These days, any broadcast personality who cracks a mic has to answer the question “why are you here?” Every break is an opportunity to show what radio has to offer, beyond a jockless playlist.
I hear a lot of breaks that do not make the case for radio. I hear a lot of “coming up, these three artists” and “here’s a news item you already heard this morning.” Doing station business often means alternating between “download our app” and “tell Alexa to play … ” in a way that asks for the order but does little to motivate it. Often those breaks are a few minutes away from identically worded promos for station apps or smart speakers.
But over the last 15 months, I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the number of stations that still “do radio.” I’m happy when I hear somebody advocating for the music or just frontselling it creatively, and I’ve heard both on WXRT Chicago over the last year. I’m happy when I learn something about the market. Even hearing about station remotes is exciting again, because it’s radio and America back in business. I have something to write about enthusiastically each week. I just don’t have enough of it.
Last week, radio and podcast observer James Cridland told me about the German Spotify user who has been creating playlists that replicate some of the world’s major radio stations. Many of the streams are based on such big, full-service state-owned outlets as BBC Radio 2, but there are also U.S. non-comms such as KEXP Seattle and WXPN Philadelphia. That discussion led the two of us to wonder if radio stations should offer unhosted versions of their own music, rather than let listeners go elsewhere for it.
It also made me want to scrutinize what was between the records. The Spotify user chose mostly big, iconic radio stations. Some, like BBC Radio 2, seem to be far more about an overall experience which, in turn, unifies an eclectic bunch of songs. You may not always be in the mood for Radio 2’s ongoing listener dialogue. But what mood would you have to be in to specifically search out faux-Radio 2’s playlist of Bertie Higgins, the Kaiser Chiefs, Talk Talk, and “Achy Breaky Heart”?
I listened to two of the stations replicated on Spotify. Then I listened to two mainstream stations in my orbit through a similar filter.
BBC Radio 6Music is a longtime Cridland favorite. I hadn’t heard its eclectic/indie music format in a while. The 3 p.m. hour was split unusually between two hosts, Lauren Laverne and Mary Anne Hobbs, with a three-minute newscast in the middle. What they talked about was almost entirely the music — tour dates, today’s releases, forthcoming releases, new compilations, historical info about what they just played
There was clear enthusiasm for the music. Emma Noble’s new neo-disco “We’re Gonna Live Forever” was set up with an interview from the artist explaining the song and backsold by Laverne checking off the things she liked about the song: “Isley [Brothers] overdriven guitar, tick. Jazz flute solo, tick. Stellar vocal, tick. Weekend concept, extra tick.” Crossplugs for other presenters were usually tied to front- or backsells (“that’s one you heard first with … ”).
Almost all the talk on non-comm Alternative KCMP (the Current) Minneapolis was about the music as well. Morning host Jill Riley was wrapping up a feature about musical couples from X to Sonny & Cher. (She joked that she was going to play Cher’s other duo, the ill-fated Allman & Woman.) Midday host Jade was excited about having a new Garbage song to play; she was sorry that the Tame Impala tour was back on, but no longer coming to the Twin Cities.
Both the Current and Radio 6 hosts did multiple artist teasers, but usually attached to some sort of factoid teaser for at least one of the songs in question, never just a litany of artist names. Both were trying to send you to the station site or apps, but always tied to content, such as Riley’s interview with Jakob Dylan. There was lots of station business. It was never rote. (I also didn’t hear my other peeve — jocks teasing intriguing-sounding topics that turned out to be only “you can see this story on our site.”)
I hadn’t intended to write about Top 40 WIXX Green Bay, Wis., for this column but I came across market veteran Scott Stevens filling in for PD Corey Carter in middays. Stevens was doing Carter’s “Tell Me Something Good” feature, mostly via listener texts. The overall feel was very much along the lines of a Radio 2 topic, or one of the hourly “join the conversation” starters on CKNO (Now 102) Edmonton, Alberta, whose Radio 2-like format has been copied throughout Canada in recent years.
Good news from WIXX listeners included rescuing a baby woodpecker, and news that a listener’s sister was having a baby — the first of six siblings to do so. There was a listener who had just booked a wedding venue; that allowed Stevens to mention that she was listening on the station app from Fort Wayne, Ind. An ER nurse was getting her first four-day weekend since COVID. A female caller had taken her first Harley ride at age 41 with a new boyfriend; she illustrated her retelling by making motorcycle noises.
Stevens’ own good news was that both his daughters had cleaned their rooms, including the one who might normally stash a ham sandwich in the closet. Stevens also read a promo about wanting to come to your kids’ youth league games and bring snacks from a sponsor. WIXX p.m. driver Fife’s “handshake break” was about the movie F9. When he saw the first Fast and the Furious film 20 years ago, it sent him drag-racing out of the theater parking lot. Now, his wife said he was putting the turn signal on too early.
Unlike WIXX, I had specifically tuned in veteran WMMR Philadelphia to use longtime night host Jacky Bam Bam as a ringer. His is a stylized act of the sort not often enough heard now and hard to replicate in print, particularly the twists and turns that one break might go through. JBB’s handshake break began with a produced introduction (“it’s time to pry open the lid on the coffin”), and tied in the current heatwave (“if you need to know, I’m shirtless tonight”), followed by a daily devotional (“the past is behind us, learn from it; the future is ahead, prepare for it; the present is here, let’s live in it!”). That call to carpe diem despite the heatwave was all an elaborate setup for “let’s plug in the AC … DC!”
JBB was playing AC/DC’s “Sink the Pink” so he could talk about what an overlooked album Fly on the Wall was on its 36th anniversary. (“The critics called that album a disaster … It was a great album if you know it.”) He also played Slaughter’s “Up All Night” for that album’s anniversary. There was also the same renewed promotional energy I’ve been enjoying hearing in my recent listening. JBB had just done a Verizon remote that reunited him with his “fulltime vampire family.” Later that night, he was going to open the “prize coffin” for tickets to a Rolling Stones tribute band.
To some extent, hearing KCMP’s Jade advocate for favorite new songs or JBB praise overlooked albums is the classic rock-radio experience. Two decades ago, satellite radio set out to make broadcast radio seem dated. Now, what I like about a channel like SiriusXM’s The Spectrum is that you hear jocks talk about music like the ones you grew up on. I’m always happy when I encounter that on broadcast radio as well. (WIXX wasn’t talking about music, but in tenor and intent, it was a classic CHR experience.)
I understand how Cridland could want “the music that BBC Radio 6Music plays, but without the earnest chat, news bulletins promos for other things, and other clutter.” There is a lot of content on the station by rock-radio standards. I’m not a regular listener to 6Music; I needed the guided tour. Cridland is as big a fan of that format as anybody. If he just wants the music, I understand, and at least he wants Radio 6’s music. (The Spotify playlists also concentrate on a station’s regular format, meaning the primary music mix is available even when stations like Radio 2 are in specialty programming.)
If you’re cynical about radio, I don’t know if I’ve shared anything to make you say, “I need to check this out again.” It’s hard to share a jock break out of context, and what I’m specifically looking for is to hear them in a classic radio context. What I can say is that nothing I heard in this particular listening sounded tossed off.