CARLTON FLETCHER: Classic Rock should not be stuck on repeat

Hey, Mr. DJ, keep playing this song for me.

— Backstreet Boys

On the way to work this last week, I heard — back-to-back — the Sanford Townsend Band’s “Smoke From a Distant Fire” and the Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B” on the radio. I was overjoyed.

Also in the last few days, I’ve heard Charlie Daniels’ “Uneasy Rider,” Loudon Wainwright III’s “Dead Skunk” and the Kinks’ “A Well-Respected Man.”

I heard all of these songs on Moultrie-based “oldies” station “Cruisin’ 94,” 93.9 on the FM radio dial.

In the last few days, I’ve also heard parts of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Little Sister,” the Eagles’ “New Kid in Town,” the Stones’ “Satisfaction” and Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” … four times.

I heard these songs on Albany-based “Rock 103,” 103.5 FM.

(Note: I gave up Sirius/XM when I changed vehicles. My CD player swallowed a disc whole — Elton John’s “Duets” — and I can’t play anything on it or get the eaten disc out. My colleague Brad offered to install a new system in the car, but I’m waffling about keeping old paint and don’t want to install a new system for someone else. Thus, I listen to good, old-fashioned terrestrial radio, which is cool. I’m not a snob; all I care about is hearing music while I’m driving.)

I generally listen to four stations while I’m local — the aforementioned pair, iheartradio 97.3 FM (especially mornings when Elvis Duran is on the air … love me some Elvis) and WEGC Mix 107.7. It’s one of those music geeky fun challenges to alternate between the stations to find the best song playing at any given time, although I am partial to the stuff on Cruisin’ 94 and Rock 103.

That’s kinda the genesis of this column.

Cruisin’ 94 tells its listeners upfront that it plays “music of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.” Rock 103’s domain is music of the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, ’00s and ’10s — Classic Rock — with some of the latest rock releases thrown into the mix.

Now I know the radio business has changed dramatically over the last two or three decades. Some “wacky” yahoo sitting in a room spinning 45s for the masses is a business model whose time has come and gone. Most radio broadcasts these days are either syndicated (with the on-air “personality” located in Bumcastle, Egypt-somewhere, playing for an audience based on the number of stations willing to pay syndication fees) or recorded in advance for playback during prescribed “shift” hours.

One of my least-favorite things about this new world radio order: When personalities give you the impression they’re “looking out the window at the rain coming down on Slappey Drive” when in actuality they’re in Pennsylvania-somewhere and have never even been to the city where their broadcast is on air. That’s why you don’t get a real live human being when you call in to complain about hearing “Frankenstein” the fourth day in a row.

(Speaking of “Frankenstein,” I gave said colleague, Brad, grief a few weeks back when he complained in a column about that song and some others … I remember Boston was in there somewhere … saying he never wanted to hear them again. Well, since my CD player went kaput and I’ve had to listen to local radio, I’ve heard “Frankenstein” so many times on Rock 103, I cringe and immediately change stations when it comes on now. Damn you, Brad! Damn you, Edgar Winter!)

The point of all this ranting, which I know has become circuitous, is that real Classic Rock is great music that has withstood the test of time. Hearing a song from 1968 and another from 1972 more than 40 years after they were released should be a treat. (See the “Smoke,” “Sloop,” “Skunk” references above.) When you hear the same set of songs over and over, though, you might as well be listening to some cosmic Top 40 station, not some station that’s going to surprise you by playing some forgotten gem you haven’t heard since your senior prom.

Cruisin’ 94, I think, gets that. Rock 103, unfortunately, doesn’t.

Don’t tell me you’ve got 65 years worth of songs to choose from, and the best you can do is “Frankenstein” and other songs that are indeed classics but are stuck on a repeat hell, where they get recycled every day or two. Like Groucho said, “I love cigars, but I take them out of my mouth every now and then.” Or something like that.

If I were a programmer (and I should have been; it’s probably the only thing I could do well), and I had an hour’s worth of time — minus 10 minutes for ads — and the free rein that Classic Rock provides, I’d play “The Israelites” by Desmond Dekker & the Aces, “Rain” by the Beatles, “Going to California” by Zeppelin, “Cry to Me” by Solomon Burke, “Ronnie” by Metallica, “Mother and Child Reunion” by Paul Simon, “Whipping Post” by the Brothers, “Hotel Illness” by the Black Crowes, “Rain Dance Maggie” by the Peppers, “Romeo’s Tune” by Steve Forbert and “Black” by Pearl Jam.

Hey, I’ve got an hour two, an hour three, an hour four and an hour five cued up and ready to go as well. And there are no repeats. And no “Frankenstein.”

You’re welcome.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.