RECENT NEW ADDS

Here are some recent adds on The Retro Attic, an internet oldies station that showcases numerous hits and misses from the 60's and 70's:

1. The Heywoods - Special Someone - '72
2. Harry Chapin - WOLD - '74
3. Billy J. Kramer With The Dakotas - I'll Keep You Satisfied - '64
4. Nigel Olsson - Dancin' Shoes - '78
5. Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass - Casino Royale - '67
6. Floyd Cramer - Last Date - '60
7. Nantucket - Heartbreaker - '78
8. The Presidents - 5-10-15-20(25-30 Years Of Love) - '70
9. Don Fardon - Indian Reservation - '68
10. England Dan And John Ford Coley - Gone Too Far - '77

We also added some of the early garage rock type singles from The Guess Who(they're our Featured Artist Of The Month), such as "Clock On The Wall," "Hey Ho What You Do To Me," and "This Time Long Ago."

The Retro Attic will continue to broadcast as long as we have your support and a certain performing agency doesn't charge us for accidentally cracking our wrists on the air! Seriously, if you become a VIP member, then you can make requests to your heart's content and you can even tell us to ban a specific song for a month or a specific artist for 2 weeks! Details can be found on our webpage.

You can tune into us at http://retroatticrareoldiesradio.com or you can search for us on Tunein.com, Nobex Radio(3 free downloadable apps), ITunes Radio in their "Golden Oldies" category, or Radio Tuna. You can also request to join our Facebook group at http://facebook.com/groups/retroatticrareoldiesradio and get the first word on our upcoming Friday night dance blocks!

Thanks again for helping keep us on the air. We really don't want to stop because if we did, then radio would be one step closer to being totally corporate-controlled. Is that something we really want?

WE'RE MOVING FORWARD IN 2016, BUT PLEASE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT US!

The Retro Attic and Awfully Awesome Eighties will NOT be going dark on December 31st. Our licensing fees for 2016 went up some, but they're still doable. There are a lot of bigger internet radio stations out there that will be pulling the plug(more listener hours, more revenue, and more expenses mean very high licensing fees), so it's hard to say what kind of effect it will eventually have on our total listener hours for each month. Some listeners will migrate to Pandora, Spotify, SiriusXM, etc.; the rest of the audience will continue to look for stations that dig deep for their playlists.

The Retro Attic's Featured Artist Of The Month for January will be The Guess Who; this will also include selected cuts from BTO, Ironhorse and Burton Cummings.

Donations to the stations will continue to be strongly encouraged as some aspects of the monthly licensing fees are still being negotiated(for example, ASCAP may or may not allow multiple stations on a licensing account) and our playlists will really start expanding now. Being a VIP member gives you more programming capabilities! Visit us at either http://retroatticrareoldiesradio.com or http://awfullyawesomeeighties.com and look for our Paypal donation buttons; both webpages also have links to our Facebook groups.

Thanks for your support and we look forward to bringing you more great listening in 2016! Have a Happy New Year!

THE RETRO ATTIC MAY BE GOING DARK SOON

Well guys, today was considered "D Day" in the world of internet radio. Some of you may have heard about a pending decision from the Copyright Royalty Board; they oversee Soundexchange, which is one of the major performing agencies. Their decision was handed down around 5:15 this afternoon, and it wasn't good.

Through this year, there had been a Small Webcaster Agreement in place where anyone running a music-related internet radio station could pay a reasonable monthly flat rate that was primarily based on your station's total listener hours; in turn, you had a blanket license that took care of the 4 main performing agencies. The SWA will now be gone, and in its place will be a "per performance, per listener" rate. The rate is only a fraction of a penny, but it adds up quickly. Even with the miniscule number of listeners my stations have, my Soundexchange fees alone would run approximately 3 grand a year, or around 250 dollars a month. This really doesn't make me want to find out what ASCAP, BMI and SOCAN have in store!

Therefore, unless the miracle occurs of 10-20 people coming forward and offering to sponsor my stations for 15-25 dollars a month, then The Retro Attic and Awfully Awesome Eighties will be going dark very soon. I'm sorry that this has to happen, but the performing agencies only want the big boys around. Innovation will be all but gone when you look for oldies stations from now on. Why? Because the big boys(with MAYBE an isolated, rare exception) will only play the same, tired classics. Some of you are cool with that, but I KNOW there are MANY of you out there who complain that many top 40 hits from the past aren't getting played anymore.

The only alternative I have if I don't get any sponsors is doing occasional Mixcloud shows. Mixcloud does pay out royalties, and there has been no mention of any changes coming their way. The only drawback with that approach is the word "occasional" - no more 24/7, etc.

Any comments are welcomed through my station sites at http://retroatticrareoldiesradio.com and http://awfullyawesomeeighties.com. In conclusion, all I can say is that Rush knew what they were talking about in 1976 when they composed their "2112" epic. If you don't know what the song is about, then I highly recommend googling it.

NEW "AMERICAN BOTTOM 45" EPISODE - ALAN PARSONS PROJECT SHOWCASE

The new American Bottom 45 episode, "Alan Parsons Project, Together And Apart," is now available for listening! Check the show's description for a list of the artists featured. https://www.mixcloud.com/gilbert-matthews/the-american-bottom-45-alan-parsons-project-together-and-apart/

Join our Facebook group at http://facebook.com/groups/theamericanbottom45 if you dig shows devoted to minor charters and non-charters from the 60's, 70's and 80's!

