I've heard the Van/Ray track but not the rest of it.... that alone is probably worth the price of admission, and how bad can the rest of it be?
On a related note, there is a new radio station around these parts... I know you don't listen to much radio, but this is different. It's the anti-format, a backlash against the superstratification of radio formats. The slogan is "We Play Anything", and they do.... on a recent drive home it went from Dylan to Eminem to Nirvana, with lots of stops in between. At one point they even had a Tom Jones track on. It's oddly engaging.....though at times they blow it by playing some utter crap.
I read an article where the program director was quoted as saying the competition is now not other radio stations over the air but Ipods and MP3's on computers and satellite radio.
Here's a blog with a less than kind review of the station's early days, before it was on throughout the Chicago area:
Thursday, August 12, 2004
"Nine FM" Test Drive, Part 1
So you've read all the press and speculation on this new "Nine FM," but most imporantly...
How does it sound?
While I have caught snippets here and there of the new "Nine FM," I've never really listened to the station for an extended period of time. I really want to like it, but I haven't heard enough to make a real judgment yet.
So what better way to evaluate the new station than to lock my radio at 99.9 and listen to it for an entire day?
Yesterday I pointed my antenna toward to the heavens, grabbed a note pad and pen, and proceeded to make "Nine FM" my only music source for the entire day.
Here's how it went...
Wednesday, 8/11/04
8:30am
Arrive at work, tune radio to 99.9fm...first song, "I Did It" by Dave Matthews.
God damn I hate Dave Matthews Band!!...I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
8:34am
DJ comes on and goes into some entertainment news shtick. I try to tune him out, but he's so damn cheesy...sounds like someone is trying to imitate a cheesy morning jock, only this guy is serious.
8:35 -9:00am
A blockbuster set of music consisting of Sugar Ray, Journey, Mike+The Mechanics(are you kidding me?!?) and Janet Jackson. This whole "listen to Nine all day" thing is starting to seem like a really bad idea...like a painfully bad idea.
9:04am
REO Speedwagon comes on...that "heard it from a friend who, heard from a friend who..." song. That's it!! I can't take it anymore...
9:04-10:00am
Abort mission, tune into WHPK.
10:00am
OK, OK...i'll give Nine FM another shot...
10:01am
"Bruuuuuuuuuuuce!!"
Alright, "Born to Run" by Springsteen, hopefully things will get better now
10:05-10:25am
Iggy Pop ("Lust of Life" of course!), Curtis Mayfield ("Superfly"), old school U2, Smashing Pumpkins (yes Billy, despite all my rage, I too am still just a rat in a cage), and "Band on the Run" by McCartney.
Yeah, Paul is lame (the sound you make is Muzak to ears!!) and the Pumpkins have been played into the ground by XRT and Q-101, but I have to admit I didn't completely hate that set. Maybe we're finally getting somewhere here...
10:30-10:40am
What the fuck is this shit??? Some unbelievably sappy song is played, followed by an equally lame tune that seems to have been borrowed from the country station. Next song..."Shoop" by Salt n' Peppa.
10:45am
Red Hot Chili Peppers follows Salt n' Peppa
Hey, these Nine FM jocks are clever! (hint of sarcasm there) Actually, the current jock sounds alright, a 100% improvement over the "wacky" morning guy.
10:48am
"Oh Sherry" by Steve Perry
What the hell?? Didn't they just play a Journey track last hour??
10:53am
Sappy as hell, 80's schlock from Cetera-era Chicago
Uggghhh!
10:57-11:05am
Cars, "She's a lot like You"...Nena, "99 Luftbaloons"
Woo-hoo! Finally some songs I actually want to crank up!
11:05am
That god-damn Barenaked Ladies song with the "Chinese Chicken" rap is played
Oh jesus, here we go again with the shitty tunes...
