Radio Station - Radio in Richmond

Makayla McFarland

History of Rock

Essay #1: Radio in Richmond

        Growing up in Richmond I am very familiar with the radio stations G1013 and Kicks 96, thus the reason for picking these two stations to listen to. Yes, I could have picked other ones I was not so familiar with but once I got to looking at all the questions we need to answer in this paper, I realized that I could not answer them without actually having to listen. Plus, curiosity took over me a little bit. As I waited at my cousin’s house to take them to school at five o’clock in the morning, I wondered if morning shows were any different than the regular five in the evening shows.

        I am more familiar with G1013 so I went ahead and got Kicks 96 out of the way first. Not only was I more familiar with G1013 but I also do not really care for country music, which is what Kicks 96 consists of. The only other time I listen to it is when my mom forces me to listen to it in the car. First off, let me start by saying that listening to a radio station online is very different from listening to one in the car. In the car, you are focused on driving and you do not really realize the amount of other stuff rather than music that goes on within the station. When you are just sitting there looking at your computer screen waiting to take notes and to critique every single thing about the station, well, you are bound to find a lot out you did not know or realize.

        Kicks 96 has a morning show with Josh and Buddha from 5-10am, Monday-Friday. The song that was playing when I first go on air was a song I knew by Jake Owen called “Barefoot Blue Jean Night.” The song was followed with the Kicks 96 slogan, “my country station, Kicks 96.” This was the transition into the next song which was a song that had a slower tempo than the song before. “Riser” by Dierks Bentley was then followed by an advertisement for Little Caesar’s Pizza. Buddha came on the air afterwards and started talking about some news in the music industry. Specifically, whether or not Maranda Lambert’s new album or Blake Shelton’s album was going to be better. This conversation was trailed then by something they called “Kicks question of the day.” A couple more commercials and advertisements and then we finally got to another song, “It’s 5’oclock somewhere” by Alan Jackson featuring Jimmy Buffett. Next the station talked about local school ratings, local news, and the weather for the day. A little less talking and commercials would be likely for this station to be a favorite of mine. Some more songs, “A guy walks into a Bar,” by Tyler Farr, and “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16,” by Keith Urban are played with the difference of tempo in each song. The second one being a little faster and more upbeat than the first one. Josh and Buddha then brought on Emily Anne to talk about Carrie Underwood’s recent tweet about feeling old. They then asked a viewer to answer when their first time they thought “wow I am old?” Some more commercials and advertisements and even some shout outs to the country artists who were up for Grammy’s and then finally we got into the last song I listened to which was, “Austin” by Blake Shelton.