My favorite internet station for playing this music is RichBroRadio. After being on the air (web) for around ten years Rich signed off when he moved recently from San Diego to Tucson (obviously for the weather). During that time I sampled lots of other '60s stations and they either played the same twelve songs, or they played 12,000 songs (most of which no one has ever heard of -- even the artists who recorded them), or had as many commercials as terrestrial stations, or had amateur presentations, or played Tiny Tim.
Yes, there's satellite radio, and their '60s channel is good (especially when Pat St. John is on during middays) but there are times of the week you have to suffer through Cousin Brucie. That's like putting a power drill to your ear.
Happily, RichBroRadio is back on the air. If you want a great variety of oldies, some "oh wow" songs you haven't heard in years but actually remember, vintage radio jingles, a slick and professional presentation, and no Cousin Brucie this station is for you. Just log on here.
You'll have fun fun fun until daddy takes the Wifi away.
28 comments :
Thank you for the recommendation! I'll have to check out RichBoRadio.com. The Sixties are my favourite decade for music, but it is so hard finding a good station that plays music from that era.
So glad to hear of someone else who can't stomach Cousin Brucie. Yuck!
Out of idle curiosity: some time ago this blog carried a story about small-time internet stations being forced off-air through high license/royalty fees. A commenter may have mentioned that no-one remembered to file the exemption. What happened about that?
The Fifties are completely underrated for their mix of rockabilly, doo-wop, race records, and even some of the actual singers.
Elvis, Chuck Barry, Rick Nelson, The Everly Brothers, Eddie Cochran, Ray Charles, The Coasters, The Platters - that's superb music across the board and only a fraction of what was going on. There was a marriage of so many styles.
Meanwhile the Sixties, independent of The Beatles and the British Invasion, was amazing music in large part because you had a confluence of songwriters and musicians that has never happened before or since. The Wrecking Crew did scores of listenable music that has never been surpassed. And Motown and Muscle Shoals,with their musicians, singers and writers, were as good as we have ever seen in black music.
Mass manufacturing of music in the decades after that and the waning importance of the songwriter and backup musicians means that it is unlikely you will hear that general quality of music ever again.
When I saw Frankie Valli in concert, he said 50's and 60's songs were the greatest musical era and that music from decades since wasn't as good. Then he proved it by singing all of his 70's hits.
Just one or two would've been enough. He could've skipped his other 70's hits and had time to sing more of the great songs he did in the 60's (and 50's).
I sometimes use an ap called radio tunes. They have all genres. They have 3 different oldie channels. 60's hits, Classic Rock, and Oldies
RichBro is great. I've listened to it on and off for about three years. He plays mainly songs that hit the top 40.
If you like the 60s and 70s, but songs that hit the top 100 (that is, some songs from the "back of the box") I also recommend the Retro Attic (http://www.retroatticrareoldiesradio.com/). The owner of this site has recently started incorporating top 40 music into the playlist. But he plays a lot of music that may have been regional hits or songs that hit the charts, just not the top ten.
Another great online oldies station is based on one of the more popular stations in in my area that was huge back in the 60s till early/mid 70s, WIXY. Wixy1260online.com. Love RichBroRadio.com. Unfortunately, due to the new copyright fee formula lot of the ones I've listened to have gone dark or have started running a commercial or two which sorta bums me out. As long as they don't start playing one song and then break for 12 to 16 commercials in a row, I'll keep listening online.
Hey, I listened to Cousin Brucie during my teens and he was all right.
RE: hearing the same songs over and over again: the idea was new and different in 1965 when Top 40 was just starting out and the songs were fresh, but when you apply tight playlists to classic rock or oldies that, by now, have been played thousands of times...yawn...Even satellite radio has tight playlists -- on a recent three-hour car trip I heard the same songs going out as I did coming back two days later. A friend of mine put it best: "75 years of rock and roll and we keep getting the same 100 songs."
have listened to richbro for years. i guess i learned about it here or via mark evanier.
very happy to know it's back!
