Like many Country Universe readers, I don’t listen to regular cou
ntry radio these days. While there is a ton of great country music out there, the play lists for mainstream country stations seem to be very inflexible and limited to a frustratingly low number of artists/songs. Furthermore, what country radio embraces these days is not well-aligned with my music tastes. Consequently, I keep up with country music through satellite radio, copious research and suggestions by other bloggers whose music tastes I trust.
Judging by the volume of music I’ve acquired in the past 4 years since I’ve stopped regularly listening to mainstream country radio, I’ve been doing a more than satisfactory job of keeping up. Even more importantly, I’ve been able to maintain my love of country music, which surely would have fizzled out if I had continued on the mainstream country radio track.
C.M. Wilcox, proprietor of Country California (who incidentally is one of my most trusted bloggers that has turned me onto an inordinate amount of music), has inspired me to borrow tonight’s discussion topic from his live blogging of 30 minutes of country radio. I decided to check into one of my own local country radio stations for a half hour to hear what was happening there.
At 6:20 P.M., on Tuesday night, I turned my alarm clock radio (my only way to listen to the radio without sitting in the car) to a local country station, q106.5, where it seemed that a local disc jockey was at the helm. Here is what I heard during my half hour of radio:
Billy Currington, “Must Be Doing Something Right”
Brooks & Dunn/Reba McEntire, “Cowgirls Don’t Cry”
Neal McCoy, “Wink”
Kenny Chesney, “Don’t Blink”
Keith Urban, “Sweet Thing”
Craig Morgan, “That’s What I Love About Sunday”
While it certainly could have been worse, I have to say that it was a rather uninspiring half hour of radio. I think I’ll stick to my current regimen of music discovery for now.
So, since C.M. Wilcox and I have done it. I would like all of you to do the same. Turn on your radio for thirty minutes and come back here and report what you’ve heard. We can commiserate. It’ll be fun.
On my local New Country (and they take that slogan to heart) KUSS 95.7 (I won’t touch KSON 97.3 with a ten foot pole), this is what I heard (Thurs. 7:15-7:45pm):
Carrie Underwood, “The More Boys I Meet”
Zac Brown Band, “Whatever It Is”
Keith Urban, “I Told You So”
Rascal Flatts, “Here Comes Goodbye”
Brad Paisley, “Then”
Rodney Atkins, “These Are My People”
Gloriana, “Wild at Heart”
As expected, a totally brilliant line-up of promising new artists, past country greats and today’s superstars.
Surprisingly, the low point was Brad Paisley’s new song. Paisley is my favorite artist of those listed above, but wow, I don’t need to hear that one again.
Yeah, I’ll be reviewing that Paisley song, but I will say it’s a sleeper. I don’t think it could be the song Willman was talking about in his Huffington Post article.
Zac Brown, Chicken Fried
Alabama, If your gonna play in Texas
Toby Keith, God Love Her
Garth, Two of a Kind
Gloriana, Wild at Heart
Keith Urban, Your my Better Half
Brooks and Dunn, Girl In It
I have been in meeting all week and unable to listen to the radio at work like I usually do…who is Gloriana?? I only missed 4 days.
“I don’t think it could be the song Willman was talking about in his Huffington Post article.”
It wasn’t…Willman identified the song he was talking about as the title track from Brad’s upcoming album, “American Saturday Night.”
As an NYC-er, I don’t have a local country station on terrestrial radio, so I can’t contribute something on topic…sorry!
On my way home from work (a 30 minute drive) I tuned in to KMLE 107.9 here in Arizona and this is what I heard (at least what I remember):
“Sweet Thing” Keith Urban
“Don’t” Billy Currington
“White Horse” Taylor Swift
“River of Love” George Strait
“When the Sun Goes Down” Kenny Chesney
“I Told You So” Carrie Underwood w/ Randy Travis
That radio station is very current, as you can tell. I preferably like to listen to XM but for some reason I didn’t turn it on tonight.
But I have yet to hear Gloriana on XM or regular radio! I’m a bit upset with that!
I “station surf.” I can get a couple stations in clearly (sometimes 3 if its clear weather), so if i dont like the song one is playing, i change. a few nights ago (tuesday night i think), around 8 pm, i heard “I Told you so” back to back to back..sort of…Keith Urban’s song, then Carrie’s remake, then the Randy Travis Original.
Gord Bamford – “Little Guy”
Steve Holy – “Good Morning Beautiful”
Alan Jackson – “Sissy’s Song”
Toby Keith – “She Never Cried in Front of Me”
Johnny Reid – “Darlin'”
Keith Urban – “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me”
Billy Currington – “People Are Crazy” (my first time hearing)
They really need to mix things up more. The first five are fairly slow songs. And not surprisingly, I’m not crazy about any of the songs, although “Darlin'” is pretty good.
