The Best Show on Radio Nationally

[Bartholomew Diogenes]

It isn't close. Every week Al Gross picks a past weekend from 1955 to 1970 and counts down what were the top 40 songs based on Cashbox and radio stations and other sources for four hours. I endorse this fully. Here's what prompts my post instanter. He does the show as period piece. This week it's the second weekend of May 1959, and he casually says something to the effect, "Remember "Godzilla..."? The sequel is in theaters this week, "Gigantis, the Fire Monster". He mentioned "Gigantis, the Fire Monster" on national radio!! And my spirit went wild! Remember something, he (or his researcher) had to care enough to know Gigantis is the followup to Godzilla; that isn't obvious. It seems to me he led into it by stating something like, "I would be remiss if I didn't mention this." (because he'd previously listed some movies then popular in theaters). Rest assured, he will do stuff like this, and can you imagine what he could bring up 1955-1970? Each week there are replica newscasts, and he played a full-length commercial for the 1958 Edsel this time. Also, he ran what might have been the theme to "77 Sunset Strip"; I remember the melody but not the theme well enough to know whether his offering (long as a short song) was the actual theme or a varying rendition, but I suspect the former. The last incident such as this week's prompt was when Pat Sajak broached what I affectionately call "the Sacred" on national television. "The Sacred" is the greatest aestheticism of all time, and he didn't just mention it, he talked of it knowingly. Pat Sajak will live forever and can do no wrong. ("The Sacred" is not a unitary aesthetic quantum, which is why I refer to it as an aestheticism).
_ _ _ _If "National Countdown Show" is not in your area, I strongly urge you to call the program director of any station(s) you think could be interested, especially if you've spoken to them before. Until then, you can listen on the Web at wqla.net Fri. 7-11pm EDT and/or Sun. noon-4pm EDT. You may need to download something under an icon labeled "playlist" (which icon will then appear in your roster) and to have Windows Media Player or an equivalent. Al's site is http://nationalcountdownshow.com but you can't listen there, aside from an odd archive. Next week will feature 1970. Advise if you've ever heard this series. As the second best show I'd rank "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, no relation and a great interviewer, but you must be concerned with the guest. She interviewed Roger Corman. Spectacular. Folks, I'm sorry I didn't post this Sat. so you could've listened Sun., which I should have, but I was in a fannish funk; I require more positive feedback out of fandom.

 

[Bartholomew Diogenes]

No replies. I know it's not sff but music rumbles and this program vies for being the greatest music show of all time that isn't a special. The competition? "In the Studio" with Redbeard and "Rockline" with Bob Coburn (neither of which has been on locally in many years) and the tv show "The Generation Gap", in this small set. If you're wondering, I never watched "The Midnight Special" and I wouldn't have liked "Soul Train" or "American Bandstand". The mid-May 1970 show offers a marvelous compilation of songs, especially if you're not steeped in that moment, a commercial for the 1970 Dodge Challenger with a pretend deputy and for Pepsi with The Ides Of March, two replica newscasts, but no talk of tv or movies, and I wouldn't have raised them either though you can always find something. Five or more songs I never heard before, half by artists I never heard of, and another five I've not heard in forever. Maybe I shall post on nonfannish websites, but I'll have to remove the sff references(?). The show repeats Sun. noon-4pm EDT. No announcement of next week's year but probably 55-62 as he likes to rotate or perhaps a special, which he does every sixth week.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Just a guess, but I think you might have incorrectly assessed the demographics of this board if your objective is to foster appreciation for a radio show that would spend a whole 4 hours each week on music that was popular in, for example, May of 1959.

Not because this is a SFF board (although that is true) - there are a lot of us music fans on this board, so it being music-related is not the issue.

However, the typical poster on this board is a guy in the 18 - 34 year old demographic. And most of them are not really interested in spending 4 hours a week listening to popular music that was on the radio 2 decades before they were born.

I think you'd have better luck around here with a show that focused on the music of the last 25 years...with an emphasis on the last 5 years. And probably NOT something that is on NPR (unless it was classical music-related - there are a fair number of classical fans here).

Put it this way: I think you'd have had a much larger response if you'd put forth Howard Stern's show as the best national radio show. Not that I personally would agree with that assessment...but the facts of the matter are that his demographic IS the one you are dealing with on this board.

SFF has nothing to do with it. Relevance to poster's lives does, however.

Just my take.

