Radio Daze

I was having a discussion on Twitter the other day with Diane, who lives in Central Florida, about how one particular radio station in Orlando used to play awesome music on the weekends, then suddenly stopped when their parent company, Clear Channel, thought it would be a better idea by axing their locally-produced programming with a cookie cutter default classic rock station from their iHeart Radio service sometime around 2010. Those in greater Orlando who listened to their "real music weekends" for the better part of about a decade or so I imagine were none too pleased with the decision; I know I wasn't.

Long story short, I stopped listening to that station (living in Tampa being a factor), and truth be told, I really haven't listened to radio in about three years. A big reason is because of Spotify and Pandora. Another reason is that radio in the Tampa market absolutely sucks. We have two pop stations, both of which suck to me. Both stations to my knowledge alter the pitch and speed of the music they play, I guess to make it sound fresher. No Bueno if you ask me. Another reason is the other genres of music on the radio aren't quite up my alley (especially country) and talk/sports radio is pretty much hot garbage, especially where I'm located. Oh, and don't get me started on that heaping pile of crap (in my opinion) known as BTLS.

Radio seeming to be substandard is something I've had to deal with for sometime now. Beginning in the 90's all the way up until present-day. Late 1993 was especially horrible for me from a listening standpoint; I had just transferred from Orlando to Goose Creek, SC (just outside Charleston) for Naval Nuclear Prototype School, and the station that was closest to XL 106.7 (which I listened to for about a couple of years, including high school) had just tweaked their format to a more AC-leaning. There were three Urban stations and three country stations there. And no dance songs at all. Plus I don't think any station there played either Casey Kasem, Shadoe Stevens, or Rick Dees' countdown shows (remember when those were a thing?). No thank you.

When I transferred to Norfolk six months later, it was more balanced at first. Z104 up there was akin to G105 in Raleigh or the aforementioned XL. You could practically listen to most of the top 40, as well as other hits, without changing the station. Then I was deployed for six months overseas; when I returned, the radio scene kinda shifted slightly. Of course, I had discovered sports talk radio at this point, so I didn't think it was a big deal. In 1996, it all changed. Z104 had gone from pop to rhythmic CHR. Plus WWDE (2WD) had become a pop lite station. Another station was pop-leaning rock. To put it bluntly, it was like segregation had come to music radio; if you wanted one particular song, it was on station A. If you wanted a different song, you had to switch to station B, and so forth. Oh, and one vivid memory was this hideous commercial, which is even lamer because the audio cuts out at the worst possible time:

Yes, they took off from "Friends." Pathetic.

Anyway, to get a sense of Norfolk radio at the time, here was a list of songs played on WNVZ, Z104  at this time 23 years ago this week:


 BRANDY /Sittig' Up In My...
MARY J. BLIGE/Not Gon' Cry
PLANET SOUL/Set U Free
TONY RICH PROJECT/Nobody Knows
3T /Anything
MARIAH CAREY /One Sweet Day
TONI BRAXTON /Let It Flow
DIANA KING/Ain't Nobody
 LA BOUCHE/Be My Lover
GROOVE THEORY /Keep Tryin
MONICA/Before You Walk_.
 DEBORAH COX/Who Do U Love
L.L. COOL J/Hey Lover
MAX -A- MILLION /Sexual Healing
EVERYTHING BUT... /Missing
SEAL/Don't Cry
SIMPLY RED/Fairground
WHITNEY HOUSTON /Exhale (Shoop...)
DEVONE' /Energy
J'SON/Take A Look
 SOPHIE B. HAWKINS/Only Love...
 INTRIGUE /Dance With Me
COOLIO/Fantastic Voyage-
COOLIO/Gangsta's Paradise
SA- DEUCE/Don't Waste My Time
LINA SANTIAGO/Feels So Good_.
MONTELL JORDAN/This Is How We Do It
TLC/Diggin On You
CRYSTAL WATERS/100% Pure Love
GROOVE THEORY/Tell Me
DENINE W /COLLAGE/AII Creed Out
ALL- 4- ONE/(She's Got) Shillz
SOUL FOR REAL/ Every Little Thing.
ADINA HOWARD/Freak Like Me
BLESSID UNION OF.. /0h Virginia
 REAL MCCOY /Another Night
2PAC F/DR. DRE/Califomia Love
 HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH/Time -
MARIAH CAREY /Always Be My Baby
JOE/All The Things...

Now compare that with the official Radio & Records chart that week (It's on Page 24, WNVZ's playlist is on page 28). Note that there's no Alanis on Z104, no Natalie Merchant and pretty much minimal Hootie, but Simply Red?!! I can't say "weird flex but okay" because that's more of a WTF than a flex. So, let's just say my memories of listening to the radio weren't very memorable, especially in Norfolk, Virginia.

But thank goodness for Spotify's existence; I can make up for lost time...


CT