Kent! You’re listening to Cool 100 in Belleville, Ontario! This is the oddest coincidence ever. I’ve been tracking songs for the exact same half hour.
I listened to WDGG 93.7 The Dawg, out of Huntington, West Virginia instead of the station I work for (I didn’t want to make them look bad, and it’s a good thing.) They started with Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts (seriously!) Here’s what else they played:
Taylor Swift – White Horse
Rascal Flatts – These Days
Kellie Pickler – Best Days of Your Life
(then about 10 minutes of talk about giving away tickets to see Elmo and a bunch of commercials)
George Strait – I Saw God Today
Trace Adkins – Marry for Money
Alan Jackson – It’s 5:00 Somewhere (with Buffett)
… and now I remember why I don’t listen to the radio.
Ok, WCOL (92.3) in Columbus, has played in the last half hour —
Brooks & Dunn – Put a Girl In It
John Rich – Shuttin Detroit Down
Rascal Flatts – Me & My Gang
Taylor Swift – White Horse
Gary Allan – Watching Airplanes
Trace Adkins – You’r Gonna Miss This
Jason Aldean – She’s Country
Kenny Chesney – There Goes My Life
And people wonder why I only listen to the radio in the morning for traffic……
KNIX, the station I listen to here in Phoenix, is awesome! Here is what I heard in 30 minutes…
“Brand New Man”- Brooks & Dunn
“Find Out Who Your Friends Are”- Tracy Lawrence wit Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney
“Sweet Thing”- Keith Urban
“It Must Be Love”- Alan Jackson
“If You’re Going Through Hell”- Rodney Atkins
“One Way Ticket”- LeAnn Rimes
“It Won’t Be Like This For Long”- Darius Rucker
“Something More”- Sugarland
“What Hurts The Most”- Rascal Flatts
Well I listened at peak traffic time, 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM, to WPOC-93.1 in Baltimore.
I heard the following:
Gretchen Wilson – “Redneck Woman”
Darius Rucker-” Don’t Think I Don’t About It”
Tim McGraw- ” Live Like You Were Dying”
Lady A. -” I Run To You”
Rascal Flatts- ” God Bless The Broken Road”
Rodney Atkins-” It’s America”
I like the Rucker song to some degree. And if I had to listen to Rascal Flatts( I mean if the Nazis were forcing me to listen in a sealed room)then “Broken Road” would be the only one I could stand before I begged for my life. But most of it just appeals to the lowest, cheapest form of country music. The Atkins song is so bad I find it disrespectful. And Lady A. song is not even country.
I listened to Los Angeles radio station KKGO 105.1 – from 5:02 p.m. to 5:32 p.m. I guess I came in during a 40 minute music set – so, I was suprised to hear as many songs as I did. It wasn’t bad – it wasn’t great. Here we go – “Don’t” by Billy Currington – “She Wouldn’t Be Gone” by Blake Shelton – “Nothin’ To Die For” by Tim McGraw. – “It Happens” by Sugarland. – “I Told You So” by Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis. – “Dust On The Bottle” by David Lee Murphy. – “Nothin’ To Lose” by Josh Gracin. The last 5 minutes was a traffic report and commercials. The challenge for me was to not switch stations for 30 minutes!
Ha, Annie, I kept leaving the room during my half hour, I have to admit.
Leeann – when I’m home I listen to “Music Choice” on my t.v. I have Time Warner cable, and there is a classic country station that is just great. I also listen to the bluegrass station. I’m never even tempted to change channels, and I’m always happy with what I hear! {I could never say that about the radio}. Whenever I listen to the radio – I am constantly changing stations. Let’s put it this way – no one like to ride in the car with me!
KKGO 105.1 L.A. (6:55-7:25 PM):
“Ladies Love Country Boys”–Trace Adkins
“Brothers”–Dean Brody
“Sold (Grundy County Auction Incident)”–John Michael Montgomery
“Sweet Thing”–Keith Urban
“The Dance”–Garth Brooks
“Still Cleanin’ This Gun”–Rodney Atkins
“All I Want To”–Sugarland
“Should’ve Said No”–Taylor Swift
Only Garth was anything to write home about, and even then, not much. Otherwise, it was the personification of what Linda Ronstadt said country music had devolved to–Mall Crawler Music.
Eric, I’m just impressed you did this. I wouldn’t have expected of you, if you know what I mean. Thanks for being a good sport.:) Interesting quote from Rhonstadt too.
I decided just to give it a whack. I really do appreciate country music. I only wish country radio still did. Instead, they are catering to the lowest common denominator.
Regarding Linda’s “mall crawler” comment–in an interview she gave to the now-defunct Country Music People magazine back in February 2003, as Rhino Records’ compilation “The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt” was out, Linda had mentioned that she felt country radio no longer respected either the traditional sounds she had grown up listening to, or the progressive styles she had espoused in her own music. That “mall crawler” comment of hers was fairly blunt, of course; but after 42 years in the business, Linda knows whereof she speaks, and she tends to be a very straight shooter.
