Celine Dion over-emoting her way through the Yuletide songbook! Endless repetitions of “Wonderful Christmastime”! And I swear it starts the day after Election Day.

    I could have done without the semi-computerized back-announcements of the songs (it sounded like a real woman trying to sound mechanical rather than an actual computerized voice, and it became really cheesy). But they did identify every song, which is kind of nice in these times when it often seems listeners are supposed to be partially psychic. The DJ had a friendly voice, and it seemed as if she was trying to be friends with the audience — in fact, she invited listeners to become her Facebook friend twice during the hour, and to e-mail, tweet, text, or even old-fashioned call her with requests for the all-request hour that started at noon.

    All in all, it could have been a lot worse.

    ———————

    Check out previous Radio Daze reports:

    Feel like reporting on your local radio stations? Drop Pete a line if you’re interested.

  • Radio Daze

    Ick’s Radio Daze: SiriusXM’s The Loft

    Station: The Loft (Sirius Ch. 29)
    Format: Contemporary Eclectic
    Type: Satellite (SiriusXM)
    Slogan: Singers, Songwriters, and Beyond
    Date / Time: Feb. 9th, 2010 / 8:30-9:30pm MST
    Commercials: 0
    Hot Chick on Home Page of Web Site? Nope. ‘Tis all about the music. When the closest thing to a hot chick is Rosanne Cash, you know it’s all about the music.
    DJ: Franny Thomas
    Favorite Song: “You Took My Breath Away” – Traveling Wilburys

    Least Favorite Song: Ain’t pickin’ one – warn’t a bad song in the bunch.

    Song List:

    The Swell Season – “Two Tongues”
    Radiohead – “Fake Plastic Trees” (acoustic)
    King Crimson – “Cadence and Cascade”
    Tom Waits – “Way Down In The Hole” (live)
    The Duhks – “It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding”
    Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard – “California Zephyr”
    Led Zeppelin – “Going to California” (live)
    David Vandervelde – “California Breezes”
    Traveling Wilburys – “You Took My Breath Away”
    John Hiatt – “Feels Like Rain”
    Lyle Lovett – “Natural Forces”
    Allison Moorer – “The Broken Girl”
    Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – “Fix It”
    The Devlins – “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart”
    The Waterboys – “I Will Not Follow”

    Comments: We’re a few weeks into this column, and it’s high time I treated myself. So this week, I chose my very favorite radio station at the moment: Sirius-XM’s The Loft. It’s channel 29 on my Sirius dial, and it constantly and consistently delivers amazing music to these ears.

    It’s one place I can rely on hearing some of my favorite artists and tunes, while introducing me to fresh, new music. And “new” can mean a tune that’s been out for years and years.

    Case in point this hour: King Crimson’s “Cadence and Cascade”, a great song that’s as old as I am (1970), from King Crimson’s second album, In The Wake Of Poseidon – and a song that I don’t recall ever hearing. I’ll quote “roflcopter100ify”, the most recent commenter on the YouTube page: “It’s beautiful. I have no idea what it means.” It may sound like an early Spinal Tap outtake (along with “Listen to the Flower People”), but hey, it relaxes me. The flute reminds me of 70’s Bruce Cockburn too, another thing I find relaxing.

    The hour had a handful of other tunes I’d never heard: most notably “Two Tongues” by the Swell Season, and “California Breezes” by David Vandervelde. I’ll be tracking these down.

    And what a playlist this hour… The Wilburys’ “You Took My Breath Away”, one of my favorite Tom Petty-sung tunes ever; Hiatt’s version of “Feels Like Rain” (bliss); killer live versions of “Going to California” and “Way Down In The Hole”; an acoustic “Fake Plastic Trees”; brand new ones from Allison Moorer and Lyle Lovett, Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard. And to wrap up the hour? The friggin’ Waterboys!!

