DeKEs N Rambles

Rock 94 Thunder Bay

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Yeah that’s the moniker for Thunder Bays only and I mean only Rock station Rock 94 and if you’re wondering that would 94 FM on your dial.

Rock 94 has never been Rock. Trust me on that. Growing up in the mid 80’s in Thunder Bay the only good thing about 94 Fm was Monday Nights at 11:30 pm when they would live feed Rockline with the late Bob Coburn who would interview the Rockstars of the Day! The best Rockline has to be from late 1986 when David Lee Roth as well as his whole band was on the show. It was brilliant and funny as hell especially when a caller named Sammy phoned in to ask a question.

One of the more interesting one’s was when David Coverdale was on just before the release of the Whitesnake 87 album and announced that he basically canned the band that recorded the soon to be zillion selling 87 and replaced em all!

I would tape certain interviews but it was worth it to stay up late as this was the only time I would listen to 94 FM.

In the late 80’s I took a Shitty Job for a few months working the Midnight Shift at our local swimming/gym facility called The Canada Games Complex. My job every night from 11:30 pm to 7:30 am was cleaning with a huge vacuum like contraption the pool which was the most fucking disgusting thing ever. Ok the change rooms were real fucking disgusting which confirmed that there were a bunch of SLOBS in this town!

My point to all of this was that considering most of my  time was pool side we would pump the radio through the shitty sterile sounding speakers of the Complex just to keep myself and other workers amused as the vacuum pool cleaner sucked up tons of hair and other shit at the bottom of the pool!

BAHAHAHAHA….

The Rock Hits of the day(1988) would be played during the night! Steve Winwood’s Valerie was a big one. How about Mellencamp with Paper on Fire or Cherry Bomb. How about U2? Robbie Robertson was another.

Hey I’m not knocking these artists at all its just it’s 3am and by golly it would have been nice if some one on the night shift at 94 Fm grew some Rock Balls and played Def Leppard. Hell toss on some Cancon like Rush. 

How about a nope….

I lasted 3-4 months cleaning that Dirt Factory Complex and then bolted back to our local hospital where I remain to this day! Also back to the safety of my trusty Walkman and Vinyl and my playlist and not having to listen to Lite Rock 94 FM.

From about the late 80’s to about late 2016 I ignored  the now known as Rock 94.  Walkman-DiscMan-Nano’s-iPOD right there are the four reasons why I ignored local radio thorough the years. So you can see it has been a while since I listened ….

What brought me back to listening to Rock 94 is my current job where the radio is played all the time. Correct, some Rock is better than no Rock but Rock 94 has its faults…

For the record  I’m not trashing these artists just stating the facts as I hear em

First up….The Bad…

1- A continuous daily playlist of Three Doors Down especially that ballad like sap track Here With You is a daily tune

2- Creeds’ My Sacrifice’ is on high rotation I hear it if not everyday every second day!

3- I could go on but the same Rush/Def Leppard/Van Halen tunes that are heard. How about Jump/When Its Love/Rock of Ages/Pour Some Sugar/Tom Sawyer/Subdivisions? You will hear these exact tracks daily…if not every second day! Even Audioslave it’s the same oh same with Be Yourself. Great track but it’s jammed down my ear lobes daily..

4-With I Mother Earth coming to town next month up till recently i had not heard these guys now on radio and viola just like that I have heard One More Astronaut over and over. Course there promoting  the show but go deeper with IME’s tracks other than the obvious!

Now…The Good

1- Myself and pal Frank The Tank first heard Greta Van Fleet and we thought it was a new Zeppelin Track! HAHA…Seriously I will give this station credit as they helped me discover a new band that is actually great!

2- About 5 months ago they played Maidens ‘Run To The Hills’ I just about SHAT myself! Haven’t heard it since! But someone that day went outside the Mainstream 94 Rock Box and I thank you for it!

3- The on air personalities are decent enough. They Got a job to do. I get it and I’m not going to trash them as they seem decent enough.

4-Sloan is coming to town in a few weeks. I will give 94 Fm credit as they have been playing Sloan for a while  and not just ass kissing them by playing them as they are showing up here unlike Number 4 of the Bad that I mentioned!

There ya have it..If your from my hometown you may or may not agree with me here but fair enough this is my deal… and for all my out town readers you can find Rock 94 Fm on the web if you need a fixing  of Three Doors Down!

 

 

 

62 thoughts on “Rock 94 Thunder Bay”

  1. Been waiting for this post!

    Robbie Robertson — “Somewhere Down the Crazy River”?

    Brings back a lot of memories of listening to the radio at the cottage. Whatever station it was, you couldn’t get it in stormy weather. You’d wait an hour to hear ONE Bon Jovi or ONE Def Leppard song.

