Maybe this is a regional thing, or perhaps the long arm of popular commercialized radio reaches into America's cities and scratches and aggravates the scabby wound we received from corporate sponsored radio. I am referring to the darwinian process of quasi-commercial free "blocks" of music.
In Los Angeles, this has come in a variety of forms, from the late Arrow 93.1 Classic Rock Block to the Seven Song Super Set; while KROQ (pop rock) plays the Block Party Weekend (now the New Rock Block Weekend, which is basically reserved box seats for bands with new albums coming out); Meanwhile, KLOS (classic rock) stays firmly planted in their rotation unless it's a Two-fer Tuesday or a holiday and they program in a "Rock and Roll A-Z Weekend," not to mention the daily 30 minutes of "Whole Lotta Led." Why Led Zepplin gets a half hour of the evening commute is beyond me, but every now and then, when they serve up a B-side of Communication Breakdown, it's worth it.
A year ago, Arrow 93.1 ("Classic Rock That Really Rocks") was replaced by a international radio phenomenon known as "JACK." If you aren't familiar with Jack, you're in luck, it's like a soulless, white business man who's dreamed of being an insult comic with an iPod shuffle plugged into a gold-plated radio transmitter. But considering this Canadian delicacy broadcasts to every inch of the nation, you probably have heard that snarky voice saying things like, "playing what we want," "these commercials don't play themselves," and my all time favorite, "you're called LISTEN-ers, not songpickers, we play what we want."
The Wikipedia has a fantastic entry on Jack FM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_FM
Besides JACK though, most pop radio stations have some sort of gimmicky radio block programming intended to make you think you're getting more than you are. The only time this was even remotely successful was during the Seven Song Super Set. Arrow93 really let it rip with some amazing seven song blocks, and with Classic Rock, when almost every good song is a 5 minute epic shred-fest, you know you're in for some good times. Freebird to Come Sail Away to Back in Black to Boston to Ragdoll(livin' in the city) to Killer Queen to the Boys are Back in Town by Thin LIzzy is truly some of the best modern radio has ever offered.
KROQ used to tout their 40 minutes of non-top KROQ, but they would interrupt their shitty Linkin Park flow with their shitty mid morning DJs talking about how to win tickets to go on a Green Day shopping spree. Now you're out 30 minutes and they've played two songs.
By far the most interesting of all is the Rock and Roll A to Z weekend that KLOS designed for it's holidays. You may be asking yourself the question- is it by band or by song? My dear listener, it's BOTH. You can listen to Pinball Wizard by The Who which segues into Who Made Who by ACDC. Girls Got Rhythm by ACDC into Anyway You Want It by Journey. The possibilities are endless and plentiful and rocktastically enjoyable.
I know that many radio stations include All Beatles programming on Sunday mornings and the Los Angeles based Indie103, our newest, bestest radio station, has DJs dedicating two hours to Metal or Techno or Alt Country or Latina music. But these are different species as they are hosted by someone that truly loves Metal and such; a connoisseur, if you will, which is decidedly different than the poor sap who has to press play on the next shitty ten minutes of Supertramp(Seriously, Supertramp sucks).
Perhaps my central question is this: Why do these rock blocks evolve so violently and so randomly? There was no reason to discard the Seven Song Super Set(or Arrow93 for that matter), nor was there a reason to make the Rock Block Weekend exclusive to only New Rock. Are these gimmicks or selling points? Is corporate controlled radio on it's last legs and will the pendulum swing back to it's independent roots(a la Indie103)?
One thing is for sure- I need a CD player in my car.
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