New Wave Outpost Forum

We recently bought a new car and subscribed to Sirius radio. Over all I enjoy it, however they need to add more variety and stop playing "the hits" as much as they do.

Does anyone know if the DJs are live, and pick the music? Or do they prerecord their bits and have a computer drop them into the mix?

http://www.sirius.com/1stwave

[quote]Originally posted by doctort13
[br]We recently bought a new car and subscribed to Sirius radio. Over all I enjoy it, however they need to add more variety and stop playing "the hits" as much as they do.

Does anyone know if the DJs are live, and pick the music? Or do they prerecord their bits and have a computer drop them into the mix?

http://www.sirius.com/1stwave
[/quote]

I used to work there. It's the latter. Generally there are 4 or 5 voice breaks per hour and you would record your 20 to 30 second breaks and pop them into the "empty voice track" spots in Prophet or an intern would do it for you. [;)]

How much freedom does the DJ have?

Here's the 1st Wave playlist:
http://www.dogstarradio.com/top40.php?channel=22

It could be SO much cooler/better with deeper cuts mixed with the hits.

[quote][i]Originally posted by doctort13[/i]
<br>How much freedom does the DJ have?

Here's the 1st Wave playlist:
http://www.dogstarradio.com/top40.php?channel=22

It could be SO much cooler/better with deeper cuts mixed with the hits.
[/quote]

Only specialty shows deviate from the format playlist. Dark Wave and Dave Kendall's show may still be on so they could fit the bill.

I should also add that I haven't worked there since February or March of last year when the whole Sirius and XM channel merge went on, so I don't know whether XM did things differently and if they did, if some of that has influenced the Sirius side of things. I listen primarily to podcasts these days.

It just drives me nuts when certain tracks are played from albums when the single mixes are more appropriate. Best example is probably "Head Over Heels" by Tears For Fears. There are plenty of greatest hits compilations available for the programmers to choose from, but they always play it directly from the album, and it always ends up being "Broken/Head Over Heels/Broken (live)." Just doesn't make sense outside of the context of the album. But what do I know, right?

I think they play a dance remix of Alphaville's "Forever Young" and not the original. Oh, and they really need the VH1 Big 80s CD with the single mix of "Brand New Lover" by Dead Or Alive. I hate that remixed version from their not-really-greatest-hits-greatest hits package from the early '90s.

"Words like conviction can turn into a sentence"

I'm a Fred purist. First Wave is so bad I removed it from my presets.

Thanks to that douche Mel Sirius/XM is sucking lately, and not well. I keep trying First Wave but they seem to mostly play a narrow variety of safe "hits"...Train In Vain but not White Man In Hammersmit Palais. I Wanna Be Sedated but not Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue. Love Will Tear Us Apart but not She's Lost Control. Mexican Radio but not Back In Flesh. And She Was but not Don't Worry About The Government. And any bands that are too obscure by Sirius standards, like Pop Will Eat Itself, The Gun Club, Way Of The West, The Fall, etc., forget about it.

I guess it's a good station if you like a lot of Howard Jones and Erasure. The problem is a mass-appeal format isn't so good for a station that calls itself First Wave because fans of that type of music by definition are looking for something different, not just the same old same old. This is supposed to be niche radio, they should mix it up a little. Fuck you Mel!

On top of all this, as much as I love Stern his show has become boring, predictable and lazy lately. Unfunny "Jack & Rod" bits, every song parody about how sexy Robin supposedly still is, boring interviews with strippers nobody ever heard of, Howard's dining experiences at restaurants that you have to be rich to go to, etc. Zzzzz....

The bottom line is satellite radio in general is really not much better or different than terrestrial radio these days, except you have to pay the $12.95 a month.

Hit the nail on the head. I don't understand why anyone would even try a paid station let alone a free one these days. Why do you want to listen to their s---? From previous posts on here you can see it's almost impossible to get a clear definition of who what when New Wave is.
With todays technology and ability to cut high definition audio or video tracks and make them portable, why would anyone want to be confined to someone else's tracks? To hear new material from 30 years ago? LOL
Okay maybe the younger generation? Their is a huge audience there, NOT. Did we want to hear only stuff 30 years old back in the 80's?
The only 80's that can work today with the younger crowd is that which fits together with current material. End of storey.

So if you want to listen to only obscure tracks from the 80's, don't kid yourself, there is no audience for it, just you and your conception of what that is. Do yourself a favor and stick to your own collection, not others, otherwise you'll only be disappointed.

Of course thats what brings us to NWO, the last few vestiges to hopefully gleam a few new morsals from yesterday into today.

hi gang, 1st post...woot

i enjoy 1st wave becs it lets me hear tracks that i may have forgotten...isnt that what makes radio and pandora so popular: new songs.

I really like the Sat. night Safety Dance show on 1st wave. I seem to always hear a favorite I forgot about.

I have been giving it a rest a bit and listening to the Real Jazz channel.

In answer to the person who asked why let the radio do the programming, time is my answer. I have little "free time", so listening to the radio is fine for now.

Back on topic...I wonder how many songs the "DJs" have to choose from?

[quote][i]Originally posted by doctort13[/i]
<br>I have been giving it a rest a bit and listening to the Real Jazz channel.

In answer to the person who asked why let the radio do the programming, time is my answer. I have little "free time", so listening to the radio is fine for now.

Back on topic...I wonder how many songs the "DJs" have to choose from?
[/quote]

That all depends on what the programmer puts in rotation for that week.

Well this is sad. I just saw that track listing for First Wave, and it looks no different than Jack FM's "Top 40" list of 80s music.

I heard First Wave at a coffee shop a few years ago, and they were playing bands like Pylon, etc. Yep, obscure stuff. I loved it. Too bad it tanked into top 40 safety like VH1 Classic.

VH1 Classic. That's exactly right. They surprise once in a while, (for example I heard a Pylon song last week) but there's not much reason to listen for very long. Apparently, Fred was too challenging. Usually, I have Sirius tuned to another station, or I have my iPod on.

VH1 Classic used to be a throwback to early MTV, where all they played was music videos, and super-obscure ones at that. The motto was "I haven't seen this since MTV!"

And just like that, it started to emulate MTV's later sucky years with movies,etc, and playing maybe some top-40 crap we've already been numbed with.

We need a Classic VH1 Classic.

This Dutch station plays some awesome 80s Italian Disco shit,http://www.radiostaddenhaag.com/ Ive been listening to them for years. Safety Dance used to be the bomb a few years ago, but, I havent listened to Sirius in a while.
I did a retro show on Sat nights here locally for a few months, Ill post a few broadcasts here in a minute, it was a blast playing 80s stuff, t'was the best era of music ever!
https://www.yousendit.com/download/dXFW ... TW14dnc9PQ