1 of 1- Fitz
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97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
This evening quite accidentally in the car ( b/c I don't usually turn on the radio anymore as I find little to listen to) I found that 97 Rock is doing the 70's A to Z and there's some interesting deep cuts and such. Not the usual classic rock twaddle, Right now for example they are playing Pretzel Logic by Steely Dan. Some usual classic rock stables are there for sure but nice to hear what has not been heard on the radio for a long time.
The one down side is that when I got home I could not tune into the station terrestrially with a good signal and so I tuned in online. I can usually get the station off air in stereo but not tonight.
This description from their web site:
NOW THROUGH NEW YEAR’S DAY.Over the years, 97 Rock has paid tribute to Classic Rock’s greatest decade, the 1970’s, with different weekends and A to Z programs. And now we’re ready to roll out out our most extensive Rockumentary ever- The 70’s A to Z.We’ve researched 70’s playlists and charts from Buffalo radio stations Q-FM-97, WPHD, WYSL and WKBW, as well as sales reports from local record stores. Now we’re taking an alphabetcial romp through the 70’s and including essential Album Rock cuts, along with Progressive, Southern, Glam, Singer Songwriter, Punk, novelty songs, local hits and even comedy cuts.And we’ll press pause on the 70’s A to Z each night at midnight and resume at 6am so you won’t miss any of it while you’re sleeping.
Last edited by Fitz (December 30, 2019 9:10 pm)
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- kevjo
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
This is the kind of programming the station has featured for quite a number of years and they also have regular weekday features that often spotlight the deeper cuts. And guess what? They are consistently among the highest rated stations in the market. We've been told for the last 25 years that smaller playlists are what always wins. I guess 97-Rock missed that "lesson". lol
- RadioAaron
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
WGRF's regular playlist *is* small. They use deep cuts as features to give the illusion of more variety, which is the correct strategy.
It's also a market of less than 300k people....why this board pretends anything that happens there is indicative of...anything...I'll never understand.
Last edited by RadioAaron (December 30, 2019 10:39 pm)
- Radiowiz
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
RadioAaron wrote:
WGRF's regular playlist *is* small. They use deep cuts as features to give the illusion of more variety, which is the correct strategy.
It's also a market of less than 300k people....why this board pretends anything that happens there is indicative of...anything...I'll never understand.
American radio also doesn't have to worry about 35-40% Can Con.
Therefore, it is a lot easier to do a special 70's presentation and not care about Canadian music unless it's really big.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- paterson1
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
But in fairness, if you were going to do a proper 70's presentation for the Southern Ontario market you should be including cancon. And not just the songs that ended up on Billboard. Lots of cancon songs by Lighthouse, April Wine, Stampeders, A Foot in Cold Water and many others were hits here and should be included in any 70's retrospective.
Also talking about deep cuts, something like Africa by Thundermug and Fludd Get Up Get Out and Move On or a cut from Steel River or Pagliaro would not be out of place at all.
If you go to youtube and play some of the cancon hits, it is interesting the number of Americans that listened to Canadian radio and are familiar with these artists. A lot of comments from people in NY state or Michigan, Ohio about listening to stations like CKLW, CFTR and CHUM and how much they enjoyed these "other hits" that they wouldn't hear south of the border.
I remember reading an interview with Prince when he was living in Toronto, and he made a point about how much he enjoyed listening to Toronto radio and hearing Canadian music and artists that he had never heard before. So we shouldn't sell ourselves short or consider our homegrown artists or music as some sort of burden or inconvenience.
- Fitz
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
WGRF's regular playlist *is* small. They use deep cuts as features to give the illusion of more variety, which is the correct strategy.
It's also a market of less than 300k people....why this board pretends anything that happens there is indicative of...anything...I'll never understand.American radio also doesn't have to worry about 35-40% Can Con.
Therefore, it is a lot easier to do a special 70's presentation and not care about Canadian music unless it's really big.
ironically the first song I heard on 97 Rock yesterday was One Fine Morning by Lighthouse. I know that was a US hit but not something that you hear usually on American radio and I wondered what station I had tuned into.
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Thread Starter- Dale Patterson
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
But in fairness, if you were going to do a proper 70's presentation for the Southern Ontario market you should be including cancon. And not just the songs that ended up on Billboard. Lots of cancon songs by Lighthouse, April Wine, Stampeders, A Foot in Cold Water and many others were hits here and should be included in any 70's retrospective.
Also talking about deep cuts, something like Africa by Thundermug and Fludd Get Up Get Out and Move On or a cut from Steel River or Pagliaro would not be out of place at all.
If you go to youtube and play some of the cancon hits, it is interesting the number of Americans that listened to Canadian radio and are familiar with these artists. A lot of comments from people in NY state or Michigan, Ohio about listening to stations like CKLW, CFTR and CHUM and how much they enjoyed these "other hits" that they wouldn't hear south of the border.
I remember reading an interview with Prince when he was living in Toronto, and he made a point about how much he enjoyed listening to Toronto radio and hearing Canadian music and artists that he had never heard before. So we shouldn't sell ourselves short or consider our homegrown artists or music as some sort of burden or inconvenience.
Amen to that. Canadian music in the '70s was tremendous.
Last edited by Dale Patterson (December 31, 2019 10:55 am)
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- Kilgore
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
Canadian music in the '70s was tremendous.
Absolutely correct
That said, anyone who can't get enough of Lighthouse, April Wine & the Stampeders does not have to tune in Buffalo radio to quench their thirst
- Fitz
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
Canadian music in the '70s was tremendous.
Absolutely correct
That said, anyone who can't get enough of Lighthouse, April Wine & the Stampeders does not have to tune in Buffalo radio to quench their thirst
True enough but hearing Rebel Rebel followed by Redneck Friend by Jackson Browne made my day. Also heard Rock Me on The Water by Jackson Browne, The Royal Scam by Steely Dan, Sandman by America, Revival by The Allman Brothers, Rock'n Roll Stew by Traffic, Roll Over Beethoven by ELO and many other tracks not heard on the radio in these parts for a long time.Also nice to hear The Ramones, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello and The Clash on classic rock radio.
Last edited by Fitz (December 31, 2019 1:12 pm)
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Thread Starter- paterson1
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Re: 97 Rock Buffalo Featuring 1970's A a to Z
97 Rock in Buffalo is a pretty decent station. I listen from time to time, they have good on air talent. Anita West on Saturdays is excellent. Like the way that she makes sure that people know she is "live in studio." Kind of interesting one Saturday when I was listening, they were featuring Rush all day long. They seemed to be playing 2 or 3 cuts per hour by the band, with background information on the songs and band, it was well done. I also remember them playing Five Man Electrical Band as well, so they were playing a fair bit of cancon.
Since 97 Rock plays some album cuts or lesser known B hits, this wouldn't really that hard to replicate here. . Lots of great cancon B hits that people will remember that get almost no airplay anywhere any more. Q 107, and CHUM FM even CFNY played a lot of lesser known cancon artists and songs back in the 70's so just a matter of playing a few of these again. Anyone who grew up with these stations will remember the songs, in addition to all of the other great American and UK songs that were fairly popular back in the day but rarely are heard any longer. Basically this is sort what Q did for about 30 years with Psychedelic Sundays. Still miss that show, every week you would hear little gems that brought back so many good memories!