I was at KHJ in the early 70s with Robert W Morgan, Don Steele, Humble Harve etc. Pat St. John would've fit into that line up perfectly ( if Jacobs would've let him talk ). He's a Hall of Fame jock
In Chicago, MeTV (which specializes in older TV shows) launched a radio station, MeTV-FM. They play top 40 hits from the 60s-80s, album cuts and requests. I love the fact that they play songs that I haven't thought about in 40 years. My jaw drops when I hear things like "Master Jack" by Four Jacks and a Jill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG_wA8RxKOQ
I thought I was the only one who couldn't stand the way Cousin Brucie comes off!
Back in the day like 1969 I could pick him up from NY WABC am to southern Ind. He was ok but you couldn't take him for long. Now it's worse.
I'm going to echo what Wendy T. (and you, of course, Ken) said about Cousin Brucie. I tune into the 60s station on Sirius XM and hear his voice and I tune right back out. It wouldn't be so bad if he just introduced the songs but he talks so much and his voice is just grating.
Cousin Brucie was my favorite DJ growing up (although in my brief time in radio I didn't sound anything like him). But, honestly, I think it's a New York thing - I'm not sure he travels well.
I don't mind Cousin Brucie and his folksiness. He reminds me of a DJ named Dale Summers, who used the name Sak Bojak on Old Gold 77 in Seattle back in the 80s. He had a lot of anectdotes about old tunes.
"Good Morning Vietnam" is a fine film, but the music supervisor picked the "oldies" that would sell in 1997 rather than the full range of music Adrian Cronauer really played, which would have been more eclectic.
Richbro was on Tune In but isn't there now. I tried downloading the ap but it would download
Oh shuuure..... first you get me hooked on Rockit-Radio (with live radio and podcasts done by many of the dj's you have discussed here).....now you're dangling ANOTHER tasty treat in front of this aging rock'n'roll animal.....more please. ;^)
And for those who might want to rock, check iyt out:
http://www.rockitradio.net/
Keep on chooglin'!
Was Cousin Brucie always so insufferable? As a kid listening to him in the 60s he seemed like fun, "Pillow Talk Club" and all. Now when I hear him in my 50s on Satellite Radio I want to slit my wrists. He sounds so freakin' put on, and these dolts that call in seem clueless. WTF?
Now why you may ask, why don't I just switch the station? My wife tends to like the Cousin's faux kitch, so I sit in the car and suffer - for about 5 minutes, which is when I suggest (demand?) we punch up another station. Fortuantely, by this time, she's about had it, too. Give me Dan Ingram any day of the week. Bummed he's not on anywhere. But who can blame him as he counts his cash on some exotic island somewhere. Dan! I beg you! Save us! :-D
Rich Bro Radio - great as is Allan Sniffen's, "Rewound Radio" - he puts a lot of work into it. I dug Howard Hoffman's incredible music channel as well. All good. It's amazing what's out there. Between all these Internet stations and Youtube, you don't need a music collection - just about everything is there. "Rewound Radio" gets another plus, it's out of hometown, Tarrytown, NY...
http://tunein.com/radio/Rewound-Radio-s121953/
Do I remember correctly you mentioned this station before? Wherever I got it from long ago, I believe it is indeed the best "oldies" station available, period. It's really the only one I can tolerate for any decent length of time. Rich Bro was the inspiration for my own online station I had going on Radionomy for a while except I leaned my mix more toward the 1950s. If I can bring it back next spring as I hope, I'll have to drop by here again for a free plug. ;^)
'75 years of rock and roll?' Wow! I'm diggin' some of those crazy sounds from 1941!
RichBroRadio is gone again the stream has been down for close to a month with no word as of 8/16/18. I’m just as concerned if Rich Robbin is OK. It was the best station for the 50’s and 60’s with a well thought out playlist. If it doesn’t return, that will be sad. I was lucky to hear the last few hours when it just stopped and that was it. Rich did a great service. Nothing else quite fills the bill.
He hopes to be back by next week. He has had technical issues. But they seem to be resolved. I will let you know in my blog when he is back.
Like some one else here I tried downloading the mobile ap. Didn't work.
I am glad to see Rich Brother Robbin will be back. I hope he'll also bring back his main home page so he can put up information to let us know if the station is down.
In the meantime -- and not by any means saying this is better as it's a different take on the oldies format that also skews toward older songs -- if you see my comment above, it took just over a year from when I posted that but I did get my own station running again. It's officially licensed through the resurrected Live365 and there's no commercials. Maybe this will keep you happy until Robbin returns.
https://kohosoradio66.com/
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