There’s the Classic Hits format as it exists in most major markets. There are the stations specializing in the ‘60s and ‘70s but playing mostly the hits that you would have heard on those major-market stations a decade or two ago. Then, there are various stations and shows specializing in what I’ve termed “Oldies XL,” with more breadth or depth than you would hear elsewhere. Many of those have become favorites of Ross On Radio readers.
Thirteen years ago, Don Tandler launched Pop Gold Radio. Tandler’s long career includes hosting afternoons at SiriusXM’s 70s on 7 and weekend oldies programming on WKXW (New Jersey 101.5). On an infinite dial full of “Oldies XL,” Pop Gold Radio has become a ROR reader favorite, in part because of Tandler’s Saturday afternoon “Time Machine” countdowns, but also because pre-Beatles titles are part of his mix as well.
Bob Radil found a following among ROR readers as well. Radil was a longtime Connecticut radio CE who also hosted a Friday night online show particularly known for its depth and breadth. Radil’s “The 60s70s Show” drew not just on Top 40 gold but also on the Album Rock radio of that era. In July, after a five-year absence, Radil brought that show to Pop Gold Radio from 6-10 ET on Friday nights.
I could probably spend an entire weekend, from Friday at 4 p.m., through Midnight Sunday listening only to Oldies specialty shows programmed by friends and ROR readers. But Pop Gold Radio has a few of them now, including:
- “That Thing with Rich Appel” is syndicated to numerous broadcast and online radio stations with a ‘60s/’70s-based format, drawing upon the spirit of radio in the era when the music was made. “That Thing” is running somewhere throughout the weekend, but you can hear it at 6 p.m. Saturday on Pop Gold Radio, right after “The Time Machine,” which Appel has also been known to host.
- Tom Natoli’s “The List” is a countdown that lets listeners go back and re-rank the hits from a given month and year. Natoli is currently soliciting votes for October, 1967 (maybe the hardest month so far, in terms of trying to choose songs that shouldn’t be in my top 20) through Sunday (20). He’ll count down that list at 10:30 a.m., Oct. 23. Natoli also does other numerous themed countdowns on Pop Gold Radio. His “Top New York Hits of 1964” is set to begin on Oct. 30.
- Ken Michaels’ “Every Little Thing” was spotlighted in these pages two years ago as part of a roundtable discussion between Beatles specialty show hosts. The show airs on PGR on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m.
Last weekend’s “Time Machine” counted down the Cashbox chart from October 1978. This weekend, Tandler is counting down the KHJ Los Angeles survey from October 19, 1965, just a few months after that station revolutionized Top 40 radio. One of the songs from that week that you would normally expect to hear only on a countdown show also made an appearance when I listened to Pop Gold Radio in regular format at 5:20 p.m., October 13:
- Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
- Ben E. King, “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)”
- Charlie Rich, “Mohair Sam”—if you want to hear it on the radio, it will be on the KHJ countdown
- Beatles, “Eight Days a Week”
- Joe Jeffery Group, “My Pledge of Love”
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Looking Out My Back Door”
- Four Seasons, “Stay”
- Elvis Presley, “A Fool Such As I”
- Bobby Fuller Four, “I Fought the Law”
- First Choice, “Smarty Pants”
- Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, “Keep on Lovin’ Me Honey”
- Smokey Robinson & Miracles, “The Tracks of My Tears”
- Joe Simon, “The Chokin’ Kind”
- Loggins & Messina, “Your Mama Don’t Dance”
- Lee Dorsey, “Do Re Mi”
Radil’s show is known both for its depth and for his ability to ad-lib theme segments and for an ongoing listener dialogue on his home and Facebook pages. Here Radil’s first show just before 9 p.m. on July 5:
- Moody Blues, “Stop”
- Giorgio Moroder, “Knights in White Satin”—despite the spelling, a disco Moody Blues cover
- Four Tops, “When She Was My Girl”—the beginning of a series of comeback songs Radil played
- Gary “US” Bonds, “This Little Girl”
- Bobby Vee, “Come Back When You Grow Up”
- Dean Martin, “Everybody Loves Somebody”
- Gene Chandler, “Groovy Situation”
- Righteous Brothers, “Rock & Roll Heaven”
- Climax, “Rock & Roll Heaven”—an earlier version from the “Precious and Few” act
- Mills Brothers, “Cab Driver”
- Donnie Iris, “Love Is Like a Rock”
- Byrds, “Things Will Be Better”
- Ben E. King, “Supernatural Thing”
- Rick Nelson, “Garden Party”
- John Lennon, “(Just Like) Starting Over”
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com