    There wasn’t a single moment in the hour that I ever felt let down or even slightly disappointed in the music selection. Clearly they’ve tapped into their demographic with me. I mean, this is a radio station that makes me excited about music, past & present. Is there a single terrestrial radio station in the land that can geek me out as much as The Loft? Nope.

    Adding to the appeal is the benefit of satellite radio: no commercials on their music stations. Hearing an hour of music interrupted only a couple of times by a pleasant DJ (Franny Thomas) who’s as relaxed and into the music as I am – dang it, it’s just a treat.

    I feel good. Refreshed. Thanks Loft.

    See all Radio Daze posts here.

  • Radio Daze

    Ick’s Radio Daze: 99.5 – Denver’s The Mountain

    Kathy B. is back for her second Radio Daze installment. Here’s her hour (plus) with The Mountain-ain-ain-ain!  You can check out all of the Radio Daze pieces here.- Pete

    Station: 99.5 FM KQMT
    Format: Classic Rock
    Type: Terrestrial (Denver, CO)
    Slogan: “Ninety-nine five The Mountain, A Mountain of Classics”
    Date / Time: Jan. 29th, 2010 / 12:16-1:10pm MST
    Commercials: 8.5 minutes
    Streaming Online? Yes (www.995themountain.com)
    Hot Dude on Home Page of Web Site? Some rotating images in the upper left include Bono and the Police. I’d place all four of them in the 75th percentile of “attractive people.” But no traditional hot-looking guy.
    Hot Chick? The closest thing is a Haitian relief video with Michelle Obama. Somehow I don’t think she’s on their home page as a token “hot chick.” (But yes, she is. And I’m straight.)
    DJ: Mike Casey, then Robbie Knight
    Favorite Song: Talking Heads — “Life During Wartime”
    Least Favorite Song: I refuse to answer this on the grounds that I may incriminate myself. 🙂

    Song List:
    The Rolling Stones — “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
    The Eagles — “Those Shoes”
    The Tubes — “She’s a Beauty”
    The Ramones — “Rock & Roll High School”
    Talking Heads — “Life During Wartime”
    Heart — “Even It Up”
    Elvis Costello — “Pump It Up”
    Led Zeppelin — “The Ocean”
    Queen — “Somebody to Love”
    Pink Floyd — “Time”
    U2 & B.B. King — “When Love Comes to Town”

    Comments: I first started listening at 10:45 am, in the middle of their “Commercial-free from 9 to noon” block. As I was compiling the playlist, I realized that not only was it commercial-free, it was DJ-free as well, which made me wonder if it’s a nationally pre-programmed block that goes out to a bunch of different radio stations across the country. Granted, all of the songs were ones that most people older than 15 don’t need to have identified for them (and the more you’re over that age, the less you need them identified)*. But it made me wonder if I could pick a radio station at random from say, Duluth, look at their program list, and find the exact same block of songs in the same sequence.

    So I decided to pick a different hour of programming, in the interest of fairness. At 12:16, after a five-minute block of commercials, they started their daily “Barrel of Monkeys” feature, in which listeners call in and request songs — the catch being that each song title needs to start with the last letter of the previous song title. Apparently they had ended with U2’s “New Year’s Day” the day before. The Ramones and Led Zeppelin songs were “Wild Cards” that they threw in because I guess they didn’t want too many songs beginning with the same letters so close together. Five more minutes of commercials and the “normal programming” started with Queen.

    The previous hour had been cookie-cutter classic rock, so it was kind of nice to hear a few curves thrown during the request hour (it’s been a while since I heard the Tubes or a deep Eagles track). But it still kind of left me with a “meh” feeling. There wasn’t anything that I found extremely offensive, but neither was there something that made me smile just hearing it come on. It’s all kind of in that middle ground of “I don’t really like any of this all that much, but I don’t really hate it either.” On a scale of 1 to 5, everything comes in between 2.75 and 3.25.

