radioracket

Boyzone vocalist dead at 33

2009-10-13T05:34:00.000-07:00

Though not a high impacting group musically, Boyzone still had moderate success on my top 40 charts during the 1990's. There biggest three hits were "Father and son" in May 1996, another cover version, "Words" in December of the same year, and their last big hit "no matter what" in October 1998. Their first hit was "Love me for a reason", which reached a modest #19 in late March 1995.

With a few more minor hits in 1997 and 1998, Stephen Gatley and fellow vocalist Ronan Keating made their small mark on nineties contemporary pop. Their hits charted along side fellow boy-groups such as West Life, The Backstreet Boys, and Take that, who had all charted with stronger hit runs. Despite this, it is somewhat sad that we note the death of Stephen Gatley at age 33. He was found dead in his apartment on the 10th of October.

Let's remember Boyzone with their biggest hit, "Words".

2PR FMs first live test is a success!

2009-09-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

Well, our first big test has come and gone, and much of it with success. For the first time in it's nine year history, 2PR FM has broadcasted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for an entire month just like any conventional radio station. This has been in a big part due to vast improvements in automated music software, and a huge price drop in streaming data services.

With the occasional drop out, listeners have reported great results with the feed. As many are aware, the stream was a moderately low 48kps service, for measuring out how well our hardware will cope, and mainly the software.

Our second test, which at this point is to be announced, will contain a greater range of music, as they are still thousands of new tracks to encode from our vast library. Even more exciting in our next test, our programming material will be an AAC encoded mp3 live stream at a much higher quality rate. It willll equal if not surpass the sound quality of current FM and digital radio. This will make 2PR FM receivable on home computers, and all the latest current mobile devices.

For now, we unfortunately call it an end to our current test, as the further improvements will be made

More info can be found at:
http://www.2prfm.com

The heyday of cassette tape

2009-09-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks time, it will be my 40th birthday, and being an old analog nut, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate, then to grab this rare find off eBay.

It's 140 rare 1983 Maxell UDXLII audio cassettes, yes the good ones with the square shaped hubs.

As many cassette lovers know, the quality of today’s tapes and their cassette shells has deteriorated severely over the years. This is due to the main cassette manufacturers making major cut backs in their tape plants, and trimming every corner possible to save on costs. This is largely due to the main stream take up of digital storage devices, such as CDRs, portable players like ipods, and removable hard-drives.

When it comes to the actual cassette, components and models are stripped down with each successive year. Parts such as pressure pads, specialised slip and press plates used for stable tape travel, and adhesive labels have been completely removed from today’s models. These include Sony's HF's and EF's.

With cassettes getting rarer, members on audio forums, such as tapeheads.net and audiokarma.org are placing extra efforts into lobbying cassette companies. This is in hoping that they will re-consider the introduction of their old tape models again, like Maxell's XLI and TDK's AD. As member’s letters are just getting ignored, it is becoming clearer that the TDKs and Maxells are adamant on no more tape production.

In the end, the remaining "New Old Stock" of blank audio tapes is dwindling by the day, thus ultimately pushing up prices on auction sites like eBay and Amazon.

With this in mind, it's no wonder I was totally blown away with winning these tapes. The last time Maxell used this key technology in their shell design was 1989 for the S-LN range. Since about 1991, all their cassettes have reverted back to the standard rounded hub design, which has become common place with all their current transparent shell models.

The End of an Era

2009-06-29T14:00:00.000-07:00

As I slowly awoke, the cloudiness of my eye-lids soon revealed the crisp blueness of a cool winter sky through my bedroom windows, and what.... my radio.... Michael Jackson dead?

Michael jackson...... god hell, that just came out of the blue.

Despite his popectual eccentricness and his wacky behaviour, Michael Jackson was a major influence to many of us who grew up and, like me, mucked about during the 1980's.

The first time I heard "Billy Jean", it was a cool morning when I wagged school, "Human Nature", the second day of family holidays in the Netherlands, and the track "Thriller" entered the Australian charts, the day when I poured an entire two litre PET plastic bottle of Pepsi, down that kids back at school, the one that always bullied me.

Thriller came out when I was turning fourteen, so it was the major album of my youth during 1983-1984. Every radio station, television music show and program would have songs and video clips from this album. From the word go in December 1982, Thriller had my personal top 40 charts on fire with the hits (chronilogically) "The girl is mine", "Baby be mine", "Billy Jean", "Beat it", "Gotta get starting something", "Human Nature", "Thriller", and the last hit single "PYT (Pretty Young Thing) in May 1984.

When I started my personal top 40 during March 1979, his first hit was "Shake your body (down to the ground" (September 1979), "Blame it on the boogie", "December 1979", "Don't stop till you get enough", "Rock with you", "Off the wall", and "Girl friend", a track written by Paul McCartney, and "Can you feel it" with the Jackson Five, perhaps one of the first epic video clips I ever saw.

He then had a minor hit during November 1981, "One day in your life", originally recorded in 1976 under the Jackson Five name. Aside from "Thriller" he also released another album in 1984 "Victory" with the Jacksons, which yielded another two hits "State of shock' with Mick Jagger, and "Torture" during early October that year.

His final good album in my opinion was "Bad", released during September 1987. "I just can't stop loving you" (with Siedah Garrett) was a pre-release in July that year, which was followed by the single "Bad", "The way you make me feel", "Man in the mirror", "Smooth Criminal", "Leave me alone", and "Dirty Diana" in May 1989".

One thing of particular interest, was that Michael Jackson and Prince were going to release a song called "Street Walker" during the later part of 1986. Unfortunately Prince pulled out, and the song was never released. The first time I heard it was off his 20th anniversary album of "Bad" back in 2007. With stunningly layered harmony lines, and a synth motiv like no other, it's somewhat unbelievable that it was never released as a single. "Street Walker" would of been the killer hit, that would of made "Bad" just as good, if not better then "Thriller"

But for the record, "Thriller" stands as his best album. I love every track on it, except "The lady in my life".

Going back to this week in June 1985

2009-06-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new look blog on blogger. As per usual, it's another slip down the tunnel of far gone time, through the galactic twist of 24 years, and back to this week in June 1985.

On television, we were watching Wavelength and Hey Hey it Saturday on Channel 9, with the last series of Knight Rider. Mad Max beyond Thunderdome debuted in the cinemas, and Bob Hawke was in power, with John Howard as opposition leader.

Australian Top 20 - Sunday 16th June 1985
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1. Rhythm of the night - DeBarge
2. Would I lie to you - Eurythmics
3. Solid (as a rock - Ashford and Simpson
4. Heaven - Bryan Adams
5. Love don't live here anymore - I'm Talking
6. Money for nothing - Dire Straits
7. One more night - Phil Collins
8. Just a gigolo - David Lee Roth
9. Nightshift - The commodores
10. Lover come back - Dead or Alive
11. We close our eyes - Go West
12. Crazy for you - Madonna
13. You're only human - Billy Joel
14. Axel F - Harold Faltermeyer
15. I know him so well - Elaine Paige and Barbra Dixon
16. Into the groove - Madonna
17. Wide boy - Nik Kershaw
18. Suddenly - Billy Ocean
19. Walking on sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
20. Boombox - The Vita-Beats