Can’t explain how else a Queensland station would proclaim the new year an hour earlier than it should…
Up next for the first time in a few years we have a representative from the Top End, and a return to Darwin’s Mix 104.9 who for a long time during the streaming royalties saga stopped their streaming for many years. Glad to have them back on board.
MIX 104.9 Darwin 31 December 2016 Saturday Night Retro Party Mix Times Approximately ACST
Join during Billy Joel - Tell Her About It 10:37 PM: Renee Geyer - Say I Love You 10:41 PM: End of Fashion - Oh Yeah (Song basically blackbanned because the clip featured drag racer Troy Stevens who not long after was caught trafficking drugs) 10:44 PM: Mark Morrison - Return of the Mack 10:47 PM: Joe Cocker - Feelin’ Alright 10:51 PM: Mental As Anything - Spirit Got Lost 10:54 PM: Mariah Carey - Dreamlover 10:58 PM: Rod Stewart - Do Ya Think I’m Sexy 11:03 PM: Jackson 5 - I Want You Back 11:06 PM: Jacksons - Can You Feel It 11:09 PM: Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (It was about at this time that the stream became as useful as a Mick Jagger branded contraceptive) 11:13 PM: Lovin Spoonful - Summer In The City 11:16 PM: Elton John - Sad Songs (Say So Much) 11:20 PM: Kate Miller-Heidke - The Last Day On Earth 11:24 PM: Skyhooks - Ego (Is Not a Dirty Word) (Stream returned to a decent quality towards the end of this song) 11:27 PM: Real Life - Send Me An Angel 11:31 PM: Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) 11:35 PM: Donna Summer - On The Radio 11:39 PM: Sweet - Ballroom Blitz 11:43 PM: Kelly Clarkson - Never Again 11:46 PM: RHCP - Give It Away 11:51 PM: Smokie - Living Next Door To Alice (And after all these years we’re still asking WHO THE F*** IS ALICE?) 11:54 PM: Soft Cell - Tainted Love 11:57 PM: TLC - No Scrubs (who would have picked this as the last song of 2016 in the top end?) 12:01 AM: AC/DC - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) (My personal favourite AC/DC Song)
So onto the final leg of the marathon journey (though it’s really not a marathon, more like a time trip across the zones), and our Perth representative this year is 6IX.
6IX PERTH (1080 AM or 105.7 FM) 31 December 2016 Jukebox Saturday Night live from a local pub TIMES APPROXIMATELY WST
Join during The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There 10:39 PM: Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise 10:44 PM: Rocky Horror Picture Show - Time Warp 10:47 PM: WIld Cherry - Play That Funky Music 10:50 PM: Toni Basil - Mickey (THANKS FOR RUINING NEW YEAR’S EVE/DAY YOU…) 10:54 PM: Katrina and the Waves - Walking on Sunshine 10:57 PM: Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes 10:59 PM: UB40 - Red Red Wine 11:03 PM: Culture Club - Karma Chameleon 11:06 PM: Soft Cell - Tainted Love 11:09 PM:Mindless dribble from the pub by announcers, mainly to do with the recent passing of George Michael. 11:11 PM: George Michael - Faith (RIP) 11:14 PM: Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive 11:16 PM: Thelma Houston - Don’t Leave Me This Way 11:20 PM: Amii Stewart - Knock On Wood 11:23 PM: KC & The Sunshineband - Give It Up 11:27 PM Rick Springfield - Jessie’s Girl 11:31 PM: Romantics - What I Like About You 11:34 PM:Mindless dribble again from the pub, sheila going on about Donald Trump, then Brexit, then they give away a London Has Fallen DVD to some drunk, then a Bowie DVD to a lass. 11:36 PM: Michael Jackson - Billie Jean 11:40 PM: Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting 11:43 PM: Bee Gees - Stayin Alive (Unofficial theme song for those celebrities in 2017???) 11:48 PM: Daddy Cool - Eagle Rock (One of the most flogged songs in Perth, as a Bulldog fan/member it was great not to hear that in the first week of September) 11:53 PM: Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing 11:56 PM: Village People - YMCA
Live Countdown into the new year, dribble about resolutions to fill time before the countdown, HAPPY NEW YEAR WESTERN AUSTRALIA!
