Pop Stop: Have We Lost Our Minds?

by Jordan Mark

A pop show on a rock station. The same station that’s dedicated itself to keeping the rock spirit alive and running for decades. The station that prides itself on playing the classics to the cutting edge. FM89 is that sanction to keep you moving in the world, so how can such a station be inclined to let the music genre that is pop invade it? Such a suggestion shouldn’t even be proposed, yet alone give it life in the form of a two-hour program. That’s two less hours of listening to satisfying power plays from the likes of Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Okay, you can get off your high horse. Let’s take it back a few notches and review the history of our station.

FM89 has had a variety of music specialty shows over the years, not just within the rock genre, but outside, as well. From rap to EDM, FM89 has always been open to playing different genres of music (even if they were played at the wee hours of the night).

That being said, there’s never been a show dedicated to pop post-AOR. The closest thing we had was Midnight City Vibes (a show that played Japanese songs, including those within the pop realm). We did have that smorgasbord way back when that did have pop moments. And yes, there was a time where we labeled the likes of The Osmonds’ “One Bad Apple” and The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” as awful songs, but we were just listening to your opinions. As for present day FM89, the closest thing you’ll find from pop is Owl City’s “Fireflies.” Granted, that’s not the reason it’s a part of our station, but it’s a fairly strong showing of how expansive our catalogue is.

So how does all of that give justice in having a pop specialty show? It’s not that we need such a show for our station to run. We pride ourselves not just as rock enthusiasts, but music enthusiasts. When students decide they want to start a music specialty show, we let them (given that it’s not a rehash of what we do on the regular). What makes us different from other stations is the dedication we put in. It’s the passion we have for music, sports, news, and entertaining that propelled us to thrive time and time again. Not many college radio stations can say they’re on iHeartRadio and have received the title of Best College Radio Station of the Year. We can.

With Pop Stop, we want to show how a rock station does a pop show. Not just copying and pasting the Top 40, but creating an experience that’ll amuse anyone. Even if it doesn’t change their mind about pop music in the least bit, they’ll respect the tenacity it took in crafting a program at a place where everything else surrounding it is anything but.

Pop Stop airs Tuesdays from 6-8PM beginning this fall.