New free-form station in Chicago

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From this Chicago Tribune article about it. Personally, I think it's promising, but I flat out do not listen to the radio anymore.

The songs played on Nine FM from 9:54 p.m. to 10:59 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17.

- Jimmy Eat World, "Pain"
- Beatles, "Come Together"
- LL Cool J, "Mama Said Knock You Out"
- Duran Duran, "Girls on Film"
- Moody Blues, "Gemini Dream"
- Live, "I Alone"
- Rufus Wainwright, "Across the Universe"
- Bruce Hornsby, "Look Out Any Window"
- John Fogerty, "Deja Vu (All Over Again)"
- Tears for Fears, "Shout"
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "MAPS"
- Talking Heads, "Psycho Killer"
- 311, "Down"
- Rage Against the Machine, "Bulls on Parade"
- Rolling Stones, "Tumbling Dice"
- U2, "Vertigo"
- Madonna, "Beautiful Stranger"

― john'n'chicago, Friday, 3 December 2004 02:11 (twenty-one years ago)

would wfmu have the balls to play 311? I DIDN'T THINK SO

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 3 December 2004 02:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i just tried to pull it in to no avail. shame, since johnny mars is their evening dj.

― john'n'chicago, Friday, 3 December 2004 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

johnny mars

Ah. Later on they'll have Paul Welter, Pete Shelby, Robert Smythe and Seezou See.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 3 December 2004 02:29 (twenty-one years ago)

ha! true. if that playlist is any indication (it was during his slot), he seems to have branched out a bit...

― john'n'chicago, Friday, 3 December 2004 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I just discovered this station yesterday at work -- it's the only non-Spanish language FM station my damn boombox can get, for some reason. Technotronic, Snow Patrol, Huey Lewis & the News, Madonna, Franz Ferdinand, Culture Club...sort of a bizarre mixture of the Mix, Q101 and WXRT with an '80s fixation. "We'll play anything" is their motto. With 94.7 stuck on a rotation of about 100 songs by Guns 'n' Roses, Metallica, Led Zeppelin and the current crop of "heavy" shitrock bands like Korn, P.O.D., etc., and Q101 not that far behind, it's nice to have something resembling an alternative, even one as non-obscure as this.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 3 December 2004 03:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmm, not bad. I like Johnny Mars. Is he not on WXRT anymore?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 3 December 2004 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I am more than a little thrilled about this. I hope the "We Play Anything" format catches on; moreover, I hope the DJs have considerable personal latitude to determine the "anything" and return to their rightful roles as Tastemakers Of The Universe.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Wow! Free-format white music!

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Just getting the racism charge out of the way.

I guess LL is about it for diversity.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Getting it in the way, no?

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Just getting the racism charge out of the way.

*kowtows*

I don't think overly much of the selection listed above myself but I don't recall you becoming my conscience at any point.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I perch on your shoulder with devil's horns.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:53 (twenty-one years ago)

To be honest, I dont care that much about that station; there is plenty of racism etc. going on in radio as it is, no need for me to pile on this one. So I'm not going to start some big argument about it.

But I figure it should be thrown out there. I suppose this may be the time I mention that there is one woman on the list too (and one band that has a woman).

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:56 (twenty-one years ago)

er, two bands, forgot about the Talking Heads.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Ned plz dont hate me.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:58 (twenty-one years ago)

i wouldn't call that playlist freeform by any stretch; it's more like hits and emphasis tracks from a variety of pop/rock genres and eras. still, it's probably way preferable to your average rock station.

there're several wfmu djs who'd play 311 if the moment and the segue were right, and wfmu would laugh at the 3,400-song playlist these guys are boasting about.

of course fmu would be a miserable failure as a commercial station, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to compare a commercial station to them.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 3 December 2004 05:06 (twenty-one years ago)

but hey, i just noticed one of their frequencies is WRZA-FM! they should play all RZA, all the time, on that one. or he should be their only dj.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 3 December 2004 05:08 (twenty-one years ago)

When the typical commercial station in Chicago plays a steady diet of the same 200 songs, 3400 seems like a big improvement. Comparing this to 'FMU is silly. Chicago has several v. good college stations in WZRD, WHPK, WNUR and WLUW, all of whom don't rely on commercials like 'FMU, and coincidentally all of whom have relatively weak signals that leave folks like me desperate for something other than AM during the day (I can't listen to music on my computer @ work), working outside their reach.

Maybe someday they'll integrate Sirius or XM into an iPod-type device. That'd rock.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Friday, 3 December 2004 05:36 (twenty-one years ago)

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