    *In case anybody’s interested, this is what was played in the hour and a half leading up to the “Barrel of Monkeys”:

    Santana — “She’s Not There”
    Foreigner — “Hot Blooded”
    Steely Dan — “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”
    The Pretenders — “I’ll Stand by You”
    Genesis — “That’s All”
    Jimi Hendrix — “Fire”
    John Mellencamp — “Cherry Bomb”
    The Police — “Spirits in the Material World”
    Styx — “Fooling Yourself”
    Eric Clapton — “Tears in Heaven”
    Supertramp — “Bloody Well Right”
    The Clash — “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
    The Rolling Stones — “Beast of Burden”
    The Allman Brothers — “Blue Sky”
    Stevie Nicks — “Edge of Seventeen”
    Talking Heads — “And She Was”
    Billy Joel — “My Life”
    Aerosmith — “Dream On”
    Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers — “Don’t Come Around Here No More”
    The Cars — “Moving in Stereo”

  • Radio Daze

    Ick’s Radio Daze: Puttin’ on the Hitz – 101.5 JamZ

    Every week I pick a radio station and listen in for an hour, documenting the experience – for better or worse – just for you.
    It’s Ick’s Radio Daze. Click here to see all of the Radio Daze posts together.

    Station: 101.5 (KZON)
    Format: Top Hits
    Type: Terrestrial (Phoenix, AZ)
    Slogan: 101.5 JamZ
    Date / Time: Jan. 25th, 2010 / 9-10pm MST
    Commercials: 7 mins
    Hot Chick on Home Page of Web Site? Yes. Beyonce. Britney. Mariah.
    DJ: Sugabear
    Favorite Song: I don’t even really care for the song, but “Empire State of Mind” beat out the hour of trash I just put myself through.
    Least Favorite Song: “Whatcha Say” – Jason Derulo

    Song List:

    Young Money feat. Lloyd – “Bedrock”
    Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance”
    Jason Derulo – Whatcha Say
    Orianthi – “According to You”
    Lil Wayne – “Lollipop”
    Britney Spears – “3”
    Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce – “Telephone”
    Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”
    Ke$ha – “Tik Tok”
    New Boys feat. Ray J. – “Tie Me Down”
    Drake – “Best I Ever Had”
    David Guetta feat. Akon – “Sexy Chick”
    Jay Sean feat. Lil Jon & Sean Paul – “Do You Remember”
    T.I. – “Whatever You Like”

    Comments:

    I’m getting old.

    Good Lord thank God that’s over. To think this station used to mean something to me. I mentioned a few weeks back that KZON used to be AAA, and it helped introduce me to Steve Earle and Bruce Cockburn, among many others. Well that format went kaput in the mid to late 90’s, and I’m not even sure how many format changes it’s gone through since. But in 2010, it’s a station owned by CBS Radio, locked (down) and loaded to bombard you with the hitz of day. Its demographic is the tween & teen market, something I haven’t been a part of for 20 years now.

    When the very first lyrics I heard were: “You can call me Mr. Flintstone, I can make your bedrock”, I knew I was in for a long hour. Thanks Young Money.

    One lasting impression from this hour: A-u-t-o-t-u-n-e. Holy modulation batman, does anyone in pop music not use autotune?? It was everywhere! For complete and utter Autotune Hell, listen to “Whatcha Say” by Jason Derulo. Really sad that autotune has turned into the rule instead of the exception. Blechh.

    This was a very long hour for me, folks. Yeah, I’m showing my age. I’ll turn 40 this year. I’m the “old guy” now to the kids who listen to this station. But I cannot imagine coming of age listening to this stuff – formulaic to the extreme, lacking emotion, and any semblance of soul. The subject matter is unimaginative, simplistic, and completely vapid – and this is the music that kids will look back to 20 years from now with the same nostalgia I have looking back to Prince, Run-DMC, hell, even Samantha Fox and the like?

    Granted, it could be a generational thing, but I honestly feel like something really bad – something irreversible – is happening in popular music. Painful. Just painful. I weep for pop music today.

