NEW REQUEST POLICY

  After 10 years of running my stations, I have found that two distinct types of people listen to my stations:

• Dedicated oldies fans who miss the days when there was an "anything goes" attitude when curating a playlist. In other words, the more variety, the better. They hear my station and immediately know that a lot of effort went into it and that I care greatly about variety. They show their appreciation by making a one-time or recurring donation to my operating costs to help make sure that I stay on the air. Some of these fans don't expect anything special in return; they just dig what they hear.
• People who expect something for nothing and think you have nothing better to do all day than to provide an on-demand service.

I know that some of you are happy that we take requests; it is very reminiscent of the golden era of AM radio when you could call a station up, make a request, and usually it would get played within a decent window of time...no questions asked. The difference between now and then is that back then, those stations had reputable local businesses paying their bills(commercials for auto dealerships, banks, restaurants, supermarkets, etc.). Unfortunately, that is not my situation; I rely on my listeners to make financial contributions toward the costs that are necessary to keep my stations running. I can no longer be at your beck and call if you aren't going to support my stations, so here is how requests will be handled from now on:

1. If you aren't going to make a donation and expect me to play your request, then I will put your request into a consideration list. This means that I may or may not play it; nothing will be guaranteed. If I think your request is worthy enough, then I will play it SOMETIME, meaning it could be later today, tomorrow, next week, or even next month. I am under no obligation to you. If you want "mono instead of stereo," "the new DES stereo remix," "12-inch club mix," an album track, or a wickedly obscure single, then trust me, you are strongly encouraged to donate.
2. If you are a loyal contributor, then first of all, THANK YOU! You are the reason I am still on the air! Just make a request and I will get to it as quickly as I can. If I am online at the time you make your request, then it should be fulfilled around 90 minutes later(DMCA rules, not mine - there has to be a delay and no implication of an on-demand service). If it is going to take a little longer, then I will communicate with you and let you know an approximate airing time. As hinted earlier, I will have no problem playing an album track, club mix, new stereo remix, etc. for someone who donates regularly.

Some people try to duck the donation subject when I drop hints. Let me ask you this: how do you conduct yourself when you go to your favorite restaurant? Do you expect your waiter or waitress to deliver a hot and delicious meal to you within a few minutes, yet you say "The heck with the tip! It's their job to cook and serve me a meal!" Do you also ignore the tip jar at Starbucks every morning? These are all service-oriented endeavors, and my stations aren't any different. Buttering me up and saying "My station is great" is not what I call "supporting a station." Time is money! If you want more of your own favorites to be played, if you want tons of specialized shows, if you want premium sound quality, if you want my station to be on the ultimate top-rated mobile app, THEN YOU MUST REALIZE THAT I CAN'T MAKE THESE THINGS HAPPEN FOR FREE. I have donors who pitch in near triple digits regularly, and they rarely make requests on consecutive days; yet at the same time, I have to deal with non-contributing armchair critics who think they know how to run my station. I'm sorry armchair critics, but I am through being nice.

For those who are skeptical about my so-called costs, I have no problem reminding everyone about my stations being part of the Live365 family. In order to stay legal and have artist royalties properly reported, I have to pay them a certain amount each month for each of my stations. I am also seriously considering upgrading to more modern and robust streaming servers in 2024 that also come with great-looking site players; these won't be cheap, but if I'm going to want to continue being taken seriously, then this upgrade will be necessary. Having station metadata show up on Tunein...free Alexa Skills...CD and vinyl acquisitions for certain rare tracks...these are expenses too.

If you have any questions on how to donate, then please let me know or refer to the PayPal buttons below the blue PayPal banner on this webpage. If you think my station has potential, then please contribute so that we can get closer to making an ultimate 80's station a reality!  

