The new CKIQ

So I guess the big news around town today is that the local radio station - Raven Rock has switched formats. It's now a "hits" station from its previous classic rock/WTF format.

I'm not kidding about the "What the Fuck?" format either. Raven Rock on the weekends is a deeply weird station that often feels like the music is being programmed by angry dwarfs with a grudge who didn't like any music past 1967, especially if had electric guitars. It remains to be seen if the new format will continue onto the weekend, or if the angry dwarfs will still rule the roost.

I can tell right now that I'm going to get tired of the phrase "The New CKIQ." Please God, let this not be like when the Conservatives kept calling themselves Canada's new government more than a year after they were elected. I think in this case a month will do. After that, you're no longer really that new.

This should actually be interesting. If Raven Rock really is going to be playing more hits, this is going to be the first time we're going to be exposed to what's "popular" on the radio in about five years. That would be around the time when I discovered that listening to my iPod while driving around St. John's was a better option than punching the radio in a desperate attempt to make it play something that didn't suck. Currently, I have no idea what's really popular. I remember being surprised last year when Katy Perry took off with "I kissed a girl". Not because I hated the song, just because it was so utterly....unremarkable. It was a very bland pop song to achieve that level of pop culture dominance.

I kind of miss liking pop music and Top 40...or at least caring passionately about it. There is something about being 12 or 13 years old and listening to American Top 40 on Saturday mornings and yelling at stupid people for not liking your favourite song as much as you, or why on Earth were people putting Duran Duran songs in the Top 10 all the time, when they were all style and no substance. Or even the joy that came with a song that you really, really liked hitting #1. By the way, the song I kind of look back with some sheepish amusement that I was so happy it hit #1? "Africa" by Toto. I really loved that song when I was 13.

I kind of miss liking a really good pop song. I appreciate that comes with being young and discovering music for yourself. I'm not really expecting anything like that with the new CKIQ.

So yes, the new CKIQ might prove to be a shock of cold pop splashed in my face. Although, as I listen right now, that might mean more Nickelback. God help me...

Last Five
1. Do you want to? - Franz Ferdinand
2. She blinded me with science - Thomas Dolby*
3. Dance, dance - Fall Out Boy
4. Under the red sky - Bob Dylan
5. 3 O'clock drunk - Sean Panting