    Sunday’s Grammys should be a hoot. Yeahhh, I’ll be watching. *shakes head*

  • Radio Daze

    Ick’s Radio Daze: Boulder’s KBCO

    Welcome to the third installment of Ick’s Radio Daze. This time, we have a report from our first remote correspondent, Kathy B., who lives in the great state of Colorado. Kathy will be checking out a few of the local stations in the greater Denver area. If there’s anyone else out there who feels like geeking out on their local radio market and writing about it for this series, feel free to to shoot me an email. The more the merrier. It’d be especially cool to go international, and be able to explore radio throughout the world. So wherever you are, feel free.

    This time around, Kathy zones in on Boulder’s KBCO – one of my favorites when I lived in Colorado…

    Station: 97.3 FM KBCO
    Format: AAA
    Type: Terrestrial (Boulder, CO)
    Slogan: “World Class Rock”
    Date / Time: Jan. 16th, 2010 / 12:05-1:10pm MST
    Commercials: 11 minutes or so (I stopped paying attention)
    Hot Dude on Home Page of Web Site? There are some rotating pictures that include a couple of guys who may possibly be hot but it’s hard to tell from the photography. However, one of the rotating pictures has (I believe) Jack Johnson playing Studio C, and he definitely looks hot in that photo.
    Hot Chick? Yes—Norah Jones.
    DJ: Ginger (No last name; as far as I know, only one DJ on KBCO has a last name that’s used on the radio.) I’ve been listening to her for 20-something years, even following her to another radio station for several years (until they folded and she went back to KBCO).
    Favorite Song: Marc Cohn – “Walking in Memphis”

    Least Favorite Song: Tie: Train – “Hey Soul Sister” (because it’s so annoying) and Robert Plant— “In the Mood” (which has always rubbed me the wrong way because it has something like a three-note range and requires no actual singing ability to sing. Not that I’m suggesting Robert Plant has no singing ability, just that he doesn’t need it to sing this song.)

    Song List:
    Van Morrison – “Tupelo Honey”
    Natalie Merchant – “Jealousy”
    Coldplay – “Life in Technicolor II”
    Lenny Kravitz – “Fly Away”
    Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – “Circle”
    Foo Fighters – “Wheels”
    Marc Cohn – “Walking in Memphis”
    Neil Young – “Cinnamon Girl”
    Snow Patrol – “Take Back the City”
    Robert Plant – “In the Mood”
    Modest Mouse – “Float On”
    Counting Crows – “When I Dream of Michelangelo”
    Moby – “Southside”
    Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Down on the Corner”
    Train – “Hey Soul Sister”

    Comments: The first thing I can think of is how “safe” this playlist seems compared to the KBCO of the late ‘80s to early ‘90s. No deep album cuts, no unknown local bands (although they did play The Fray in the hour following, and they’ve been playing them since that band actually was unknown). But since they were bought by Clear Channel, they haven’t been quite the same. A lot more repetition, for one thing. I have been hearing that stupid Train song every morning. I’ve also been hearing The Avett Brothers’ “I and Love and You” a lot, but that doesn’t bother me at all. In fact, I was hoping it would come up during this hour so I could brag about the cool music this station still occasionally plays. (It came up about 15 minutes afterwards.)

    KBCO fits into a niche in this market — I could listen to KTCL for some more obscure artists, but their music is a lot harder than I really like. Or I could listen to the lite rock and Top 40 stations for some softer music that gets played to death. Even with its faults, KBCO is still my favorite station in this market.

    One of the things I like about them is the artists who play live in Studio C, who then get recorded for posterity, and if their record company says yes, put on a CD at the end of the year that thousands of people stand in line for hours in the bitter cold to buy. (I am one of those silly people.) I remember when the first Studio C CD came out, there were copies of it at the record store two weeks afterwards, and even when the 6th one came out, I was able to pretty easily pick up a copy later that week. But now the station promotes the CDs to death just before they come out, and they sell out within four hours and are put up on eBay immediately. Unfortunately, no Studio C tracks were played this hour.