I agree with Linda’s comment, but I don’t think “The Dance” is an example of it by any stretch. The song has been wildly overplayed, and lots of people (and by people, I mean the music video) have over-inflated the song’s thematic significance. But if it didn’t come with all of that annoying baggage – if it had been made famous by George Jones or someone, maybe in a slightly more traditional style – we would call it a classic without reservation.
I’m heading out to see my students in a basketball game, so I’ll take a pad and paper w/me and jot down what’s played in the car. This will be fun!
I actually think the same thing happened with Garth’s “The Thunder Rolls.” The video and third verse took it from a good song to something that’s considered very mello-dramatic now. In the song, there’s nothing about domestic violence, just an affair, but the video changed the way people think of the song.
From 98.7 WMZQ in Maryland between 12:35-1:05 PM
“Our Song” – Taylor Swift
“Don’t Think I Can’t Love You” – Jake Owen
“Small Town Southern Man” – AJ
“Here Comes Goodbye” – Rascal Flatts
“International Harvester” – Craig Morgan
“What About Now” – Lonestar
“Let It Go” – Tim McGraw
Coming on immediately as my half hour was up Dixie Chicks’ “Travellin’ Soldier”.
I can pull in country stations from Ocala, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Tampa and Winter Haven/Bartow and Vero Beach/Fort Pierce (plus some other country stations can sometimes be received). WPCV 97.5 in Bartow is easily the best of the bunch. Here’s what they played on my drive this afternoon from Winter Springs to Weirsdale (about 75 minutes)
Billy Currington “Must Be Doing Something Right”
Kenny Chesney “Don’t Blink”
Keith Urban “Sweet Thing”
Trace Adkins “Ladies Love Country Boys”
” ” “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”
Craig Morgan, “God Must Really Love Me ”
Kenny Chesney “Don’t Blink”
Garth Brooks “The Thunder Rolls”
George Strait “River of Love”
Alan Jackson “Here In The Real World”
John Anderson “Money In The Bank”
Keith Urban “Sweet Thing”
Rodney Atkins “It’s America”
Dierks Bentley – “Feel That Fire”
Michelle Wright “Take It Like A Man”
Toby Keith “God Love Her”
Darrell Worley “Sounds Like Life To Me”
Brad Paisley/Buck Owens “Come In Stranger”
This is what was on WKLB in Boston for during one half hour yesterday afternooon.:
-Dierks Bently’s Feel the Fire
– a song called “She’s More” (not sure of the singers on some of these..)
-Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “I Feel Lucky”
-Keith Urban’s “You’ll Think of Me”
-some song called “The Shake”
-and Jo Dee Messina’s “Bring on the Rain”
WKLB seems to have that “Shake” song on a constant loop…”shake it to the left, shake it to the right, come on baby you know what I like…” This is one of the reasons I’ve pretty much given up on “country” radio…but the station does have it’s moments, on more than a few occasions I have tuned in to be delightfully surprised by their playing Sara Evans’ “No Place that Far” and that counts for a certain degree of redemption.
And they seem proud of Boston area hometown girl Jo Dee Messina, and consequently give her a lot of airtime, which is cool.
I was also pleased to hear MCC’s I Feel Lucky…
Deirks and Keith were predictable, and seems in keeping with the pattern found on many of the other samples listed here…
Great topic Leeann :)
Here’s what I heard on XM’s Prime Country yesterday afternoon:
Reba McEntire, “I’d Rather Ride Around With You”
Travis Tritt, “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive”
Lionel Cartwright, “Leap of Faith”
Patty Loveless, “Lonely Too Long”
Kenny Chesney, “You Had Me From Hello”
Steve Wariner, “The Domino Theory”
Tim McGraw, “She Never Lets it Go To Her Heart”
Here’s what I heard on my favorite Country station coming home: 95.3 KRTY (Out of San Jose)
Address in the Stars – Caitlin and Will
That’s My Story – Colin Ray
It’s America – Rodney Adkins
Who Says You Can’t Go Home – Bon Jovi/Jennifer Nettals
What Would You Say – Trailor Chior
In a Different Light – Doug Stone
Down the Road – Kenny Chesney
Whose Bed have your Boots Been Under – Shania Twain
Papa Loved Momma – Garth Brooks
I Will – Jimmy Wayne
Amerillo Sky – Jason Aldeen
That was 45 minutes pretty much.
This is what I heard on WPCV 97.5 Lakeland Fl. from 10:00- 10:30 PM this evening
Jason Aldean “She’s Country”
Alan Jackson “Wanted”
Lady A “I Run To You”
Garth Brooks “Papa Loved Mama”
Love and Theft “Runaway”
Gretchen Wilson “Redneck Woman”
George Strait “River Of Love”
Shocking a half hour without Carrie, Taylor, Kenny, and Rascal Flatts.