And with that concludes New Year’s Eve in New Zealand and Australia. I would have gone on and did a South African log given I’m headed that way in June, but with an 8 hour time difference between Qld and South Africa it’s pretty pointless to stay up until 7AM now isn’t it…
Including Kent Music Report/ARIA chart positions from Wikipedia (to illustrate how unflogged
each song is):
No Doubt - It’s My Life (#7)
U2 - Gloria (#32)
Seal - Kiss From A Rose (#1)
Tears For Fears - Sowing The Seeds Of Love (#13)
The Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women (#1)
Madonna - Open Your Heart (#16)
[Ads & news]
Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) (#3)
Ratcat - Don’t Go Now (#1)
Billy Idol - Sweet Sixteen (#9)
Crystal Waters - 100% Pure Love (#2)
INXS - Dancing On The Jetty (#39)
[Ads]
Genesis - No Son Of Mine (#29)
Clarence Clemons and Jackson Browne - You’re a Friend of Mine (#9)
A thoroughly enjoyable hour of music, with some rare gems - very surprising,
considering the usual 2GO playlist (high repetition of current Top 40 hits).
It’s been nearly a month since 2CH in Sydney was relaunched under new ownership (EON Broadcasting, who also owns Sea FM & Mix FM on the Sunshine Coast), with their “Easy Classics” format/positioner. I had a good listen to it yesterday afternoon & managed to memorise almost all of the songs played during the following time period below.
Sydney’s 2CH (1170 AM & DAB+) "Easy Classics" Wednesday 5th April 2017 - Approx. 3:30-4:20pm AEST
“Nikita” Elton John
"Words" Bee Gees
"Mamma Mia" ABBA
"Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying" Gerry & The Pacemakers
"What a Fool Believes" Doobie Brothers
"Superman (It’s Not Easy)" Five For Fighting
"Mellow Yellow" Donovan Can’t remember the song/artist at this point of the time period
“Montego Bay” Bobby Bloom 4pm News/Sport/Traffic/Weather
"Rock Your Baby" George McCrae
"These Boots Are Made For Walkin’" Nancy Sinatra
"Cool Change" Little River Band
"It Started With a Kiss" Hot Chocolate
As you can see above, it’s not a bad selection of songs that 2CH now plays and is a decent alternative to WS & Smooth, as well as the Central Coast & Wollongong commercial stations.
It’s worth noting that, with 3MP in Melbourne having changed over to Classic Rock Radio back in October, as well as Magic in Melbourne & Brisbane being replaced by Talking Lifestyle in late February, it’s quite incredible to see that Sydney now has the distinction of being the only capital city in Australia to still have an AM easy listening station.
Rebel 90.5 from afternoon of Thursday 27 April from RDS feed
13:27:10 Aerosmith - Luv Xxx
13:29:59 The Rolling Stones - I Can’t Quit You Baby
13:37:52 Pink Floyd - Us And Them
13:45:44 The Easybeats - St Louis
13:51:57 Matchbox 20 If You’re Gone
13:56:32 Night Ranger - Goodbye
14:05:45 Queens Of The Stone Age - Make It Wit Chu
14:10:14 The Doobie Brother - Listen To The Music
14:14:00 Seether - Words As Weapons
14:20:16 Hoodoo Gurus - Come Anytime
14:23:38 Inxs - Disappear
14:27:43 The Pictures - Pissin’ With The Catman
14:31:42 David Bowie - Fashion
14:36:22 Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire
14:43:21 Van Morrison - Gloria
14:46:56 Paramore - Brick By Boring Brick
14:52:41 Papa Roach - Help
14:56:25 The Living End - Wake Up
15:02:15 The Darkness - Everybody Have A Good Time
15:06:25 ZZ Top - Sleeping Bag
15:10:37 Skyhooks - You Just Like Me 'cos I’m Good In Bed
15:14:17 Stonesour - Absolute Zero
15:22:02 Violent Soho - No Shade
15:26:00 Rise Against - I Don’t Want To Be Here Anymore
15:33:15 Stereophonics - Dakota
15:37:13 The Angels - After The Rain
15:43:47 Pearl Jam - Amongst The Waves
15:47:59 Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails, Red Wine
15:54:18 Jack White - I’m Shakin’
15:57:35 Kiss - Shout It Out Loud
16:05:37 Gang Of Youths - Strange Diseases
16:08:49 Dio - Holy Diver
I have forgot how good that station is. One thing I love about The Rebel is the Rock Variety, you can hear anything from The Easybeats right up to Rise Against. That gets a from me
Here’s the playlist from two Grant owned adult music stations on the South Coast of NSW, taken during the same hour.
