Ponytail Picks #38 - Radio
You’re tuned into 105.9 PYCK, your choice for cultural suggestions. Don’t touch that dial!
LISTEN
Radio revelations
I still regularly listen to the radio while driving to and from work and around town. Not sure if this makes me in the minority or not—any other short term radio listeners out there? There are a few different reasons why I do so, but I think for me it comes down to convenience. Setting up a device and choosing songs from my music library that perfectly fit how I’m feeling in the moment feels like too much work to do just for a quick 15 minute drive to work.
My go to is my local CBC Music station, which plays a nice mix of likeable indie rock and pop during my commute while also featuring an eclectic collection of specialty programs that dive deeper into specific genres, eras, and cultures of music at other times.
One cool and surprising experience I’ve had with radio over the past little while has been new (new at least for me) music discovery. I don’t use streaming services and so radio has turned out to be one of my main ways to find new music besides social media or word of mouth. Here are a few tracks that I heard for the first time on the radio in my car that became quick favourites:
Gabrielle Shonk - “How We Used to Be”
Does anyone else get strong Andy Shauf vibes from this one? The creaky piano, the warm acoustic guitar, the gentle drum and bass groove, the descending notes featuring some type of woodwinds after the chorus. Loved it immediately upon hearing it and Shonk’s gorgeous vocals, especially on the dreamy chorus, cemented it as a new favourite in my music library. The music video is pretty cool too:
Leith Ross - “(You) On My Arm”
An instant earworm with Ross’ easy melodies floating overtop a rolling bassline-driven groove, giving way to a wildly catchy chorus, with cute lyrics to boot:
I’d be better armed if you agreed to take it
My wife Rachel and I grew to love this song so much that we included it as the song we walked out to at our wedding!
Hayden - “On a Beach (feat. Feist)”
Speaking of weddings and all that lovey-dovey stuff, I heard this song on the radio at some point during Rachel and I’s engagement and immediately sent her a link to it on Spotify saying something along the lines of “did I just find our honeymoon theme song?”
Interestingly, and fittingly, I don’t think we listened to it as much on our California road trip honeymoon as we did in the weeks leading up to it. In the midst of all the stress of work and moving and wedding planning, I think it became sort of a hypnotic, light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel, yearning-for-escape mantra for both of us, much like how it’s portrayed in this excellent music video (featuring Steve Buscemi of all people!).
The Beaches - “Blame Brett”
And to make sure I’m not just catering to the caught-up-in-love crowd on here, here’s the latest catchy single that caught my ears on CBC Music, the hilariously specifically-titled “Blame Brett” (RIP Brett, whoever you are), a blistering break-up anthem that’s fun to sing along to no matter your relationship status.
-JB
LISTEN
Stations still worth a tune-in
Video didn’t kill the radio star, and although you could argue that the internet is delivering a slow death to the mass medium, a few minutes of commercial radio will show you that, in large part, they did it to themselves.
But there are still gems to discover on the airwaves, and thanks to that world wide web, you can listen in no matter where you live. Here are a few stations worth tuning into.
Alberta’s CKUA
Nothing dismantles the stereotypes of Alberta like the province-wide, donor-supported CKUA. Broadcast from two studios in Calgary and Edmonton, on 15 frequencies across the province, CKUA is old-school radio like nothing else in this country, offering everything from alt country and indie rock to ambient, classical, and jazz.
Best shows: Grant Stovel’s Alberta Morning (weekdays from 6:00-9:00 AM), Lisa Wilton’s Traffic Jams (weekdays from 3:00-6:00 PM), and Amy VanKeekan’s Far Out (Wednesdays from 6:00-8:00 PM).
Seattle’s KEXP
For independent music fans in the Pacific Northwest, few radio stations have the same level of clout as KEXP. From their DJ-curated playlists focusing on underground sounds to their legendary studio performances, the listener-powered, commercial-free station won’t fail to deliver something new to your ears.
Best Shows: Larry Mizzel’s The Afternoon Show (weekdays from 1:00-4:00 PM), 90.TEEN (Saturdays from 6:00-7:00 AM), and Audioasis (Saturdays from 6:00-9:00 PM).
Abbotsford’s CIVL
While going to school in Abbotsford, UFV’s college station, CIVL, kept my love for the medium alive. 10 years later and they’re still going strong thanks to longstanding DJs like Adam Roper and the station’s head, Aaron Levy. Keep it up, guys!
Best Shows: Joe Johnson’s Everything Indie (Monday from 5:00-6:00 PM), Adam Roper’s Birds of Canada (Tuesdays from 4:00-5:00 PM), and Bryson Worden’s The Block (Monday from 3:00-4:00 PM).
CBC Music
Previously known as Radio 2, CBC Music serves the larger city centres of Canada with a wide range of music styles, focusing primarily on the genres you won’t hear on commercial radio like indie, jazz, classic R&B, and classical. As Joel described above, it’s a nice reprieve any time you’re station surfing.
Best Shows: Rich Terfry’s Drive (weekdays from 4:00-7:00 PM), A. Harmony’s Marvin’s Room (Fridays from 6:00-7:00 PM, Sundays from 7:00-8:00 PM), and Damhnait Doyle’s Weekend Mornings (Saturday and Sunday from 6:00–9:00 AM).
-AK
READ
Ted Goia says you can thank George Lucas for classic rock radio.
I have mixed feelings about classic rock radio. Most of the time, my critique is the same one I have for all commercial stations—the lack of variety—but the failure seems most egregious in this genre. You have decades of music to choose from. Why play the same 20 artists over and over1?
At the same time, if it weren’t for Vancouver’s Rock 101, my only access to the music of the ‘60s and ‘70s would be my dad’s pretty limited CD collection, and any understanding of the ‘50s or ‘80s would be nonexistent. Like it or not, I have to credit my later explorations into these decades to the endless summers and Saturdays listening to Cheap Trick transition to Boston or The Cars while clipping roses bushes in the family greenhouse.
’s attitude to this trend is more bullish than mine2. But his article about how a movie’s early appeal to nostalgia helped set this retro-cycle in motion gives an interesting look under the hood of our culture’s media-machine.
-AK
This signal’s gone dead and “the radio waves are like snow”3. Cat-ch up with us in two weeks time as we hack up some ponytail hairball picks for you on the subject of
cats.
And not even the best ones!
I’ll blame his age.
Wolf Parade, “California Dreamer.” A former Ponytail Pick.
I do the same thing if I hop in the car for a little errand, like somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes. NPR is my go-to, and even that offers the occasional opportunity to discover some music (although mostly I just tune in for the news and conversations).
Definitely feeling the Andy Shauf vibe on that Gabrielle Shonk song. She’s new to me so thanks for the intro! And new music from Hayden!?! Awesome! His first 3-4 albums were on heavy rotation for me in the late 90s, early 2000s but he’s an artist that had pretty much dropped off my radar. Looking forward to giving his latest release a listen.