I’ve made a bit of a change in my radio listening habits. All of the intense listening I did of talk radio up to the Presidential election has burned me out on the format for a little while. Oh, I still eagerly listen to Sirius satellite radio, as I will never go back to the cookie cutter crap that’s populating “local” radio these days, but I’m listening more to the dance music stations and less to the talk stuff. I do enjoy OutQ as well, but sometimes all gay radio can be a little too much gay.
My favorite music station on Sirius is Sirius 66, The Beat. It reminds me of my old radio Program Director days of Wow FM, “The Beat of Central New York.” Looking back, I realize that Wow FM was way too clubby for the market it served (and probably way too gay as well), but boy was it fun to explore new club music. It’s ironic, but as Wow FM became more accepted by mainstream listeners, the less fun it was to pick out music for the format. Listeners would expect more MTV-esque music and less edgy club music you couldn’t hear elsewhere.
Sirius 66 sticks to the clubby stuff.
They’ve been playing a song for the past couple of weeks that I have absolutely fallen in love with. It’s your typical 123-125 beats per minute dance tune with lead female vocalist, but I find the song so damn catchy. It’s called ““Get Up Stand Up” by the Stellar Project, featuring Brandi Emma. Brandi’s vocals are very similar to the lead vocals (by Jan Johnston) on B.T’s “Remember”, one of my favorite songs of all time. The lyrics actually have meaning, at least to me, and they’re not all angry and rappy. The song actually makes me feel good and lifts my spirits. I don’t know if the song is being played on local radio stations, but damn, I’m glad it’s on Sirius 66. I’m also glad its on iTunes!
In fact, listening to all this dance music has inspired me to publish my first iMix on iTunes. I have no desire to be a radio program director again, but once in a while I do long for the chance to spin some high energy and retro tunes in a club. Until the opportunity comes along, I’m going to share some iMixes on iTunes.