11:10am-1:00pm
I did manage to make it to my lunch hour without having any emergency “REO Speedwagon” situations that made me want to throw my radio out the window. However, at this point I'm not exactly ready to super glue my dial to 99.9. There was a decent set that featured current buzz bin dudes Franz Ferdinand, followed by the Stones' "Midnight Rambler" and that "Betty Davis Eyes" song.
Other highlights included the new Darkness single, "You're Really Growing on Me," "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult (sorry, I'm not looking up how to make umlauts in HTML) and "Sunglasses at Night" by Corey Heart (80's one-hit wonders rawk!!).
However, the amount of bad songs overshadowed the good stuff by quite a bit. Everclear, Fuel, Sting, and the lite-rock, 90's version of Eric Clapton...c'mon who likes this stuff??? OK, OK... dentists and soccer moms don't count...
Stay tuned tomorrow on RFC for part 2 of the "Nine FM" test drive
posted by Brad K at 6:44 PM 1 comments
Friday, August 13, 2004
"Nine FM" Test Drive, Part 2
Wednesday, 8/11/04
2:00pm Well...I wasn't too impressed with "Nine" during the morning hours, but I was optimistic because afternoons belong to the program director, Sky Daniels. I have listened to "Nine" a few times before today's test drive, and it seemed like he "brought the rock" more during his shift than when I've listened at other times.
2:10pm
"When I Come Around" by Green Day..."Talk Dirty to Me" by Poison..."Who Can it Be Now" by Men Without Hats...
I'll forget the fact that I heard Green Day and Poison...but you've got to love Men At Work
2:30pm
"All-Star" by Smash Mouth
Who likes this song, besides 8 year olds??
2:35pm
Some song by Staind comes on...
OK, I sat through the damn "All-Star" song...now this is just too much.
2:36pm
Abort mission...
Sky wasn't on the air yet anyway, so I decided to take a break and check back in after 3
3:00pm
Can barely pick up a signal...a bird must be sitting on their tower on their tower or something. (actually, more like some clouds or poor atmospheric conditions...I am listening in the South Loop after all, the extreme northern fringe of their broadcast range)
3:20pm
Suddenly the reception's fine again...maybe it really was a bird on the tower??
3:23 -3:34pm
"In the Name of Love" by U2..."Hate to Say I Told You So" by The Hives..."Something So Strong" by Crowded House
Not bad...not bad...maybe Sky can get a good set going for a while???
3:35pm
Second song of the day by Barenaked Ladies
Doh!!!
3:38pm
"Go Insane" by Lindsay Buckingham
Take out the Barenaked Ladies and this actually isn't a bad set...
3:48pm
Instrumental song by guitar hero Joe Satriani
Umm...at least it's different??
4:00pm
"Don't Know Why" by Nora Jones
I'm really starting to lose interest at this point...
4:08pm
"Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne
Raaawwwk! I haven't been this stoked to hear Ozzy since I was twelve...the standard adult contemporary fare that Nine plays really puts me to sleep
4:13-4:30pm
My indifference toward Nine is getting worse...I'm starting to slack off on taking notes and I'm not keeping up with the music log
4:34pm
"Celebration" by Kool in the Gang
C'mon..."Celebration???" is it not enough that you have to hear this song at every god damn wedding reception throughout your entire life?? I didn't want to say it...but much like your cousin's wedding reception, this station is sooooo suburban
4:37-4:45pm
"Celebration" is followed by songs from Matchbox 20, Collective Soul
Yes, I am in suburban hell...who wants to go the strip mall?
4:56pm
Whoa!!! I think I just heard the first commercial of the day??? I hadn't even noticed...but this is the first break I've heard since tuning in at 8:30 in the morning!
5:05pm
"Bandages" by Hot Hot Heat..."Round and Round" by Ratt
Alright...after 5, it's the drive home...this is going to be the one...the set that rocks for like an hour without interruption...
5:12pm
"Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton
Nooooooooooo!!!!!
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