Of all the radio people who created shows for Amazon’s user-generated radio service, AMP, the two I enjoyed hearing most were Zach Sang and Gene “Bean” Baxter. Sang was there from the beginning and was one of AMP’s celebrity hires at its launch. Baxter was half of former KROQ Los Angeles morning legends Kevin & Bean, and came to the service only through his fascination with the concept.
I was fascinated with the concept, too. I reviewed Sang on his second day, when he was trying to do a traditional show on a service that remained resolutely not like radio in certain ways (no talking over music, no easy way to include produced elements). Given the amount of time that podcasting had needed to spark, I wanted to take the 15-year view. And yet a few months later, I revisited AMP and still didn’t hear a lot going on.
But AMP continued to develop. It began paying content creators. It created several format channels so that you could punch in and always hear a Top 40 or Hip-Hop station. It created the ability to archive shows. The offerings became more robust, particularly in Hip-Hop and Adult R&B, similar to how I continued to hear more about Clubhouse from R&B radio friends, even after its burst of initial publicity.
I was about to write the “quiet as it’s kept” article about AMP’s development. Now, AMP is going quiet, having announced its sign-off at the end of October after 18 months. In a commentary earlier this week, Jacobs Media’s Fred Jacobs correctly points out that AMP is the latest example of a well-resourced tech giant that can still not make good on the promise to “reinvent radio.” Tying AMP’s demise to the sale of AC WJBR Wilmington, Del., Jacobs declares that “nobody will wax nostalgic” about the former.
Baxter came to AMP’s defense in the comments. “Just like in ‘real’ radio, the quality across the AMP dial varied, but I heard several amateur hosts as good or better than most of what I hear on AM or FM these days, and most are certainly more music-knowledgeable.”
Bean’s own Friday-night shows were different each week. His last show before the shutdown announcement was “then-and-now” twofers from rock acts with recently released albums. But there was also an hour of songs with “boogie” in the title. It’s a distant memory now, but before Kevin & Bean, Baxter was a key member of CHR’s new generation of program and music directors who aggressively looked for new music in a way hard to imagine now. I liked hearing him curate music again.
Sang and Nick Cannon, another one of the big-name hires, will stay with Amazon in another capacity. On the night of the announcement, Sang came on after playing a half-hour of new music that is what I appreciate about the show, then deadpanned “nothing special about this night.” The next day, I heard Cannon, who does have some produced elements, play “the anthem,” namely Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit.” There was a show called “The Pity Party” with “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” and “Bye, Bye, Bye.”
But it was Bean’s show that I wanted to make my Final Listen. Between Friday nights at 7 p.m. ET and pop-up shows, Baxter has done about 60 programs. He wasn’t planning on making it a regular occurrence until a month after the first show, when AMP asked for his banking information. But “within a couple of weeks, I would have done it for free because I enjoyed it so much.” (Bean also had a fan in AMP co-creator Matt Sandler, whose career began at KROQ.)
my first job was @kroq.@christinefung hired me to screen calls & do admin stuff. i got a front-row seat to SEE radio.
made by incredible humans like @clydetombaugh. & @KatCorbett. & @NicoleFAlvarez @thekevinryder & @SluggoDoug.
now bean’s jumping @onamp!
full circle
https://t.co/3bspyiZO9k
— matt sandler (@mattdsandler) October 10, 2022
“I was attracted to it for the same reason I was attracted to college radio 45 years ago. To play music and discuss it with my friends. There sprung up a very active and friendly community for many of us AMP creators. I had a core fan-base of 125-175 listeners for most shows.
“I was so pleased that most of my listeners were ready for wherever the musical journey took them that week, whether it was a full show of pop novelty tunes, all songs from the 1920s, songs inspired by the movie Casablanca, deep new-wave cuts, or tribute songs written to Hank Williams, Sr. … Several of my pop-up shows were countdowns. This week I’m doing one for October 1989.
“There are several shows I regularly listen to who are either radio alumni or I suspect are, based on the professionalism of their shows. Gerry Legos (AMP’s @words_and_music) was one I hit up in the chat because I was sure he had been on the radio, and he was. I heard quite a few very knowledgeable and passionate presenters like Pete Lepore and Nate Bouchard too — people I’ve never interacted with.
“I’ve become friends with Rachel Davis, who is a listener to my podcast and started doing AMP shows because of mine. She is an absolute natural. I wish ‘real’ radio put more people like her on to share their passion, particularly for new music. Rachel’s shows remind me of KROQ in the ’80s, where you never knew what delightful and strange song might play next.
“I want to mention the brilliance of the platform making it so anyone could call in using the app during a show with no phone numbers. Just hit a button and you’re in the queue, and the quality was so much better than a phone call.” That included one call of the sort that broadcast DJs used to have to field, from a woman in Minnesota distraught because her kids were being taken away from her.
“I think of an app like this and Stationhead [where many of AMP’s creators are heading next] as being the music equivalent of what podcasts are for speech content. Whatever you’re in the mood for, you can listen to. Right now, I am listening to a show of jazz from the ’30s and ’40s. Having it be hosted and curated by a human is so much more enjoyable than just a streaming playlist.”
Here’s Bean’s Friday night AMP show on Sept. 29:
- Bleachers, “Modern Girl”
- Bleachers, “Rollercoaster”
- Wilco, “Cousin”
- Wilco, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”
- Ed Sheeran, “Spring”
- Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran, “Everything Has Changed (Taylor’s Version)”
- U2, “Atomic City”
- U2, “City of Blinding Lights”
- Bruce Springsteen, “Addicted to Romance”
- Bruce Springsteen, “Secret Garden”
- Rolling Stones f/Lady Gaga & Stevie Wonder, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”
- Rolling Stones, “Dance, Pt. 1”
- Zach Bryan f/Noah Kahan, “Sarah’s Place”
- Zach Bryan, “Heading South”
Here’s Baxter on Oct. 13 with an hour of phone-related songs:
- Abba, “Ring Ring”
- Squeeze, “853-5937”
- Sylvers, “Hot Line”
- Drake, “Hotline Bling”
- Lady Gaga f/Beyoncé, “Telephone”
- Sheena Easton, “Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)”
- New Edition, “Mr. Telephone Man”
- Electric Light Orchestra, “Telephone Line”
- R.E.M., “Star 69”
- Madonna, “Hung Up”
- Maroon 5 f/Wiz Khalifa, “Payphone”
- Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em f/Sammie, “Kiss Me Thru the Phone”
- Time, “777-9311”
- Alicia Keys, “How Come You Don’t Call Me”
- Blondie, “Hanging on the Telephone”
- Nick Lowe, “Switchboard Susan”
- Rupert Holmes, “Answering Machine”
- Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
Baxter can be heard on AMP on Friday nights at 7 p.m. ET through at least October 20. He’ll also be part of the Halloween Marathon on Oct. 28. He continues his A Cup of Tea and a Chat podcast with Allie MacKay. He also made a recent appearance on his former partner’s current show, Kevin & Sluggo on KLOS Los Angeles, that you can listen to here.
I’m looking forward to hearing how Amazon redeploys Sang and Cannon. Finding a vehicle for them to “do radio” wouldn’t be a bad idea. Then they should hire Baxter, too. Radio doesn’t need to be reinvented as much as relocated, and its resources reallocated, but if it does, broadcasters now have yet another chance to be the ones who do it before another rival takes the next swing at it.