 

[Avon]

hello to jason isaacs

 

[Bartholomew Diogenes]

PKTrekGirl, your explanation applies to why I didn't get many replies but not to why I didn't get any. Members, by nature, are connoisseurs, and this board is so large that there must be aficionados of older music. Besides, rock stands as a unit - if you love it, you will want to examine its past, its roots, preferably through a listener-friendly vehicle. Not for four hours, necessarily. You sample the program. For the record, I acquainted myself gradually with rock over many years and didn't begin listening to it on the radio until fall 1970, after this week's time period. If anyone has a question, I wrote down this week's list. That station WQLA boasts five decadws of music - splendid. I'm headed to the current music thread next. Finally, the unspoken implication of my title was that one could suggest an alternative best show.
_ _ _ _junxon, I have no idea how Jason Isaacs relates to this topic. Are you spamming?

 

[marillion]

I'll venture another guess as to why no replies.. I don't know a single person my age or younger (or older for that matter) that really listens to the radio anymore... And when I say "really" I mean specifically listens for a music program.. Most people I know have a radio station on in the background for noise purposes, but they don't tune in for anything specific.. The odd genre out here is, of course, talk radio.

In our 24 hour news cycle society, people want information information information.. Whether it's news or opinion.. This is why news/talk continues to thrive (relatively speaking) and music radio continues to flounder. Jobs are being lost nation (and probably world)-wide as radio stations go to canned or dj-less satellite music programming. But if it's politics, news or comedy, people tend to listen..

Stern, Imus, Opie and Anthony, Rush, NPR, ESPN... Doesn't matter.. That's what people listen to. In larger markets, the "morning zoo" format with a mix of banter and music still works, but even national shows like "The Bob and Tom Show" find their audience size shrinking as mid to large markets are constantly changing formats to gain audience.

As for me, I've pretty much given up on radio, especially music.. Long gone are the days when I listened consistantly for my favorite songs (which I dutifully taped on my cassette recorder/alarm clock )...

I download podcasts.. Two of the most popular in the country are the Mike O'meara Show and Big O and Dukes... They are funny, topical, commercial free and FREE...

Sorry I just kind of went off on a tangent...

 

[Kirby]

As for me, I've pretty much given up on radio, especially music..

I download podcasts...

This. I listen to a 'morning zoo' show when I take my kids to school because they have a Mindbender trivia contest which is fun for us to play together.
As soon as the monkeys are dropped off, I listen to podcasts on the drive to work. Kevin Pollack's Chat Show, Nerdist, Stuff You Should Know, Sklarbro Country, etc...



As for the OP's post, I rember as a kid my parents would play the show Ray Durkee's Sunday at the Memories when we were doing stuff around the house or in the yard. This was in the 70's, and they played a lot of stuff from the 50s and 60s. I remember the jingle more than anything else.

 

[EnderAKH]

I have a pretty massive collection of music, the music I like. I don't have to listen to crappy horrible "safe" comedy banter that comes from prep services, I don't have to listen to commercials, I just get to listen to the music that I like. And now, thanks to the magic powers of Amazon's Cloud Player and plentiful 4G coverage in my area, I can listen to it on my phone, on my work computer, laptop, or home desktop. hy would I want to listen to a crappy radio show about music from a certain era? If I want to listen to it, I'll just listen to it without the yapping.

 

[Squiggy]

PKTrekGirl, your explanation applies to why I didn't get many replies but not to why I didn't get any.

Here's another reason:

From their Facebook page I can gather that they have all of two radio affiliates. Both are AM stations in BFE, Tennessee and BFE, Louisiana. While he may also stream online...that's not the best delivery system for his target demographic which would be 55+ (which is also a music genera that's so toxic for terrestrial radio that it's been dumped almost entirely over the past decade).

 

[MacLeod]

The only time I listen to the Radio is when I'm driving, and living in a different country means I listen to different programmes, though generally I only tune into the same Radio station all the time.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Just a guess, but I think you might have incorrectly assessed the demographics of this board if your objective is to foster appreciation for a radio show that would spend a whole 4 hours each week on music that was popular in, for example, May of 1959.

Yeah, it has to be a TV show that's six or seven years less old than that.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Is there even a "national" radio show anymore? They may be broadcast around the world, but targeted towarda specific type of person (urban, economic conservative, etc.)


My choice....NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me"

 

[marillion]

^^ Good call.. I've always dreamed of Carl Castle narrating my home answering machine..

