Top 5 Radio Stations

popmuze · May 26, 2007

I'm not talking about XM or Sirius here, or the self-constructed mixes you can get on the Internet, just good old terrestrial radio.

For me, located on the East Coast, the list goes something like this:

WFUV--listener support from Fordham in the Bronx, NY, great mix of folk, blues and rock.
WEHM--located on Long Island, an incredible mix of artists not usually heard on the radio: Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, the Replacements, Lucinda Williams, the Waterboys, plus new stuff by the Killers, Modest Mouse, Norah Jones, etc.

There's a terrific station in Annapolis that plays a great mix of old and new not generally heard on the radio, but I don't remember the name, just that it's owned by Pat Sajak.

Someone once said there are great stations in Woodstock, NY and Aspen, CO. Let me know the call letters and I'll listen over the Internet. Otherwise, my five is barely three.

Will Lavender · May 27, 2007

popmuze said:
Someone once said there are great stations in Woodstock, NY and Aspen, CO. Let me know the call letters and I'll listen over the Internet. Otherwise, my five is barely three.

When I saw this thread title, I immediately thought of a public station out of Woodstock. They played mostly indie rock. I used to listen to it when I was in school at Bard.

Wish I could remember the call letters for you. You might Google "Woodstock New York Indpendent Radio Station" or something.

Will Lavender · May 27, 2007

WFPK Radio Louisville

We have a pretty fine public radio station here in Louisville, KY. Hope you enjoy.

Writer2011 · May 27, 2007

There is one station here in Raleigh WBBB 96 Rock...they have some good stuff.

100.7-The River---plays classic rock

That's about all I listen to plus Sirius

Shadow_Ferret · May 27, 2007

When I grew up, the great stations were all Top 40. Now Top 40 doesn't even seem to exist any more. Where does one go to hear the latest in pop?

Will Lavender · May 27, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
When I grew up, the great stations were all Top 40. Now Top 40 doesn't even seem to exist any more. Where does one go to hear the latest in pop?

Wha? It's all top 40. There are 10 or 15 radio stations in our city that recycle the same 40 or 50 songs over and over and over.

And you might invest in satellite radio.

XM 20-40, I believe, is all current pop.

benbradley · May 27, 2007

I feel musically "fortunate" to have grown up in Atlanta in the 1960's-1970's when there was WPLO-FM, 103.3, playing things that the top-40 stations of the time never heard of. I forget many of the songs and artists they played, but there was much Grateful Dead, and I heard MOST of the songs on albums such as "The Court of The Crimson King," "It's A Beautiful Day" and others. I later heard that it was part of "Underground FM", a unique concept with commercial stations playing "rock" music that was something other than top 40. In April 1974 or so, they announced they were probably going back to the Country Music format (which it had been sometime in the '60's), then a day later announced April Fool's. A year later it DID go back to Country, then later changed call letters to WVEE and became disco (really!) then evolved into Atlanta's premier station for (for a lack of a better phrase) African-American music.

Does anyone have a clue where I could get playlists for WPLO-FM? I think the time period I'm thinking of dates from 1968 when Ed Shane became program director, until about the mid-70's. Websearches bring up his media consultant business website. Worst case, I'll email him and ask.

Here's a book on "underground FM" that I ought to get, surely it mentions WPLO-FM:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0275952665/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

The other two stations I often listened to were college stations, Georgia Tech's WREK at 90.1, and Georgia State University's WRAS, 88.5. From their websites they both appear to be going strong, though they surely don't play the same songs I heard on them back then.

Shadow_Ferret said:
When I grew up, the great stations were all Top 40. Now Top 40 doesn't even seem to exist any more. Where does one go to hear the latest in pop?

With the proliferation of radio stations and choices today, I doubt there are many that play all of the currently top 40 selling singles. There are "soft rock" and "classic rock" and "smooth jazz" stations and they're not going to play songs too far out of their genre, no matter how popular they are.

I recall the weekly radio show "American Top 40" with Casey Kasem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Top_40
And I think there's one or more competing shows, one with Ryan Secrest of "American Idol" fame (maybe he did his Top 40 show before AI, but I and surely many others know him first for AI).

