Radio What Wave Playlist November 3/2017 Live to Air Fundraising Show
This is our first of 2 fundraising shows here at CHRW. This show is highlights of a very few of the countless live to airs that CHRW has broadcast since 1979. Back in the early days of CHRW, there wasn’t a lot of difference between it, and local rival CIXX out of Fanshawe College. Both stations were playing this new fangled punk/new wave whatever music. Fanshawe had a one up as they had been broadcasting to the public for about a year prior to CHRW, and already had me hook, line and sinker!
Then the game changed….CHRW was only available to part of the city via cable…meaning you had to hook up your FM receiver up to television cable to catch the sounds. Luckily, we lived in the right area, and the sound quality of CHRW pretty much beat their rival. And they had this DJ by the name of Simon Less (say that to yourself a few times and it’ll become evident) who used to go out to the clubs, record bands and then play the tapes over the airwaves. And he wasn’t recording the shit radio cover bands that played everywhere, he was down at places like The Cedar Lounge, then later The Embassy and Fryfogles. In the trenches recording the bands that I would go to see regularly. It was pretty evident when Simon was in the house, you’d see this white Styrofoam head with wires on it, in the middle of the club. That was his weapon of choice and supposedly his own invention….binaural recording!! Many a fine recording was played over the airwaves of CHRW back then! And Simon went on to win a Grammy last year, so obviously he knew what he was doing back then.
Another reason CHRW was my favourite, is they would sometimes broadcast live from the Spoke And Rim Tavern, bands that I couldn’t get into see. You had to be a student at the University Of Western Ontario, or a guest to get into the shows at the Spoke back then. I was neither, so if the timing was right (ie these live to airs were obviously late at night when I’d be downtown at the clubs) I’d be able to hear and sometimes tape these shows on my trusty cassette deck. Some of these shows would be laced with profanity and would be censored today, but these were live and not Memorex. The Teenage Head and Rough Trade shows were both prime examples of this.
Another reason I stayed with CHRW was this show called Young Fast And Scientific, which came on around 8 or so on most Saturday nights….right around the time I was getting primed to go out, so I didn’t always get to hear it. A guy by the name of Al Cole did this show and introduced me to a ton of crazy rock’n’roll combos that had eluded my conservative London Ontario upbringing. Bands like The Zantees. Real Kids, The Customs, Panther Burns, Weirdos, Fleshtones and so many more that I’ve not only become life long fans of these bands, but met most of them over the years!! And Al had started this little fanzine called What Wave…..but that’s a whole nother story for another time! And right after Young Fast And Scientific was Rock’n’Roll Dance Party hosted by local artist Dave Clarke! We rarely got to hear this, as the clubs and bands were beckoning our arrival for an eve of dancing, drinking and having way too much fun! The good old days!
And that’s a couple of the influences of Radio What Wave. You’ve got to look to the past to create the future and we try to do that each episode. This particular show, is all live recordings that have been broadcast over the airwaves of CHRW! Enjoy the archived show and feel free to help support this radio station and keep the artform of cool music going in this city!!
- Teenage Head….Kissin’ The Carpet….recorded live at The Spoke and aired 2/18/1981. Many a choice comment at the outset by certain members of the band, but they do get the call letters correct. It’s not Gordie Lewis on stun guitar as he was recovering from the recent car accident, just north of London. And it wasn’t David Bendeth on guitar, it was Frankie Huff according to a trusted source. Parts of this recording have shown up on Teenage Head bootleg records.
- 63 Monroe….Johnny B Goode….recorded live at The Cedar Lounge Easter weekend 1981 and broadcast later by Simon Less. This was prime 63 Monroe/NFG and if I remember correctly, was the name change from the notorious NFG (Not For Girls or was it Non Functioning Gear or maybe something else?) to 63 Monroe as it is mentioned on the recording. This was also the show that Steve R Stunning had a huge bucket of NFG pins that he was throwing into the crowd. Wish I had grabbed more than a couple as these still look mighty fine on a faded denim jacket! Burnaway was on the guitar, DeRoux on bass and Lamborghini (with his little tiny…) on the kit!! Mayhem ensued and we went back the next night and did it all again!
- 63 Monroe…..Roadrunner…..as above and this combo introduced me to this song and many others that I still love to this day! Think Skyhooks ‘Good In Bed’ as a prime example! Think I may have returned the favour with Mental Moron by a certain NYDoll….back in the days when I went by the nickname of Dave Tape….LOL…
- Lonesome Ghost….Haunted By God….recorded live to air 12/17/2009 by Aylmer’s finest combo ever!! A 2 piece noise and mouth of marbles combo that played around town, even opening for John Schooley’s first ever appearance in Canada!! There’s even an ultra rare cassette put out by What Wave Records of this combo, which gives you an idea of how cool we thought they were!
- Bloodshot Bill…..Honky Tonk Angels….live to air on Less Talk More Rock on 12/17/2009 and host Paul gets to interview BB here and get the origins of his name! Think I was BB’s chauffer that night and got him up to CHRW and back down to Call The Office for that night’s show. And BTW, Bill is back in town at Call The Office on Friday December 1 and he says he’s gonna drop by Radio WW that day, so you’ve been warned.
