Grading the Evolution: Our country's first all-EDM all-the-time radio station touches down in Boston
I
have an irrational love affair with electronic music. Most of my days
are spent perusing the scenes of cities I've never been to -- London,
Berlin, Tokyo -- attempting to stay abreast on movements that I'm not a
part of. On a national scale, I've remained cautiously optimistic in
regards to the whole EDM boom, with my (admittedly selfish) hope being
that some of these kids drawn to the arena-sized spectacle will
eventually catch on to some wayward shit and DJs that I adore will
garner bigger bookings as a result. Here in Boston I've remained a bit
of an outsider having just moved to the city a couple years ago. But I
have nothing but respect for the city's promoters, working tirelessly
against our puritanical club restrictions to provide world class talent
night in and out. This past year in particular has seen a palpable boom
in exceptional draws.
All
of this to set up the wave of mixed emotions that nearly knocked me
from my chair upon hearing last night's late breaking news. In a bit of a
global/national/local world's colliding scenario, media conglomerate Clear Channel have launched "the first real EDM station in the country" right here in Boston.
(On the 101.7 frequency that our WFNX station used to call home
nonetheless. Curious and somewhat ironic, but of little consequence to
this story. We're still kicking.) At 6 pm, the previous placeholder (the oft-maligned Harbor)
played their final song (not surprisingly "Sweet Caroline") and then
made the switch over to the Evolution, a newly minted venture that has
existed only online since its inception six weeks ago.
My
initial reaction was one of confusion. There's no more denying the EDM
craze. It's permeated nearly every facet of our popular culture, from our awards ceremonies to our search engine commercials.
And admittedly, it already possesses a rather monolithic grip on our
mainstream radio airwaves -- with popular acts ranging from Chris Brown
to Taylor Swift to Muse all shamelessly jacking cues from glitzy electro
and milquetoast wub. People who listen to Kiss 108 and programming of
that ilk are essentially listening to sugar-coated EDM stations. In that
regard, the move was a no brainer.
But
why the big rollout for Boston? From that above linked Globe article:
"Dylan Sprague, Clear Channel's operations manager in Boston, said the
city's appetite for electronic dance music, known as EDM, makes it an
ideal setting for a broadcast station devoted to the genre." OK, but
what about New York or Miami or Los Angeles? Those cities are far more
accommodating of the movement. The summer festival circuit
proves as much. And I suppose the only rational explanation is that this is a trial run. Boston being only the 10th biggest radio market in the
country provides a low risk scenario where if things don't pan out,
Clear Channel can always just push a button and revert back to Gin
Blossoms and Sheryl Crow.
But
this being an early review, enough with the logistics. More important
is whether or not this station is something that the fine folks reading
this blog -- all with acute musical tastes and little time for bullshit
-- should care about. And not to be all wishy-washy, but the jury is
still out on that one.
The clear centerpiece of the station's programming is Pete Tong, the BBC Radio 1 luminary
who will be handling the 7-9 pm nightly timeslot on the Evolution.
Sometimes derided for being a flip-flopper -- a single glance at his
weekly playlists reveals an eclectic range of selections, from relative
drivel like Swedish House Mafia and Avicii to boundary challenging
mainstays like Todd Terje and Scuba -- Tong doesn't exercise much of a
currational filter. Cynics may look upon this and question why, if he has
a pulse on underground, doesn't he stick to that territory. He can
clearly discern the difference between pop-baiting nonsense and
forward-thinking material (as could most with ears), so why waste time
with the former?
Being
the eternal optimist that I am however, I have a bit of a different
outlook on the situation, immediately realized during my car ride home
from work last night. In immediate succession, Tong played a song by David Guetta, a song by the Claptones, and a remix of a Hot Chip song by Sasha.
For those keeping score, that's a throwaway tune of the utmost
proportions, followed by one that I generally geek out to if I hear it
played out, followed by something that I hadn't heard before but fully
endorse. And therein lies Tong's wonder. The Mahatma Gandhi of this
electronic game, extending an olive branch to all corners of the
spectrum. It all hearkens back to my first paragraph really; my hope
being that someone flipping through the dial may pause on 101.7 because
they hear a Guetta song that they like and therefore be exposed to a song like "Regrets" (also played by Tong last night and one of my favorite tunes of 2012). A minor but consequential step in the right direction.
The
remaining 22 hours of daily programming is what I'm still undecided on
though. Immediately following Tong's show, they launched into a mix that
kicked off with Cajmere's "It's Time for the Percolator,"
an all-time classic house number and something I never in a million years could envision hearing on terrestrial radio. I had to tune out at that point, but it seemed to
suggest that the evening will afford a freerange platform, with some
eclectic and worthwhile stuff popping up during the time of evening
where people like to get a little weird. For shits, I set my alarm clock
last night so that I'd wake to the sounds of the Evolution. And at 9 am
on the dot, I woke to the sounds of an electro
drill to the head, indicating that the drive-time, afternoon hours may stray closer
to the top 40 territory.
It's
all worth keeping an eye on. There's a serious opportunity to break
barriers here, even if most who would really care about said barriers
being broken haven't listened to the radio in years. Common sense seems
to suggest that the triple-chinned Clear Channel fat-cats would be more
concerned with this thing succeeding and expanding the venture to other
areas, which would mean playing it safe and giving the drooling masses what they
want. But that eternal optimist in me is hoping for far more impactful
gains.