 

[Canadave]

I don't listen to the radio anymore, myself. Sometimes an online station like CBC Radio 3 or Radio Paradise, but that's about it. Any programs I actually want to listen to I download as podcasts.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

hello to jason isaacs

And hello to Michael Sheen.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

There is only one radio station I listen to now (Triple J), basically it's Youth/Alternative station, and part of the ABC here. And the other options simply suck.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Just a guess, but I think you might have incorrectly assessed the demographics of this board if your objective is to foster appreciation for a radio show that would spend a whole 4 hours each week on music that was popular in, for example, May of 1959.

Yeah, it has to be a TV show that's six or seven years less old than that.

Well, if you want to have a SNARKY discussion, I can do that too.

Dennis, as I'm sure you are aware but choose to ignore when it suits your need to be snarky, the average age of TOS fans tends to be older than the average age of, say, ENT or VOY fans. And most younger posters get here because they start watching VOY or ENT or whatever....and only later go back and watch TOS. Or not. Because not all of them do, commenting that it's dated, etc.

Add to that the fact that most active posters here are in their late teens to mid 30's (ie, 'the younger posters')...and I'm sorry - I just don't see the posters I know from all the music threads I vigorously post in getting all excited about a radio show featuring 4 hours of music and talk from 1959.

But of course, you already knew that.

Shoot...I wouldn't even listen to that, and I'm in the over 40 set! In my car, I'm full time on Sirius/XM's Pearl Jam Radio, where there ARE no bad songs. And when I make a foray off of Pearl Jam Radio, it is to either E Street Radio (also no bad songs), Lithium, or Octane. Between that, several thousand songs on my iPod, a few hundred CDs, and YouTube videos, I have neither the time nor inclination to listen to people blab for 4 hours a week about ANYTHING, let alone an era of music I don't really care for much, except to appreciate it as history at the executive summary level.

I am not interested in studying to become an amateur music historian. I am interested in hearing some rockin' tunes that will get me through my fucking Atlanta commute in a reasonably good mood. And toward that end, the less talk, the better.

And if I think that, as a 40-something....I would imagine the 22 year olds in the crowd, generally speaking, are even less interested in talk.

In my view, there is no faster path to becoming an old curmudgeon than listening to talk radio - especially political talk radio and political propaganda masquerading as 'news'. Bitch, bitch, bitch - that's all they do on those shows, and I don't want to hear them bitching about each other any more. I'm OVER it. Shows that try to 'educate' me are a step up from that...but I would have be be already actively interested in a topic to tune in for 4 hours a week. I mean, that is like, half a work day! And if I was that actively interested in a topic, I wouldn't NEED to tune in for 4 hours a week, because, being the inquisitive sort of person I am, if I have an interest in something, I don't NEED to learn about it on the radio, because I will already have read books. Lots and lots of books. As is evidenced by my massive home library.

I don't know...you can go on believing that the demographics of this board are ripe for such a radio program. But I just don't see it. Even if it was truly 'national'. Which, as at least one poster pointed out, it's not, given that it's only aired on a couple of stations.

 

[Canadave]

And if I think that, as a 40-something....I would imagine the 22 year olds in the crowd, generally speaking, are even less interested in talk.

*cough* I'm 24, and if I'm going to listen to the radio, it'll be CBC Radio 1, which is pretty much all talk. But I think I'm an exception.

 

[tomalak301]

Is there even a "national" radio show anymore? They may be broadcast around the world, but targeted towarda specific type of person (urban, economic conservative, etc.)


My choice....NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me"

I love Wait Wait, and Car Talk. I mainly listen to Sports Radio with an occasional tune in to the local country station, which embraces the new music really well. Other than that, I really stick with Podcasts because they cover things I'm personally interested in. For example, before I discovered Podcasts, I would hope that someone would talk about the NHL because I loved it and it never got coverage. Then I discovered a fantastic NHL podcast called "Puck Podcast" (With Eddie Garcie and Doug Stolhand) and it was 2 hours weekly of talk that I loved.

Sports Radio has kind of gotten better though, with some good local programming and a change of hosts overnight for Sporting News Radio. Still don't like ESPN Radio, however, as I find their programming really boring and repetitive.

Going back to Wait Wait and Car Talk, those two shows are two of the highlights of the week. Both shows are fun, (I would also include Pop Culture Happy Hour, part of NPR's Culturetopia feed in that) and entertaining. Also listen to Slice of Scifi (Even though there are times when I wish the hosts would stop laughing at things that are not never ever funny and praising Fringe every chance they get) and various sports shows. Who needs Radio when you have so many options and so many interests right at your fingertips.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I've been struggling to think of what the best radio show is....

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV2oVLOncd4[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxRNhhPC9Ag[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NNiJBmjL3E[/yt]

... I'm sorry, I haven't a clue.