    Very male-centric playlist this afternoon, which surprises me from a station that introduced me to so many of my favorite female artists (Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Indigo Girls, Brandi Carlile, to name a few). Only two and a half women artists, if you count Gwen Stefani duetting with Moby. Although Edie Brickell’s New Bohemians were all men… And very little DJ chatter, which might also have increased the estrogen factor.

  • Radio Daze

    Ick’s Radio Daze: Country Time – 102.5 KNIX

    Welcome to week two of Ick’s Radio Daze. This week, I tackle Country radio. Not the Hank / Willie / Waylon / George / Johnny classic sort of country. We’re talking New Country – the unpleasant kind. Come on along as I spend an hour with a radio powerhouse here in Phoenix: KNIX…

    Station: 102.5 KNIX
    Format: Country
    Type: Terrestrial (Phoenix)
    Slogan: “Everything Country”
    Date / Time: Jan. 11th, 2010 / 9:15-10:15pm MST
    Commercials: 7 mins (nice!)
    Streaming Online? Yes
    Hot Chick on Home Page of Web Site? Does Taylor Swift count? Then yes. Two photos.
    DJ: Unknown – honestly, the young guy talking between songs did not mention his name even once. And the web site doesn’t mention it.
    Favorite Song: Lady Antebellum – “American Honey” [YouTube]
    Least Favorite Song: Jack Ingram – “Wherever You Are” [YouTube]

    Song List:
    Easton Corbin – “A Little More Than Country Than That”
    Randy Houser – “Boots On”
    Toby Keith – “Cryin’ for Me (Wayman’s Song)
    Miranda Lambert – “White Liar”
    Eric Church – “Hell On The Heart”
    Keith Urban – “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me”
    Jason Michael Carroll – “Hurry Home”
    Brad Paisley – “I Wish You’d Stay”
    Luke Bryan – “Rain Is A Good Thing”
    Billy Currington – “People Are Crazy”
    Carrie Underwood – “Temporary Home”
    Jack Ingram – “Wherever You Are”
    Dierks Bentley – “I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes”
    Mark Willis – “19 Somethin'”
    Lady Antebellum – “American Honey”

    Comments: I don’t listen to country radio. I did for a brief period in the early 90’s, when I lived in Colorado Springs. But “new” country, manufactured country, Nashville Country, whatever you want to call the calculated everyman stuff they churn out these days… just haven’t been a fan. But after a couple glasses of wine, I’m feeling open minded and receptive to whatever ol’ KNIX wants to throw my way tonight.

    I’m a few songs in, and I’ve already heard a couple of “everyman” / good ol’ boy cliches. Figure I’ll grab a few zingers for you…

    — “my cousin saw you on the street with a red head named Bernice”
    — “well she’s heaven on the eyes but boy she’s hell on the heart”
    — “i left a map on your front seat just in case you lose your way / But don’t worry, once you reach Sallasaw, it’s all interstate”
    — “rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky” [my favorite]
    – “start warshin’ all our worries down the drain”

    Carrie Underwood’s “Temporary Home” wins for downer of the hour. Orphans, dyin’ grampaws.. shit Carrie, ease up a little!

    Surprise of the hour: Lady Antebellum. I had heard the name, but assumed she was some Gaga wannabe. Turns out Lady Antebellum is a country singer. And I’m pretty sure she doesn’t favor dressing like an evil beekeeper.

    Unrestrained pop culture references of the hour: “19 Somethin'” by Mark Willis. This song contains shout outs to the Rubik’s Cube, Pac Man, Elvis, parachute pants, MTV, Stretch Armstrong, Daisy Duke, and Farrah Fawcett. Phee-yew. Seriously, check this out…

    Honestly, it wasn’t so unpleasant. The subject matter is just so damn entertaining for the most part. The format definitely has a good chunk of America by the balls (and ladyparts). Speaking of ladies, the songs favored the fellas in this hour. Only 3 of the 15 songs were women: Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and Lady Antebellum. The rest of the hour belonged to the good ol’ boys. Giddy up, and I’ll see you next week.

