97X - Bam! The Future of Rock And Roll

This is a topic I've written about or mention a few times before on this blog - how much classic rock radio sucks in New York. If you're between the ages of let's say 27 - 40 and were into music you probably spent a good amount of your high school days listening to classic rock radio. 102.7 WNEW was my personal fave - they played great classic rock (the obvious stuff and what now radio programmers have dubbed "deep cuts" as well as great new music). This was the station that was the inspiration for The Velvet Underground's song "Rock And Roll". It's also the station that I happened to first hear Phish on too back around the time that Hoist came out.

Anyway over the course of the last 10 or so years radio went through some weird times. First New York lost it's classic rock stations to the mid-90s sensation known as alternative music. When programmers finally came to their sense they came back with a watered down version of what we used to have - resorting to playlists and thinking that somehow we wanted to hear the same songs repeated over and over again. So what's my point with all of this? Well after hearing about HD Radio and that it was streamed over the internet I decided to check it out. So for the last few hours I've been listening to Q104.3's HD broadcast and have to say I'm pretty impressed with it so far. If you don't have the money to pony up for satellite radio this is definitely a great alternative. The mix of tunes has been pretty solid. Sure there is some crap like Bon Jovi, but at least it's not "You Give Love A Bad Name". Here's a sample of what I've heard today...

Frank Zappa - Peaches En Regalia
ZZ Top - Have Mercy/Jesus Left Chicago
The Beatles - Lovely Rita
The Doors - Love Here Madly
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Katmandu (Live)
CSN&Y - Wooden Ships
Elton John - The Bitch Is Back
Steely Dan - some song that wasn't Reelin In The Years or Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Grateful Dead - Uncle John's Band
Edgar Winter - Free Ride
Neil Young - My, My, Hey, Hey
Motley Crue - Home Sweet Home
Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown

Ok sure this isn't a groundbreaking playlist, but if it's definitely better what they usually play.

Does this make me want to go out and purchase an HD Radio receiver? No. It does give me hope that maybe commercial radio might have a future though. Read all about HD Radio here. Here's a link to Q104.3's HD stream, which also links you to other HD broadcasts.