THIS WEEKEND ON "THE AMERICAN BOTTOM 45"

Certain well-known musicians didn't have overnight success in the U.S.; they started out by languishing in unknown U.S. bands or else they had some success in UK bands while domestic record labels weren't interested enough yet to give them that big push. This weekend on "The American Bottom 45," it's a "Before We Became Famous" show!

The lineup includes The Hassles, The Tourists, Spooky Tooth, The Wind In The Willows, Jamestown Massacre, The Nazz, Meadow, Milkwood, Black Sheep, Sky(not the prog rock band), Pages, Gen X, Clover, Baby Grand, Blue Angel, and Shiloh. If you know your music well enough, then you will know who some of these famous musicians were!

Tune into the show on Saturday night 10/10 from 8 to 9 PM eastern at http://retroatticrareoldiesradio.com or search for The Retro Attic on Tunein.com, Nobex Radio, or ITunes Radio in their "Golden Oldies" category. Join the show's Facebook group at http://facebook.com/groups/theamericanbottom45 and help shape up The Retro Attic's bottom 45 playlist when it turns over to 60's/70's on November 1st. Requests can also be made for the bottom 45 playlist on the new related station "Awfully Awesome Eighties." Archived episodes and subsequent shows will be found at http://mixcloud.com/gilbert-matthews.

RETRO ATTIC FORMAT CHANGE COMING ON 11/1

One of my loyal listeners late last night made a valid point regarding all of my upcoming changes. Simply put, it appeared that I was ignoring one key demographic(fans of 60's-70's music), and I want to rectify that. Here is what's in store:

1. Beginning on November 1st, The Retro Attic will become an all 60's and 70's format. Those of you who were big fans of the golden era of AM pop and FM underground radio will probably welcome this change. The format will remain lost and classic top 40 hits with 3 bottom 45's included every hour. There will be no more Featured Artists Of The Month due to the need to concentrate on running 4 stations and a podcast; with the narrowed demographic, there really wouldn't be enough artists to choose from to make it worthwhile. Website: http://retroatticrareoldiesradio.com. Facebook group: http://facebook.com/groups/retroatticrareoldiesradio.

2. After this weekend's show, The American Bottom 45 will be exclusively an occasional Mixcloud podcast. I believe there is still an audience out there who likes the other side of the charts and rarities no matter what the decade is. So all you have to do is join the show's Facebook group, be notified of the latest show's upload, and you can then listen to the show at your convenience. Mixcloud page: http://mixcloud.com/gilbert-matthews. Facebook group: http://facebook.com/groups/theamericanbottom45.

3. My newest stream, Awfully Awesome Eighties, will be starting this weekend. All 80's, all the time! Lost and classic top 40 hits with 3 bottom 45's included every hour and a main goal of catering to those who knew their 80's MTV programming inside and out! Website: http://awfullyawesomeeighties.com. Facebook group: http://facebook.com/groups/awfullyawesome80s.

4. I am still on the fence about a "Malted Memories" station with a primarily 50's format(and dashes of late 40's). Right now I have 3 people interested in it. I'll probably take the plunge since I do have a sponsor, but I will announce my final decision soon.

Hopefully this all makes sense and will eventually improve my overall listener numbers. Some of us are very open-minded when it comes to oldies music, but the reality is that we identify with a certain era of music...that time when we were growing up and always had a radio by our sides(for me, it was most of the 70's and into the early 80's)! I've seen too many instances on The Retro Attic where a tune from '83 plays followed by one from '59, then one from '71, etc. This typically has resulted in listener counts suddenly dropping off. The narrower demographics should make listeners stick around more, simply because the tunes were from "their era."

That's all for now! Rest assured that I won't be announcing new stations that play nothing but roaring 20's vaudeville music or a 90's grungemania extravaganza...I'm comfortable with the above ventures! I look forward to your comments!

"AWFULLY AWESOME EIGHTIES" IS JUST DAYS AWAY!

We are just days away from the test launch of "Awfully Awesome Eighties!" If you were/are seriously obsessed with the music of the 80's, then you will want to bookmark this station! I have set up a basic, "a work still in progress" webpage for the station; at this point, you will see a description of the station's mission and a few examples of the tunes you will be hearing via "Awfully Awesome Eighties TV." Simply put, nothing from the 80's will be able to hide...all of the hits, misses, indies, new wavers, spandex gods, etc. will be resurrected!

Join our AAE Facebook group by going to http://facebook.com/groups/awfullyawesome80s. You can also take a glimpse at the station's webpage by going to http://awfullyawesomeeighties.com.

In other news...I have a potential sponsor for a "Malted Memories" station that will play nothing but hits and rarities from the late 40's through 1959. I played a decent number of those tunes a couple of years ago, but they really weren't what the majority of The Retro Attic's audience was expecting. So my question is...are there any of you out there that would listen to a late 40's-1959 format that explored the roots of rock n' roll along with cool vintage jazz and blues?