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Thursday, January 29, 2015

Faye Gade, R.I.P.

There is a house at 1129 Hope Road in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. Behind that house, there is a shed, as many houses in Tinton Falls have. Next to that shed, there's a commercial FM antenna, and not many houses at all have one of those. Nor do they often have studio facilities in them.

Faye Gade, that house's owner, has passed away. From 1985 until 2000, that made her the owner of FM106.3.

(Yes, the station became FM106.3 in 1984, I'm getting to that.)

She let Rich Robinson take the reins of WHTG-FM's format in 1984, and when he brought in Mike Marrone as music director, she might not have realized she'd caught lightning in a bottle. She could have given up when her father, quite upset that his beautiful music station was now playing rock, tried to sell the station out from under her in 1985, but she didn't. She did everything in her power to make sure she could make the payments on loans she could barely afford (and still make payroll.) In fact, most people in radio would have simply run a format that didn't require that many people to pay, but not Faye. She wanted to own an eclectic rock station, and that's what she owned. In the world of today's radio, this simply would not have happened.

When, in 2000, she finally took an offer no sane person would have refused, and that payday came, it ultimately didn't matter that the station had been one of the best alternative rock stations that ever graced the planet. She had the signal, it was that signal that sold for an obscene sum, and I can't think of anyone that would ever have begrudged her that outcome. For 14 years beginning in late 2000, up 'til recently, she got to enjoy a fairly magnificent payday that she, quite frankly, earned.

But never forget that, regardless of what we who worked for her might have thought at the time, she simply allowed that station to be the station that it was, and for that, she should be remembered with honor.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Unwed Teenage Mothers – Nothing Will Ever Get Any Better







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TWO GALLANTS – INCIDENTAL








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The Wombats – Greek Tragedy








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The Prodigy – Nasty








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The Districts – 4th and Roebling







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Mounties – Headphones

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Brick + Mortar – Hollow Tune







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Amason – Duvan








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Monday, January 19, 2015

The Ting Tings – Do It Again








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The Dodos – Competition







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September Girls- Melatonin







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San Cisco – Run








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Pond – Elvis’ Flaming Star








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Nite Fields – You I Never Knew







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Mogwai – Teenage Exorcists








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Gang of Four: Broken Talk (ft. Alison Mosshart)







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Monday, January 12, 2015

Walking Shapes – Feel Good








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The Great Depression – Hey Go Easy (Serpentina)







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SPEAK – Gates








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Paul Kelly – Keep On Coming Back For More feat. Clairy Browne








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Mike Pace and the Child Actors – Summer Lawns








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Kid Moxie – Jacqueline The Ripper







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Hanni El Khatib – Melt Me (Explict)








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Glass Gang – I Will Save You From Love







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Darlings – I Love You Too







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Please Look At Our Advertisers (Or The Website Gets It)
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Welcome to Altrok.com, also available at AltrokRadio.com and AltrockRadio.com. Here's where the remaining listeners of several fine radio stations have retreated, regrouped, and built a replacement strong enough to stand on its own. It builds on the independent legacy of New Jersey's FM106.3, New York's WPIX and WLIR, Oklahoma's 105.3 The Spy, the pre-buyout mindset of KROQ, WBCN and WHFS and of every other alternative station that was destroyed at a moment's notice - not because they weren't making money, but because there was bigger money to be found elsewhere.
 
We've stood by as truly independent alternative rock radio died. Sure, something called "alternative" took its place, but we know for sure that anything that "tests well" with soccer moms just ain't alternative. (Even if some of us happen to be soccer moms.) So we've taken matters into our own hands.
 
This really is independent alternative rock radio, visible here at Altrok.com and audible at our web radio station. It has the classic music that fired our passions back in the day - or that we maybe only heard about from our elders - but it's mostly made of the new music that does precisely the same for us now. We're paying attention to scenes all over the world, watching the energy build, and waiting to see what it creates. Wherever it happens, we'll make sure you can hear about it here. We've been slowly building all this since 2001, and now that you've noticed us, we're glad you're here.
 
Of course, it's only here because you want it to be here, and it can only stay if you help it along - especially by checking out our advertisers (they support us) and by listening (the more that listen, the more visible we are.) Please use the "feedback" link above to let us know whether it works for you, and what you want it to be as the future unfolds. (And if you need help hearing it, let us know that, too.)