  • Radio Daze

    Ick’s Radio Daze: 93.3 KDKB

    It’s the New Year, so why not try out a new feature that’s been kicking around my head for while? The subject is radio – a medium whose definition has changed drastically in the last 10-15 years where music is concerned. What was once solely AM and FM has expanded to include satellite radio, and of course the internet.

    I’ve lived in Phoenix since 1993, and for these 17 years, radio has remained pretty stagnant here. The only station that wowed me was KZON (101.5), during a few short years during the mid-90’s. The format was adult album alternative (AAA), and I owe it a debt of gratitude for introducing me to Steve Earle and Bruce Cockburn.

    Other than that, the only stations I’ve spent any decent amount of time with are 93.3 KDKN and 100.7 KSLX – both play your standard classic rock, with KDKB going a little harder at times.

    Unfortunately, Phoenix has no market (it seems) for the eclectic radio I thirst for. There’s no KBCO, WXRT or KFOG – only an oversaturation of watered down lite rock, new country, and hispanic stations. Sad, really.

    So thankfully, when it comes to searching out decent music on the radio, I now have satellite and internet radio to dive into as well.

    The Radio Daze Series: Here’s what I’m gonna do. Each week, I’ll spend one hour with a radio station, whether it’s a local “terrestrial” station here in Phoenix, a Sirius-XM satellite station, or an internet-only station. I’ll track the playlist, and share my thoughts. I’ll try to hit all the formats, as painful as it may be (I’m looking at you, “Camel Country”).

    I’m enough of a music nerd to think this may be enjoyable, so hopefully we can have some fun with this.

    I’ll start with one of the stations familiar to me: 93.3 KDKB…

    Station: 93.3 KDKB FM
    Format: Classic & Hard Rock
    Type: Terrestrial (Phoenix)
    Slogan: “93.3 KDKB Rocks Arizona”
    Date / Time: Jan. 4th, 2010  8-9pm MST
    Commercials: 14 min
    Streaming Online? Yes
    Hot Chick on Home Page of Web Site? Yes
    DJ: “Hammer”
    Favorite Song: Tom Petty’s “You Got Lucky” (YouTube)
    Least Favorite Song: Shinedown’s “If You Only Knew” (YouTube)

    Song List

    Styx – “Too Much Time On My Hands”
    Eric Clapton – “Cocaine”
    Ozzy Osbourne – “Crazy Train”
    AC/DC – “Have a Drink On Me”
    Alice Cooper – “No More Mr. Nice Guy”
    Shinedown – “If You Only Knew”
    Poison – “Nothin’ But a Good Time”
    Tom Petty – “You Got Lucky”
    Quiet Riot – “(Bang Your Head) Metal Health”
    Nirvana – “In Bloom”
    The Eagles – “Hotel California”
    Van Halen – “Panama”

    Comments: Standard fare for KDKB. Populist rock ‘n roll. We got our AC/DC, we got our Ozzy, Van Halen and Styx. They also throw in some bad modern rock every so often. This hour, it came in the form of Shinedown’s “If You Only Knew”.

    The only attempt at new music came with a segment called “Hit It or Quit It”, in which Hammer (the DJ) played a sample of a new song, and then took a few calls from listeners for their “Hit it” or their “Quit it”. Okay idea, but the problem? Only about eight seconds of the song was played! They played the same 8 seconds twice, in fact (the song was “Fall Down” by Tantric). Is corporate rock radio so squeezed by the balls that they can’t play an entire new song? Rhetorical question.

    I can’t fault KDKB, they’re doing the same thing they’ve been doing since I started listening 17 years ago. At least they’re consistent. Funny thing is, KDKB was one of the trailblazers of free form rock radio back in the 70’s. I’ve heard from a few old timers that it used to be a great progressive station.