One of the bay area’s radio stations, KFOG, has a retrospective program called ten at 10. At 10 a.m. they play “ten great songs from one great year,” along with commercial jingles, sound bites from politicians or other cultural events, and clips from movies popular at the time. A little bit of nostalgic time travel in the midst of the daily hurly-burly.
I first became a fan when I was a freelance book editor, back in the early 90’s. I had various tasks, some more demanding than others, so I’d take care of the stuff requiring concentration first, and save the easier stuff for 10 o’clock when I turned the program on.
They never pick a year in the preceding decade, and back when Dave Morey did the program he never picked a year earlier than 1967 (that I ever heard). So it was stuff circa 1983 and older. Good for me, in that I like the period from ’64 to ’73, as well as the new wave era, circa 1977 through the early 80s. When Morey retired, “Annalisa” took over and she will push it back a little earlier, circa 1966 or ’65, which is fun.
As I work 8-5 in an office now, I don’t listen during the week. But I used to turn on the Saturday morning marathon, when they’d play all five of the weekday shows back-to-back. I cleaned the kitchen with ten at 10 on in the background, and would even check the web site to see the sequence of years they were playing, so I could have a year I really liked going while I loaded the dishwasher, cleaned bottles for my brewery, washed tupperware and scrubbed out pots and pans. It made a ho-hum task a lot more pleasant.
But I use the past tense for a reason. KFOG has stopped playing the Saturday morning ten @ 10 marathon! I’ve no idea why. Just shut it off on us cold turkey, man. One more example of life getting worse, ya know? Is it so much to ask that we keep one little thing making life a bit easier?
Is there a petition somewhere? A letter writing campaign to other radio stations telling them there is a ten at 10 void they might fill?
What was it, the 30- 40 minute block of time without current advertising? So stick in additional advertising segments rather than pulling the plug entirely, for cryin’ out loud.
Sigh.
On the bright side: another local radio station plays the Beatles every Saturday morning. So I’m filling the weekend morning gap with a lot of John, Paul, George and Ringo on 103.7, “the Band”. Take that, you unnamed Cumulus Radio exec who pulled the plug on my Saturday mornings! I’ve gone over to the competition, baby.
And I’ve got a good mind to start buying the products they advertise, and to write letters to your advertisers explaining why I’m not buying their stuff, too …
OmbudsBen 
I noticed this as well, and was not happy! Nothing against Acoustic Sunrise, but it belongs on Sunday, not Saturday. Idiots. I like your solution, but even as much of a Beatles fan as I am, I think I’d rather enjoy the surprise and variety of 10@10.
On another note, I saw today that an Alameda ice cream shop is supporting Meals on Wheels. Tucker’s Ice Cream is supporting the Bay Area Dine Out for Meals on Wheels, October 4th. I don’t know if that means that if you go on the 4th, they’ll give some of their proceeds to MoW or not. But hey, if you like ice cream, and if you like Tuckers, pick some up on the 4th and thank them for supporting such a great cause. 😉
Acoustic Sunrise does belong on Sunday, you’re right. It’s a good fit — but the 10@10 marathon is perfect for Saturday mornings. How could they screw this up?
I notice they are pitching listening to it on your computer. Sorry, it’s not the same. I’m driving somewhere, I’ve got the car radio on, not the PC.
Thanks for the note on Tuckers. We’re kind of caught up in the animal shelter situatuion here. The city is trying to close it and move services to Fremont, which would of course mean more animals would be euthanized.
We’re hoping a nonprofit volunteer organization (Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter) can keep it open here, so strays and shipped 30 miles away. I can’t believe this world–meanwhile, our tax dollars go to making our firefighters and cops rich. The new nobility. How did our priorities get so out of whack?
is there any way to get KFOG to reconsider? i post to their Facebook page and wrote to the station thru their site but have never gotten a response – Ben Fong-Torres’ column quoted Dennis Constantine as saying they felt they were giving up 5 hours that weren’t KFOG – is there anything MORE KFOG that 10@10? yes let’s get a petition or whatever it takes!
I agree with you, but some of their recent programming has me wondering. While I don’t listen as much as I used to, I still have a car radio button for KFOG, and several times recently I’ve checked out the station to hear crap that sounds an awful lot like hip-hop and even worse, rap nonmusic. I fear they’re shading toward the younger generations who listen to that dull, unvarying monochromatic noise.
KFOG as you knew it is being slowly made over to appeal to a younger demographic. The question then becomes: what’s the best KFOG-like station that you can get via the Internet?
I don’t know — guess I’m too much of a media dinosaur; I listen to the actual radio. But I like your question. What’s your answert?
Some stations that are a lot llike KFOG used to be:
The Peak in suburban NYC (the even do a pretty good version of 10@10): http://www.1071thepeak.com/listen/
WEHM on Eastern Long Island: http://www.wehm.com/
With the departure of Annalisa, KFOG is worse than ever; Renee has taken over 10@10 and (so far) her version is quite below-par.
Thanks, Mike — I’ll give it a listen.