I listened to Kasem's show in the '70's, it was great to hear every top-40 song for the week AND HEAR EACH ONE ONLY ONCE.

Will Lavender · May 27, 2007

Nice post, benbradley.

Here is an Americana station my father owns in the basement of his law office down in tiny Whitley City, Kentucky. They likely make no money because they go against the grain of what's popular in this part of the world (top 40 country and conservative talk radio), but they play some interesting stuff.

popmuze · May 27, 2007

I'm looking forward to listening to all the stations you guys mention. As far as "underground FM" I was there at the beginning in NYC in '66, with WOR FM: they didn't even have deejays for a while.

Now the station I mentioned, WEHM, plays a lot of that old stuff like King Crimson and the Dead along with new stuff.

I don't know where to find old playlists, but a buddy of mine once forwarded me an old radio link where you could hear original airchecks from classic stations. I heard a traffic report from WABC from 1963. The Whitestone Bridge was bumper to bumper! And it still is today. I'll have to figure out where to find that link.

Shadow_Ferret · May 27, 2007

Will Lavender said:
Wha? It's all top 40. There are 10 or 15 radio stations in our city that recycle the same 40 or 50 songs over and over and over.

And you might invest in satellite radio.

XM 20-40, I believe, is all current pop.

I have no intention of ever PAYING for radio, something that I've gotten free all my life.

As far as it all being Top 40, not in my town. I can't think of one Top 40 station. Most of them are a variation on the theme of classics, oldies, or 80s.

We did have a couple great stations back in the early 70s. WQFM and WZMF. They both were, I guess, what you'd call AOR. They'd play all forms of rock out of them, prog rock, jazz fusion, hard rock, etc. Everything none of the Top 40 stations of the day played. Those are the stations where I first heard Robin Trower, Herbie Hancock, and Nazareth's "Shape of Things," which I still think is a great song.

Will Lavender · May 27, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
I have no intention of ever PAYING for radio, something that I've gotten free all my life.

XM is only $9.99 a month. (Or at least it was when I first subscribed two years ago. You do, of course, have to pay for the box and the antenna that receive the signal.)

For that you get static-free, commercial-free, 500-channel radio. I can name 10 or 12 channels that I listen to regularly on XM; there aren't 15 or 20 channels here in Louisville that come in clearly that aren't top 40 country.

IMO, it's worth it.

/impromptu advertisement

Will Lavender · May 27, 2007

Oh, and here you go, SF.

That's a complete list of Milwaukee's radio stations. Amazingly, you're right: not much top 40 in there. There are a couple of "variety" stations listed, but the only top 40 I see is 103.7 FM, WXSS.

Hang of Thursdays · May 27, 2007

Austin
KVRX - UT's student-run radio station, with lots of music playing 24/7 that no one on earth has ever heard.

KOOP - Local cooperative radio station, lots of NPR-type programming, but mostly locally geared. I prefer KERA out of Dallas for the NPR stuff. KOOP's very music-heavy (like all things Austin, I suppose), but still, quite a lot of good stuff.

popmuze · May 28, 2007

Hang of Thursdays said:
KOOP's very music-heavy (like all things Austin, I suppose)

I've been thinking of taking a trip to Austin this summer. Haven't been there since I was sent by a magazine to interview Emmylou Harris in 1979.

Do you have any idea of who's going to be playing or if there are any special musical events coming up in July or August?

How about Spas? (Just to change the subject)

Hang of Thursdays · May 28, 2007

popmuze said:
I've been thinking of taking a trip to Austin this summer. Haven't been there since I was sent by a magazine to interview Emmylou Harris in 1979.

Do you have any idea of who's going to be playing or if there are any special musical events coming up in July or August?

How about Spas? (Just to change the subject)

I dunno about spas, but if you can wait till September, there's the Austin City Limits music fest. Other places to check would be http://austinchronicle.com/ and http://austin360.com/ , both very helpful in finding interesting things that will be going on during your trip (I'm actually not currently in austin anymore, so i can't tell you for sure)

tourdeforce · May 30, 2007

WPLJ- 1975-1982

WNEW-FM- 1975-1995

WLIR- 1982-1985

WCBS-FM- 1982-2001

Bmwhtly · May 31, 2007

I don't know about over in the colonies, but here there can be only One.