    Liked by 3 people

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  2. Down here in Southern Ontario we at least have many choices.
    Back in late 70’s it was am. 1050 chum and 1150 from Hamilton. Then 104.5 Chum fm and Q107 were the kings. Chum went sappy and 97.7 HTZ Fm took over. It was the.mighty Q and HTz. There was Y108, 94.5 The Bull and in the last 13 years locally we have 107.5.
    107.5 has gradually grown to become my go to.
    The dj’s are funny and each program director has done their best to make the music listenable.
    The latest dude, Mike “the party dog” Devine has turned this station into one that plays a ton of deeper cuts.
    I make suggestions and he tries to fit them into the rotation.
    They have to follow Cancon rules, and have to conform to the idiot suits out west that own the station.
    For us down here, we have to listen to Bryan Adams, Loverboy and Trooper every fucking day. UGGGHH.

    Just this week I was down near London.and stumbled on 94.9 Radio Western. The college radio broadcast from Western University.
    I listend for 3 hours and only knew a few songs.
    I texted some oddball requests and.they played them all.
    It.was just like discovering rock radio in the late 70’s. Completely awesome.
    Maybe check your radio waves to see if you get college radio and check it out. Or get a big ass antenna and tune in Minnesota or Winnipeg.
    Also, check out internet radio over the computer. Good stuff there too. I found 80’s and hair metal stations on there.

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    1. Q107 blew my mind when I first heard it in the 80’s from T.O..
      Our university I do occasionally tune into as well…
      Too be honest I never listen to or will check out other stuff as we have Satellite radio in the vehicle…and my iPod and now with being a Vinyl Hunter…(Shit I like that name!)

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      1. Q107. The 6 oclock rock report was awesome. Morning Zoo. Barometer was good. I didn’t origianally like psychedelic Psunday but it grew on me. Do you remember The Champ??? “Well. I lose it. I snap. I give him a flurry to the solarplexes. How’s that knuckles? Ever since I’ve been The Champ.”
        Do you remeber Sue Johanson and the Sunday Night Sex Show? (I kept the volume low on that one)

        I used to listen to internet radio through my computer at work. It helped me deal with the grind.

        Since you remeber Q107 and like vinyl, maybe look for some of the Q107 Homegrown albums. They started around ’79 or ’80 and went through the 80’s, maybe into early 90’s.
        I think they put out 10-15 of them. I think 1 per year, but not sure. They were based on a talent search, and the best 10 or so got on the album (I wish stations still did this).
        They can be found cheap. Mostly bands you never heard of, but some musicians and bands that went on to bigger things.

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Radio Western was really good back in the day when I went to Western. I wish now that I wasn’t so shy, and would have volunteered with them. But wanting to be on air talent was cutthroat, and I just didn’t have it in me to compete.

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      1. I’m curious. Could any student be on the air?
        I assumed (you know what happens…) that only those going through Radio Programming or DJ Prep or whatever other related courses are called would be on the air.

        I enjoyed it, warts and all. The dead air. Hearing the dj in the background when he was recording his next segment during the song.
        It was refreshing. I knew they were not pros. At least they didn’t have a set list though. They played my requests for stuff off Hannibal soundtrack and Shooting Guns band Wolfcop soundtrack. I was assuming (again) there was no chance in hell they would get played.
        No other radio station in Canada other than
        a college station would have the freedom to play that.
        Hell, most rock stations won’t even play a Led Zep or AC/DC b side.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. There was no radio broadcasting degree at Western, at least when I was there. It was who you know and who you… you know the rest. Same with the the student newspaper, the Western Gazette, you could be going for a journalism degree, but not necessarily. The paper was a lot more serious and deadline driven. My schedule was too busy with studio time, I couldn’t write for them instead of sleep.
        I wonder if college radio falls under different cancon rules?

        Liked by 2 people

      3. The dj I heard yesterday was playing all tv show soundtracks. Mostly instrumental.
        Then she specifically mentioned she had to play some Canadian content.
        I was shocked since I figured they weren’t regulated that way, but obviously they were.
        I fed her the Wolfcop soundtrack when she said that and since the band Shooting Guns is Canadian it sort of helped her out.

        Liked by 2 people

  3. LOL! I lmao through this post! Q107 plays all these now. They used to be a little more discerning, but now we hear Hungry Like The Wolf every fuggin day. Not knocking DD, but back in the day you’d NEVER hear DD, INXS or Pet Shop Boys. They changed format and lost a little of their cajones, methinks.
    In Sudbury, it was CHNO am radio until 1991 when Q92 came in and delivered the Rock. Last year, Q92 changed format to 92 Rocks. Annnddd, it’s vanilla Rock. But it’s either that or EZrock or the Dock lite, or Kiss fm. Most are repeaters so if you drive to North Bay, you’d hear the same goddamn songs as what is playing in Sudz. Pretty damn sad state the radio is…

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    1. I agree 99.9%. Although I do remeber INXS was on all the rock radio stations late 80’s.
      They were sort of a cross over band, that had enough rock in them to get played.
      Plus they were the hottest thing since sliced bread at the time, so the directors played them.
      I remember a bunch of bands that were sort if tested.
      I’m trying to remember the exact year, but I do recall even Eminem was tested on.all the rock stations. He was so huge that he almost crossed over. I’m think 2002 or 2003 maybe.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. I think you are right about Eminem. I stopped listening to 107 when Stern stopped airing, so I wad listening to Barrie’s Rock 95, and do recall Eminem on there, briefly.
        As for INXS, not knocking em. They are a forever fave. It just seems lately they play What You Need every day on 107. They were a cross over band, I agree with you there…

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I lived in Barrie from ’90 to ’93.
        Rock 95 was always on. I kept my cd’s back at my parents because they kept getting stolen or beer spilled on them.