A FEW NEW ADDS FOR TONIGHT

 The following are now part of the AA80's family:

  1. The Alarm - Sixty Eight Guns - US single edit

  2. The Alarm - The Deceiver - US single edit

  3. The Alarm - Strength - US single mix

  4. Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed - single edit

  5. Art Garfunkel - A Heart In New York

  6. Siedah Garrett - K.I.S.S.I.N.G.

  7. Genesis - Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - US single mix with full fade(not the early fade that you find on the compilation albums)

  8. Pearl Harbor & The Explosions - You Got It(Release It)

  9. Night - Love On The Airwaves

10. Ted Nugent - Wango Tango

11. Prince - Batdance - album version with guitar solo, Vicki Vale, etc. (Let the haters hate, I don't care!)

12. Rush - Subdivisions

13. Salty Dog - Come Along - one of the better "hair band" jams, and so what if it has sleazy lyrics?

14. Split Enz - One Step Ahead

I have hundreds more yet to add, so relax in your beanbag chair and chew on some Bubblicious! #TheAlarm #FunBoyThree #ArtGarfunkel #SiedahGarrett #Genesis #PearlHarbor&TheExplosions #NightFeaturingChrisThompsonAndStevieLange #TedNugent #PrinceHisPurpleMajesty #RushBand #SaltyDogBand #SplitEnz

NEW ROTATION ADD - VANITY 6 - "HE'S SO DULL" - 1982

Vanity 6 were Prince proteges who caused a brief stir during 1982-83 with their suggestive dance numbers and scantily-clad outfits. Their sole self-titled album was released on CD during the late '80s and has been unavailable since around the early '90s, mainly because Vanity(aka the late Denise Matthews - no, there's no relation) became a born-again Christian and didn't want to be reminded of her "nasty girl" past.

"He's So Dull" was the lead-off single from the album and was written by former Revolution guitarist Dez Dickerson(he was the guy who traded vocals with Prince during the first half of "1999"). It was a non-charter, but most 80's fans will remember it from its short inclusion in the 1983 comedy classic "National Lampoon's Vacation." MTV did briefly play the below video, but I only remember seeing it during Adam Ant's Guest VJ Hour in January 1983; it was severely edited at the end, totally eliminating the segment where the man gets pushed down the stairs.

Awfully Awesome Eighties' playlist can't be delirious enough without more Prince-related material, so look forward to "Drive Me Wild," Vanity solo, Apollonia 6, The Time, and Jill Jones arriving soon. #Vanity6 #HesSoDull #PrinceProteges #DezDickerson

NEW WIDGETS FOR CURRENTLY PLAYING AND PLAYLIST HISTORY

 I'm just letting my listeners know that the "Now Playing" and "Recently Played" widgets on the station's webpage have been updated to newer versions, mainly because I had no choice. The old versions are being phased out to the point where artist images were completely eliminated, and I don't even have the ability to custom-upload my own image choices on them.

The new versions have a fairly reliable stock library of artist images, and I can upload my own when necessary; obviously, the more obscure the artist is, the less likely the stock library will have something. I can't stop you from mentioning that an artist's image is missing or could be better, but trust me, I am well aware of the issues and will strive to perfect them the best I can. 

Most artist images will have biographies attached to them on the "Now Playing" widget, and all tracks on that widget have a Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down feature. The "Now Playing" widget has a player attached to the top of it if you don't want to click on the blue "Listen Now" button above it(which leads to a more robust player, but that's just my opinion). Gone are the Wikipedia, "Tweet Song" and Amazon purchase links; the widget developers probably don't think they're relevant anymore, and they're probably right. Everyone knows how to use Wikipedia and Mr. Musk made it financially impossible for anyone to autopost on X/Twitter anymore.

The "Recently Played" widget shows a history of the last 100 tracks played. It refreshes at a rate of every 90 seconds, and I can't do much more than that without the distinct possibility of the widget missing a track. Be aware that the refresh isn't instantaneous due to the sheer volume of tracks in the history. 100 tracks is the maximum capability, so please don't ask me if it can show the last three days, the last week, etc.

I apologize if I don't sound overly positive about these changes. Maybe I'm in the minority, but it seems to me that these days the phrase "New And Improved," whether it refers to technology or the foods we eat, isn't worth a hill of beans anymore. I MISS THE OLD, and that especially means the pre-2016 days of internet radio. I'll let Satchmo conclude this post: "And I think to myself, what a wonderful world..."

UPDATE: After hearing such phrases as "craptastic" and "amateurish," I have reverted back to the old widgets. Hopefully, the company I deal with will at the very least let me upload my own artist images to them if they do in fact no longer have access to the old third party image provider.