Buffalo Boy's Blog

In the endless pursuit for quality music listening experiences I was reading some comments on a recent post from Freddie P. He wanted to know what Toronto radio lacks. In case some of you are not familiar with the Toronto radio scene there have been a number of changes that have not necessarily gone over well over the years with radio listeners in TO.

We here in Buffalo are lucky as we get a number of the more powerful Toronto stations such as Q107 and CFNY 102.1 amongst others. CFNY has lost its luster starting with the loss of the Humble and Fred Show. It was cool for a while, Humble and Fred did MOJO Radio AM 640 so they were still around. But 102.1 lost its appeal. I have almost stopped listening to music on the radio which sucks because I feel I have not kept up with the "new" music scene.

So Freddie wants to know what would the Toronto radio listeners do differently with the state of radio in Toronto without bringing back the Humble and Fred Show.

Well there were a number of interesting responses and one of them, from a guy named Steve, included this alternative to radio, Radio Nigel. It is an interesting mix of 80's tunes that sounds very much like what you would have heard on the old school CFNY. My suggestion was a classic alternative format which I think is sorely needed. You could constantly add to the playlist as there is always new alternative rock coming out and let the fans of the old school pick what belongs on the classic list.

This is a sample playlist from Nigel Radio:

Thu 28th Aug,2008 02:26 pm

14:23:49 U2 - Wire

14:23:39 Bump H2 - Uncertainty

14:20:59 Iggy Pop - Im bored

14:15:44 Depeche Mode - Fly On The Windscreen

14:11:38 REM - Radio Song

14:08:19 Soft Cell - Down In The Subway

14:04:34 Devo - That's Good

13:59:04 The Smiths - This Charming Man(New York Vocal)

13:56:21 The Plimsouls - How Long Will It Take?

I've almost come to a point in my music listening life where I like what I like and I'm probably not going to experience much new stuff without being either very critical of it or just hating it for lack of adventure. I like music that sounds different or at least attempts to do stuff that no one has tried or at least no one else is doing at the time.

Don't get me wrong, I like some new stuff that has come out, The Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire and Hot Hot Heat are some examples of stuff I like now but I always find myself rediscovering the stuff from back in the day. Maybe because that stuff was so different then that it was ahead of its time. If you go back and listen to that old school CFNY stuff it still sounds fresh today because quite frankly, much of what comes out today all sounds so stale. Bands like Nickelback just don't do it for me. They are boring, watered down reruns of what Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden tried to pave the way for.

Its why I really don't listen to Buffalo radio. 103.3 The Edge is really loud guitar laden band after loud guitar laden band with little to no originality or attempt to play anything different from time to time. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of the guitar laden stuff but I like the INXS's, Cures and New Orders too.

One station I do enjoy is 92.9 Jack FM because at least on there, they try to give a variety and mix it up a little. You can hear Led Zepplin followed by Echo and the Bunnymen. Thats refreshing. Not too many stations around here can say they can do that.

So here is my question, which is much the same as Freddie's, what would anybody around Buffalo change about our radio scene? One thing I would do is get rid of the record industries influence and this playlist mentality that gets stations over playing certain songs just because they are big at any given time. One reason I do like Toronto/Canadian radio in general is they do have a larger selection to play on their stations so you don't hear songs 20 times a day.

The only requirement Canadian radio has had and I don't know if that is still the same is they have a Canadian content requirement that requires them to play 35% Canadian artist, which has helped the likes of Sam Robers, The Tragically Hip, Our Lady Peace and other bands acheive a degree of success in Buffalo and border cities in the US that they would not have had otherwise.

Have at it, let me know about your feelings about the Buffalo radio scene and go check out that Nigel Radio, its worth a listen.