        I rarely get to Barrie anymore, but when I get outside of Orangeville, the dial goes back to 95.7.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. The memories I have of Rock 95 were of working in the hospital dishroom. That’s all that was on. Bring on the Coney Hatch! lol
        Seriously, though, it was much better than the New Chay 103.1 (or whatever they call themselves these days – rotates yearly), or B101…

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Let’s all have a Sunday Sing Song..

        ‘Eatin’s easy when you’re chimps like us
        Banana splits are a definite plus
        Things’ll be better when we climb our way out
        Our hands may slip, but not cause of doubt
        Monkey bars, swingin’ stars
        Countin’ the cars, by the monkey bars’

        Liked by 2 people

    2. For sure. I only got Sirius last August when we got a new vehicle and Sue back in October asked what I wanted for my Bday and one of them was to keep the Satellite radio…
      Its cool going to work in the morning and hearing Dokken’s The Hunter or Faster Pussycats “Bathroom Wall” at 6:30 am on the way in!

      Liked by 1 person

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      3. I also liked the fact I could log in online at my desk and listen. Today I have accuradio, which sorta kinda gets me by enough…

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    3. This is awesome with everyone chiming in about how great and not so great Can Con radio is…
      I could have added the usual Can Con suspects like a Bop Mentioned like Loverboy/Adams etc but I gave them a pass…the artists that is not the station….

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  4. Local radio has always been shit. I haven’t listened to anything in years. We pay for Sirius and love it. I listen to Pearl Jam (their own station!!!) and lithium. There is no better radio. With all the options I don’t know who listenes to radio. Between Sirius, Apple Music and my own digital libraries I don’t have to turn on crap94 (trade mark pending). Good write up, I never knew you spent your nights at the complex.

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      1. I worked as a rink rat at the Dunlop Arena in Barrie.
        The grossest thing was cleaning up after a group of teen hockey bastards that spit allllll over the dressing room.
        How the coach let them away with that I will never know.
        I get it. You lost. Make the little spoiled brats clean their own mess though.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Are you telling me that $ I sent to sign you up as the Scottish Sloan Fan Club President was wasted money?

      In Canada, we consider them the next Michael White.

      I have been wanting to do a post about Greta Van Fleet for a while and was going to touch on this. I think I shall.

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      2. I have all of the Sloan albums already. Also, anytime I find doubles I send them directly to death and black metal bands to influence their future song structures.

        Now I need to do a Greta, a Kingdom Come and a Michael White post.
        As Robert Plant (and by proxy Michael White, Kingdom Come and GVF) said “..All will be revealed.”

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Easy fella on the Sloan knock….heard round these parts you are a hater! Thats ok we all can’t agree on everything ….
      Speaking of which I listened to the debut Kingdom Come and man what a fantastic album…30 years on…

      Greta sounds way more Zep than Kingdom Come ever did! Yet KC got trashed by everyone which u already know.
      For the record KC is a great album…

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. KC is a great debut. Think the Zep thing was way exaggerated. No one would have a problem with that now. Got that one on CD and vinyl. Might have to give it a spin… been a long time!

        I do knock Sloan… but mainly just to bring Aaron out of hiding. I’ve only ever heard about two songs. They were both shite though.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. It’s funny how Jimmy got pissed at the Kingdom Come dude that acted as if he never heard Led Zep, but he pulled the same bullshit in court during the Stairway trial.

        “I owned the Taurus album, but never played it.”
        Hahahaha.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. You are right about the Zeppelin thing being exaggerated. If Greta had come out in 88 and not lately they would have been tossed into the heap quick.
        The only real similarities is Wolf’s singing…The production by Bob Rock is fantastic as what a friggin great drum sound he got on that album….

        Up till last week I betca I had not heard the KC debut since 1990 or so or when “In Your Face’ was released…

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  7. Canadialand has its own radio?!? What’s this?

    Seriously, though, any station that plays Creed, Three Doors Down, and Greta Von Fleet would be getting turned off!

    Liked by 2 people

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  8. Part of the reason why Ontario radio stations suck is how they are programmed by a computer in Toronto. I remember driving between from Sudbury we would tune into Q92 until we would lose the signal, then switch over to The Fox in North Bay. The Fox was playing the same set list as Q92, only about 15 minutes behind.

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      2. Funny though as both times I have seen Sloan they played it and it goes over well live with the crowd… But yeah they got better…so I will Gah with ya!

        Like

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