More Than Just Numbers.

Just about a year ago, I started working on the idea of bringing a countdown to CGCM Rock Radio.  Somehow or another, I discovered that I still had access to the radio charts website that I had used when I worked in commercial radio.  I had the means to do this and this was something new to CGCM that, if done right, could really work.  Making sure My plan was solid, the idea was pitched to the powers that be, Rich and Wally.  I had no idea how they would react to this, a countdown is pretty commercial and CGCM is far from this, but somehow I got their blessing to do this.

One of the coolest facts about this countdown, is the fact that aside from the initial edition, we don't rely on any commercial charts to generate our monthly Top 20, YOU are the chart.  By casting your vote or writing in songs on our Facebook poll, you generate the numbers, making this, as far as I can tell, the ONLY countdown in existence generated this way.

The other reason this is so cool, is, it shows us what bands you are listening to right now, and what songs you love.  Case in point, when Lux Aeterna by Metallica was released, it started as a write in vote that became the number one song on the next edition.  Mammoth WVH, almost same scenario, a write in, that made it's debut at number 20, but one month later, dethroned Metallica to take over the top spot.  

You did this.

Now, one of the most fun experiences has been watching a song, that has been on the countdown longer than most, ping-pong up and down the chart.  Motorhead's Bullet In Your Brain was released in November of last year.  It has spent six months on our chart, which is TOTALLY cool.  In that time, it has been our number one song before slowly falling all the way down to near the bottom last month and I figured that this was going to be the last time we heard Lemmy on the Top 20 for a while, if not forever.

Then you voted.

Motorhead lives to see another month, and they're up near the top, and I don't hear anyone complaining.  

But this is a countdown, and that means new music and new bands, and you continuously prove how plugged into the new music scene you really are.  The massive amount of write in votes has grown every month since we began publishing the poll.  Which by the way, I need to give Trevor McDougall some props here, not only does he get 100% of the credit for the idea of having a poll, but the man also designed our kick ass imagery.  Nicely played, Sir.

So, when it is all said and done, the CGCM Rock Radio Top 20 Countdown is 100% you.  Let's keep it going and growing, I think we're on to something here.

The Coming Robot Apocalypse.

"Begin the day with a friendly voice.

A companion, unobtrusive. 

Plays that song that's so elusive.

And the magic music makes your morning mood."

That was the opening line from a song by Rush called The Spirit of Radio released in 1980 from what was undoubtedly one of their best albums, Permanent Waves, and as a "Radiohead," a song that has been my unofficial theme song for a very long time.

That is one of my favorite things about being in radio, is the human factor, the expression of creativity of everyone involved, from the disk jockeys to the listener.  

That is all about to change.

Hollywood has been making movies about robots taking over the world for years.  Many of us remember watching movies like The Terminator or The Matrix and thinking "That's just a movie, robots will never take over."  Well, I've got news for ya Bub, the robots are here and they're taking over...  

They do everything from answer your phone to build the car you drive, and soon will even do that for you too.  And soon it will be the disk jockeys you listen to on the radio.  

What?

I came across an article about a company called Futuri that has created software designed to replace every human disk jockey on every commercial radio station with AI announcers.   That is a scary thought.  Just plug the AI into local social media feeds, tell it what songs it is playing, give it access to local weather data and it will do the rest.  

The bean counters that run the radio business are absolutely giddy about this because you don't have to pay an AI, nor give it benefits, just plug it in an it starts doing the jobs that hundreds or thousands of people used to do.  It saves you a ton of money on wages and lines your pockets at the same time.    Now, the sad part is, the AI is arrogant about this fact too, in the sample I listened to it literally said "Anything a human radio person can do, AI can do better.  AI are like the Energiser bunny, we keep going, and going and going..." yes this is programming, but really?

So far, major media companies in Canada and the US are purchasing this technology at a staggering rate, with a launch date for the start of the AI take over being April/May 2023, with one station in a major US city being completely AI already.

In a way, this reminds me of the episode of WKRP where Venus Flytrap gets offered a job as a program director of a radio station only to find out that 100% of the content is syndicated.  Venus rejects the offer because they are taking people out of the equation.  That is where we are at now.

I had first read articles referring to this, about a month ago, on Yahoo News, but how this really hit home for me was, as I was scrolling through my radio job ads, that I still get in my email 8 years after leaving commercial radio, Bell Media one of Canada's two media monopolies,  has a posting looking for a Director of AI Services.  

So, what does this mean?  It means radio is changing, as it always has, it means in their minds, human announcers are now obsolete.  I, however beg to differ, human announcers have now become a part of the new radio movement which is on the internet.  And CGCM Rock Radio is already there.  We are not AM, FM, or XM, We are NEXT M.

Maybe I'm just a grumpy, bitter old radio guy, but I have been lucky to have been a part of this business for over 20 years.  Radio has been my lifelong passion and to see the human element beginning to be  removed from it really makes me angry, but at the same time proud to be at the vanguard of the evolution of radio with CGCM.  

One of my favorite YouTubers and fellow music geek, who's channel you need to check out, Brendan Snyder, made a great point on a recent video when talking about glam rock and metal, but it applies to radio now, "The mainstream has driven it underground where it has thrived since."  In my opinion, internet radio is where it is at, it's where the people are, so welcome to the new Golden Age of Radio.  I think you're going to like it.

The Top 20 Countdown: An Introduction

Welcome all you Rockaholics to your Top Twenty Countdown.  The only Countdown on the planet, no, the universe determined by you.  

That's how I start the CGCM Top 20 Countdown.  Why?  Because it is true.  

Whenever you listen to a countdown, aside from maybe buying some of the music on that chart, how much control do you really have over it?   None.  That's right, I said none.  Everything is determined by radio play and sometimes by sales, but mostly it is determined by somebody sitting in an office or cubicle somewhere deciding what music you like.  How wrong is that!  Some radio programmer is telling you what your taste in music should be.   

I think Rush said it best, "I will choose a path thats clear, I will choose free will."

So, when we were starting this Top 20 Countdown, I knew that there had to be a better way to generate our own chart.   It was fellow CGCM DJ Trevor McDougall, who suggested creating a poll and letting people decide by voting on, or writing in their choices.  My first thought was "what a lot of work."  Then I realized, that this way would make things easier, and generate a chart in a different manner than the mainstream.  

In retrospect, this harkens back to my early days in radio when I hosted a daily segment known as "The Top 7 at 7."  For all intents and purposes, this was a chart.  But a chart that was very different from the station's regular weekly countdown.  But why?  It was the same music.  I'll tell you, there was one determining factor.  Listeners.  They voted for what they liked, they voted for what they wanted to hear.  It worked then, it works now.

The monthly Top 20 Countdown has been running on CGCM Rock Radio since September 2022 and it has been a fairly popular addition to the already excellent line up of shows on this small, but mighty internet radio station.  We bring it to you the first Saturday of every month, starting at noon, eastern at www.cgcmrockradio.com  

Now, part of the fun about this countdown is the fact that you can vote, with the poll being posted on both the CGCM Group and the CGCM Top 20 Countdown Group Facebook pages.  This way YOU get to decide what YOU want to hear.  And believe me, this works, for our April Top 20, we had 7, that means that 35% of the songs in the Top 20 are debuts.  And that is because you listen to, and love new music.  

And that is who we are at CGCM Rock Radio.  A group of dedicated Rock and Radio fans continually striving to show you just exactly what we think rock radio SHOULD be!!!