Blog: Altrok's Rantcast

Okay, it's on - 48 hours of Altrok's Christmas selection, featuring new and classic songs both reverent and revolting for your holiday listening pleasure. Oh yes, there will be wassailing ...at Altrok 90.5 HD2 on your HD Radio at the Jersey Shore, or just click here.

We've added about six Christmas songs per hour to our Altrok 90.5 HD2 rotation, and we'll head into A Vaguely Dysfunctional 48 Hours Of Christmas starting at Midnight on Christmas Eve Eve (12:00am December 24 to 11:59pm December 25.) Then we'll splatter the station with the best tracks from 2010 , from midnight December 26 to the moment the New Year starts. For our Friday night FM shows, however, we're taking a break - two very special program blocks, 90.5 The Night's 24 Hours of Christmas [...]

Several times in this column I have written about classic alternative music turning up in commercials, and how cool and somewhat surprising I found that to be, given that alternative music in general never truly conquered mainstream culture. Sure we've had our moments, with a few choice bands and songs becoming popular. But I always thought that the use of more top 40 type songs would be more effective, given the fact they were so popular and recognizable. Perhaps that's the reason they aren't used now that I think about...hmm... Anyway, a recent car commercial from Kia features [...]

After the lights went out at WOXY.com (again), I'd hoped the individuals associated with the station would strike out on their own and figure out a way to do what they were doing. It's kind of the reason I'm here doing what I'm doing - when I get free time, I can't do anything else. Neither can they, and we're happy to let our obsessions entertain you , the listening public. (You are listening , aren't you?) So for Mike Taylor , WOXY.com's former program director, there's now a blog, [...]

I got a message from Gang Of Four that their upcoming album, Content , will be available in a superdeluxe version. How superdeluxe? The Ultimate C O N T E N T Can **Only Available 12/1-12/15** To celebrate the release of C O [...]

I like Jack White a lot. I think much of what he tends to do is the Right Thing to do in a world where those that are supposed to know what to do (the record labels) really don't. With the announcement that Third Man Records , White's label, is selling limited edition vinyl releases via auction on eBay , I think he's continuing to do the right thing. I'll back up a second and tell a story that Mark Evanier has told on his blog (which [...]

We pretty much add new tracks every week, and we've done so once again. Since early November, for instance, we've added new music from these folks: Airlines , Bad Books , Bear Hands , Cold War Kids , Elvis Costello , Crystal Castles (featuring Robert Smith ), Daft Punk , The Decemberists , Deluka , The Duke Spirit , Eels , Brian Eno , Esben and the Witch , The Futureheads , Gang Of Four , The Good [...]

Our Internet access went kablooey sometime during the night, but it's back up now. (Those of you who listen on HD didn't notice a thing! See, there's a bonus for HD listeners...) Tune in now and see what you were missing!

By popular request, here's what we played last week on The Altrok Radio FM Showcase (which, of course, you can hear every Friday at 11pm on 90.5 The Night ...) (Artist - Song - Album) Stoltz, Kelley - Little Girl - To Dreamers Soft Boys, The - (I Want To Be An) Anglepoise Lamp - 7'' Single Funeral Party - Finale - 'Finale' [Single] Maximum Balloon - Apartment Wrestling (v's David Byrne) - Maximum Balloon Liquid Liquid - Cavern - 12'' Single Like, The - Wishing He [...]

November 20 couldn't happen, so now November 13 will. A visit to A Doll's Place on that date will yield another opportunity to see the original man behind The Melody Bar doing what he did once again. (Yeah, yeah, FM106.3 , MTV , Columbia Records , WRXP ...he did/does that stuff, but ya can't take the Melody Bar out of him.)

I've managed to creep (creep? Sorry, getting into Halloween mode) through the video collection at YouTube to pull out a selection of the new tracks we've featured on this week's Altrok Radio FM Showcase . Basically, a click over to our YouTube profile will open up the latest and greatest. There's some good stuff there - enjoy!

Tony Fletcher possesses a memory that guarantees that the formative days of the modern rock era will be well-chronicled, and a voice that guarantees that his account of the ride will be almost as fun as having been there. Thus, two separate announcements from Mr. Fletcher: A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT: THE SAGA OF THE SMITHS My next project is an extensive biography of The Smiths , to be published by William Heinemann in the UK and Crown Books in the USA. Though [...]

If you go to our new YouTube profile , you can see a few of the things we'll be featuring on this week's Altrok Radio FM Showcase - but for the full audio barrage, tune in at 11pm Friday nigh t to 90.5 The Night . Of course, there's always a fix available at Altrok 90.5 HD2 - just sayin'. (By the way, Matt Pinfield and Pete Santiago 's excellent adventure at New Brunswick, NJ's A Doll's [...]

As far as the Modern Rock scene in New Brunswick, NJ is concerned, nothing casts a larger shadow than The Melody Bar , the legendary 1982-2000 watering hole and dance emporium about which much has been written, both on these pages and on many others. Over the past four years, eight successful Melody Bar reunions have been held - four of the Classic Era type, and four all-eras reunions. And after a while, it seems reasonable to suspect that someone, somewhere would notice that this sort of thing tends to generate a crowd. [...]

On Saturday October 2nd the one and only Matt Pinfield will be reviving the Spirit of the Melody at Doll's Place in New Brunswick, across from the hospital on the other side of the tracks. The evening starts officially at 10 pm and it is assured to be an amazing evening of the best music from our glorious past and today. For those of you who miss the Melody and want to relive it once again, this is the place you'll want to be. Unlike the Melody Reunion event in February, this will be more like a new [...]

Apparently I didn't get the memo last April when Yo Gabba Gabba posted this (unembeddable) video to YouTube , but you've gotta hand it to The Ting Tings for pulling out a lovely choice of cover... (Where oh where are you, Clare Grogan ?)

So if you're interested in (subject to change) Fran Healy , Best Coast , Clinic , Ben Folds (with Nick Hornby ), Frankie Rose & The Outs , Ghostland Observatory , Grandchildren , Jenny [Lewis] & Johnny , Julius C , Klaxons , Mark Ronson , Meridene , Mother/Father , OMD (w/ Aretha Franklin (!)) and Pete Yorn ... ...you may want to tune in to The Altrok Radio FM Showcase on Friday at 11pm [...]

Nothing is ever final in radio. Today's most diverse commercial rock radio station in New York City is Rock 101.9, WRXP . Its frequency sits on the ashes of WPIX-FM , already mentioned on these pages as a legendarily diverse rock radio station. It only required a few decades lying fallow in the swamps of mediocrity before a new (and not entirely displeasing) rock station found its way there. It is with some finality, however, that I view the announcement that, at 3PM on September 15, Hit 106 - the [...]

WPIX-FM. Most people, when they hear those call letters, think "Love Songs, Nothing But Love Songs". Some people think of "Dr." Jerry Carroll (later the TV spokesman for Crazy Eddie .) But I like to think of their stint as the best New York City radio station ever. From 1978 to 1980, they identified themselves as "The New 102, WPIX-FM: From Elvis To Elvis" and they weren't kidding. With a seriously wide rock record selection and live broadcasts featuring everyone from Jerry [...]

Firstly, congratulations to Craig in High Point, NC on winning the REM prize package we've been touting hereabouts - his winning entry came in near the end of the contest period, but certainly well within it, so after being selected at random from the entries, he walks away with the Fables Of The Reconstruction two-CD box set and the classic REM video collection DVD. Is it your turn next? Pay attention to our Twitter feed today (which is relayed to [...]