Radio1

popmuze · May 31, 2007

tourdeforce said:
WPLJ- 1975-1982

WNEW-FM- 1975-1995

WLIR- 1982-1985

WCBS-FM- 1982-2001

What, no WBAB, 1984?
Being somewhat older than you, I was an original 10-10 WINS AM man, during the reign of Murray the K and a WMCA good guy for B. Mitchell Reed.

(Of course, talking about deejays is a whole other thread)

C.bronco · May 31, 2007

104.3 NY
105.5 NJ
I have to be honest; my son commandeers the car music, and for the past 6 months we listen to the soundtrack to the movie Cars every day. "Mommy, track 18 please."

tourdeforce · May 31, 2007

popmuze said:
WBAB

WBAB.

Well done.

WarrenP · May 31, 2007

Here is Chi-town the radio sucks these days. I have given up on radio for the moment. When I do listen, it is to WLUP, The Loop.

The big deal here now is "we play everything". You know what, I don't want to hear everything. Van Halen, followed by Pink, followed by ZZ Top, followed by Tori Amos, followed by blah blah blah, isn't what I'm into.

Mud Dauber · Jun 3, 2007

Will Lavender said:
For that you get static-free, commercial-free, 500-channel radio. I can name 10 or 12 channels that I listen to regularly on XM; there aren't 15 or 20 channels here in Louisville that come in clearly that aren't top 40 country.

IMO, it's worth it.

I disagree. I have XM and have had many issues with poor reception. I took it on a six hour road trip once, and was ready to throw the stupid thing out the window; seems I had to change the FM transmitter station in every town I drove through b/c it interfered with the local station's broadcast. Also, everytime I'm at a stop light under a viaduct or at the bank drive thru or at Walgreen's drive thru, the thing goes dead with no signal. I like my music on all the time, and I find this lack of signal to be extremely annoying.

WarrenP said:
Here is Chi-town the radio sucks these days. I have given up on radio for the moment. When I do listen, it is to WLUP, The Loop.

The big deal here now is "we play everything". You know what, I don't want to hear everything. Van Halen, followed by Pink, followed by ZZ Top, followed by Tori Amos, followed by blah blah blah, isn't what I'm into.

I love the Loop! But only for Johnny B in the mornings!

I'm a big fan of the "We Play Anything" format b/c I enjoy many different types of music. In fact, that's another reason I dislike satellite: each station has its own format (punk, alternative, rock, classic rock, etc.) and after hearing about ten songs in a row of the same sound, I get bored with it and am itching to hear something else. I found that I'd spend most of my time with the XM remote in my hand, changing from one channel to another so I could get a mix of different genres.

Therefore, I have to post my two favorite Chicago radio stations: 92.7 www.weplayanything.com and 93.1 WXRT www.wxrt.com both of which are Chicago owned and operated--something that's important to me. I think Chicago radio is awesome and between those two stations, I can usually find something I like. If not, I pop in a cd!

Newyorkknicks07 · Jun 11, 2007

1. 97.1 (Hot 97)'
2. 105.1 (Power 105)
3. 100.3 (Z-100)
4. 1050 AM (ESPN Radio)
5. 880 AM

pconsidine · Jun 11, 2007

The only one I'd add is WXRV (92.5 FM) in Haverhill, Mass. While not the most cutting edge of stations, it's the only one that will play stuff from both The Shins and Patty Griffin, in addition to enough of the mainstream stuff that you don't have to feel like a bozo who doesn't know anything that's going on.

Danger Jane · Jun 11, 2007

Oldies 103.3

(Oldies) 105.7

then two cape cod stations I can't remember the names of, 101.9 and 101.5

I don't try very hard with the radio, plus I just discovered that my car's CD player kinda works.

Top 5 Radio Stations

Last of a Dying Breed

Everything is what it seems.

Everything is what it seems.

Court Jester

Everything is what it seems.

It's a doggy dog world

Everything is what it seems.

Last of a Dying Breed

Court Jester

Everything is what it seems.

Everything is what it seems.

useless info sponge

Last of a Dying Breed

useless info sponge

Yes, I'm back.

Last of a Dying Breed

I have plans...

writing on the wall

It's open to interpretation

Too Adorkable for Words