2ST - Nowra/Southern Highlands, NSW "Classic Songs, Great Variety" Tuesday 13th June 2017 - 2-3pm AEST
“Rock With You” Michael Jackson
"You Oughta Know" Alanis Morrissette
"Addicted To Love" Robert Palmer
"Love Resurrection" Alison Moyet
"That’s The Way (I Like It)" KC & The Sunshine Band
"I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll" Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
"Uptown Girl" Billy Joel
"She Has To Be Loved" Jenny Morris
"Lido Shuffle" Boz Scaggs
"All Star" Smash Mouth
"I Got You" Split Enz
As you can see above, 2ST has taken the WSFM approach on being “80s-centric” with their playlist that has occurred in the last few months, with little amount of songs from the 70s & no 60s in a typical hour.
Meanwhile, further down the South Coast…
2EC - Bega/Batemans Bay, NSW "South Coast’s Biggest Music Variety" Tuesday 13th June 2017 - 2-3pm AEST
“Check It Out” John Cougar Mellencamp
"Angie" Rolling Stones
"Little Lion Man" Mumford & Sons
"Last Train To London" Electric Light Orchestra
"I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For" U2
"Push" Matchbox 20
"Light My Fire" The Doors (billed as a 70s Flashback, even though it was released in 1967!)
“Whip It” Devo (part of a Doubleshot)
“Beautiful World” Devo (part of a Doubleshot)
“Songbird” Bernard Fanning
"Another One Bites The Dust" Queen
In contrast to 2ST, the playlist on 2EC is a bit more adventurous & they at least played a 60s track, at least on that hour. A year ago, I would’ve preferred 2ST over 2EC, but now, I would be leaning towards the opposite, as the former is now sounding a bit too much like WSFM (not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing, but it makes 2ST less different to WS than what it was before).
12:06:16 Zinc 20-20 retro countdown 1987
12:07:37 Slice of Heaven - Dave Dobbyn with Herbs
12:11:43 Wanted Dead Or Alive - Bon Jovi
12:17:35 Breakout - Swing Out Sister
12:21:20 He’s Gonna Step On You Again - The Party Boys
12:25:24 Take Me Back - Noiseworks
12:32:36 Respectable - Mel & Kim
12:36:00 Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil
12:40:16 Wild Horses - Gino Vanelli
12:49:08 Fall Of Rome - James Reyne
12:53:36 I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston
13:06:25 It’s A Sin - Pet Shop Boys
13:11:25 When You Walk In The Room - Paul Carrack
13:16:00 I Want Your Sex - George Michael
13:20:52 Right On Track - The Breakfast Club
13:25:02 Alone - Heart
13:29:27 Good Times - Hoodoo Gurus
13:36:02 Crazy - Icehouse
13:39:31 Old Time Rock & Roll - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
13:42:39 Suddenly - Angry Anderson
13:51:07 Who’s That Girl - Madonna
13:55:04 Locomotion - Kylie Minogue
Because they always play one song that ‘sits outside’ the 20/20 countdown. Usually a popular song that was played a lot on the radio but had poor sales etc
“Proud Mary” Creedence Clearwater Revival
“Say You Won’t Let Go” James Arthur
“US Forces” Midnight Oil
“Slow Hands” Niall Horan
“I Can See Clearly Now” Jimmy Cliff
–“17 Minutes of the 70s”–
“Lady D’Arbanville” Cat Stevens
“Love Really Hurts Without You” Billy Ocean
“The Joker” Steve Miller Band
“Hard Rock Cafe” Carole King
“You Are The Sunshine of My Life” Stevie Wonder
–End of “17 Minutes of the 70s”–
“Treat You Better” Shawn Mendes
“If A Tree Falls” Bruce Cockburn
“Let’s Stick Together” Bryan Ferry
As you can see, the station is not too heavy on the new music compared to many other regional adult music stations, including Mix FM Sunshine Coast. It’s also interesting to see that Zinc plays more 70s in a single hour (including 5 in a row part of their “17 Minutes of the 70s”) than WS/Gold (in markets where there’s more commercial FM stations) does in 2 hours! By comparison, WS are more likely to play four 90s songs in a row rather than from the 70s these days.
If I’m up on the Sunshine Coast, I would probably listen to Zinc the most over most of the other stations.
That’s what I love about the station. 90% classic hits 10% new music. Surely people don’t want to hear 100% classic hits and no new music at all. I certainly don’t… I reckon that’s part of Smooth’s success too. Classic hits radio formats these days are so hung up on not playing any new music but that’s a totally new concept. In the 70s and 80s and even into the 90s adult music stations were mostly like this and included a smaller % of new music.
(THANKS FOR RUINING NEW YEAR’S EVE/DAY YOU…)
from me 
Tonights Cold 30 from 1980
By comparison, WS are more likely to play four 90s songs in a row rather than from the 70s these days.