- Bloodshot Bill….16 Chicks… as above and a mainstay of BB’s live repertoire and a mighty fine tune that always gets the crowd yelling and screaming!
- Frank Ridsdale…..Little Red Riding Hood….live to air on 9/16/2010. This was recorded right across the desk from me in the onair and Frank was sweatin’ up a storm and giving the wolf call like a maniac!! Frank as some may know, was a member of Uranus, the little London band that was inducted into the Jack Richardson London Music Hall Of Fame this spring. He’s currently in The Stetson Brothers amongst others and plays out a fair bit around our city. And he’s a real nice guy!
- Rockin’ Bobby Harris…..Boppin’ The Blues….recorded live on Fred Smith’s Hardcore Country 12/12/2007 and mighta had Jeffy B as part of the backup combo. Bobby was from Simcoe and probably the last of the surviving rockabilly guys from this area. Remember seeing him at the Victoria Tavern right around this time and he used his walker to get to the ‘stage’ and then proceeded to turn into a rockabilly maniac! Anyone know if Bobby is still alive?
- Mack MacKenzie….The Devil Likes Me….recorded live on Radio WW 6/16/2017 and Mack was in Montreal based 3 O’Clock Train, one of the first of the punk/country combos from that era. He’s scheduled to be back in London on November 29th at Fitzrays with the band.
- Frankie and Jimmy…..Smokestack Lightning…..recorded live on Radio WW 7/0/2015. Demented blues duo from Hamilton Ontario who are scheduled back in London at Call The Office on Friday December 1st. They’ve warned me that they’re heading to Radio WW prior to their evening show that night!!
- Rough Trade….Baptism Of Fire….recorded live at The Spoke and Rim on campus and aired over CHRW….probably around 1980 or so as I didn’t put a date on this tape. Carole let the university students know what was on her mind that night.
- Cordcalling….Wicked Desires….live to air on Radio WW 3/26/2009. Local duo who are still together and recently released a vinyl record!
- The Zellots…..Love Will Survive…..Simon Less recording from 1980/81 which is labelled as being at the Kent Hotel, but was told by Jane Zellot that they didn’t have a sax player the night they played The Kent. Judging by audience reaction on this recording, it could have been right here in London at some local venue.
- Bloody Diamonds…..Bright Lights Darling…..recorded here on Radio WW 9/27/2012 right before they did a show at a venue called Black Shire Pub. They are from Halifax and believe it is the only live to air on Radio WW that has featured a keyboard!
- Oily Birds….Yesterday’s Numbers…recorded live in the onair studio 4/29/2010 and just featured Jon Traut and Bryan Mcdonald from the band. Previously known as Boy From Nowhere, then B5 Blue, then Oily Birds and finally back to Boy From Nowhere. Easily one of London’s longest running combos as they’ve been around since about 1984. And one of London’s finest!!!
- Oily Birds….Second Cousin….like above and also a Flamin’ Groovies cover!
- Rackula….Up The Chicks….from a live to air 5/8/2010 and were an all female combo from Hamilton, with a former Londoner in the band….Lucy Fur
- Hiroshima Hearts….The Well…recorded live on the previous show that aired in this time slot on Fridays. And we had HH’s on a year or so ago to do another live to air which was a lot of fun!
- Jim Ashby….Speed City….from Radio WW from 9/14/2006 and back in the days when Mike Todd and I alternated weeks on this show. Jim explains where the song came from and how it made the charts here in London. My fave record to come out of London!
- The Hypnotics….New Wave Monday….from our most recent live to air 9/22/2017 and this trio is from Windsor. They did a show later that day down at the Richmond Hotel and Dave from the band, hosts Revolution Rock, one of our sister shows, on CJAM out of Windsor Ontario.
- 905s…..Under a Spell….not a live to air, but what was called the Radio WW Sessions, where several bands did recordings exclusively for this show. This track was recorded in 2013 and The 905s are playing the International Pop Overthrow in Hamilton at This Ain’t Hollywood towards the end of the month….details to follow soon.
- Dynamite Pussy Club…..Under The Grooove….from Bath UK and another session recorded exclusively for Radio What Wave!
- Dynamite Pussy Club….Boogie Shoes…. As above and these guys must be killer live as they’ve certainly got the groove!
- The Mongrels….Piece Of Crap…..yet another session recorded for Radio WW and these guys are playing tonight at Fitzrays and their usual Sunday residency at the Richmond Hotel….Rock’n’Roll Rent Party!
- Frankenstein Five….Writing On The Wall….recorded at CHRW 1/1994 and became a cassette the band released. This one goes out to Rob Munro, who was the bass player for the combo!
Big Thanx for all the emails, texts, facebook messages, phone calls and Heys!!!!Back again next week with more of these live to airs and an actual live, live to air with local combo Coaching For Sara! They are also playing at the Eastside that night for their CD release party!! Lots more details on that next week!!
And Thanx for all the donations received for our annual fund raising!! Next week’s show will be our last fund raising show of this year, so don’t be shy, phone in your pledge during this, or any other show on CHRW….519 661-3600. Or if you don’t want to talk to anyone, you can do it online from the main CHRW page, top RH corner and even pick out a prize depending on how much you donate. There is literally a TON of cool incentives for donations.
And you can catch the archived show on our new website:
https://chrwradio.ca/programs/radio-what-wave
