It seems the most popular entries around these parts lately have been about Toronto radio. It started when Martin Streek and Barry Taylor were fired at Edge 102, continued when I wrote about the problem with Jack FM and culminated in the birth of Kiss 92 where Jack once broadcast. All three entries seemed to bring out the commenters.
I've mentioned I actually liked the music mix at Jack. I also really like the music mix at Edge 102. I listened to a lot of Edge 102 today, in the shower, in the car running a few errands and even on the ol' home stereo. I was digging the playlist, pleased with just about every tune I heard during this Double Shot weekend.
For the heck of it, here are the artists played on 102.1 the Edge between noon and 7pm today. Beside each band / artist, I'm putting a YES to indicate I really like the choice, a NO to indicate I really don't like the selection and an OK if I can take them or leave them.
SILVERSUN PICKUPSYES ALEXISONFIREOK NINE INCH NAILSYES BILLY TALENTYES RADIOHEADYES PEARL JAMYES FRANZ FERDINANDYES LINKIN PARKYES KINGS OF LEONYES FOO FIGHTERSYES METRICYES RED HOT CHILI PEPPERSYES EMINEMYES GREEN DAYYES NIRVANAYES MGMTYES SILVERSUN PICKUPSYES SUBLIMEYES BILLY TALENTYES COLDPLAYYES SLOANYES STONE TEMPLE PILOTSYES GREEN DAYYES FRANZ FERDINANDYES WEEZERYES LINKIN PARKYES KILLERSYES THE TRAGICALLY HIPYES GREEN DAYYES RED HOT CHILI PEPPERSYES COLDPLAYYES FOO FIGHTERSYES EAGLES OF DEATH METALYES OUR LADY PEACEYES YEAH YEAH YEAHSYES BEASTIE BOYSYES BILLY TALENTYES WEEZERYES CITY AND COLOURYES FRANZ FERDINANDYES PEARL JAMYES METRICYES RED HOT CHILI PEPPERSYES NIRVANAYES NICKELBACKNO
I gave a YES to a resounding 95.5% of the bands I heard. Only 2% of the bands got a NO. That's pretty awesome, so what's the problem? The problem, according to this 7 hour snapshot, is repetition.
Only 30 of these bands are unique, or 66.7%. In fact, Billy Talent, Franz Ferdinand and Red Hot Chili Peppers each appeared in three different sets during this seven hour span. Considering every band is played back-to-back during Double Shot weekend, that's six songs from each band, which seems highly unnecessary.
102.1 the Edge is playing songs I want to hear, they're just repeating themselves more often than I'd like. But considering the current state of radio in this city, I'm just glad they haven't gone country... yet.
