Class 95 and What I Think is its Downfall (Part 2)

Since the beginning of August 2013, this Media-crop radio station (adult contemporary) had significantly changed.

I listened for the “best mix of music”, but then I feel it’s no longer there. I am different from many other youths who always crave the very latest pop music, cause a few older music is great anyways.

This is the second part in why I do not recommend listening to this radio station for long periods of time, and then some. The main point I’m trying to make is in boldface. The first part deals with its change in weekend specials, and why I want the All Rock weekend back.

Okay, now the selection of music is becoming crappier. I’m so disappointed.

Overplayed Songs and a Repeating Playlist Makes Me Sick

Earlier this year I read the news that a new music director took over. Honestly, I thought they were going to diversify the music selection and not rotate latest songs so heavily, but it turned out to be worse than before. I don’t really know how people pick songs to air, but really, the playlist feels very repetitive. It feels like it’s set in a loop, like an audio file that repeats for some 12 hours, minus the DJ hosts. Because the scope of songs is now narrower and skewed towards the more recent, which I will now rant about.

In the good old days, a good song, I think, doesn’t repeat for more than one to three times a week at most, and not more than once a day. The only downside is that latest songs repeat so heavily I soon got sick of them.

Today, it seems like it’s the other way round. A few pop songs gets repeated every single day (sometimes twice a day) and soon I get sick of them, and probably other all-day listeners. This kind of rotation is quite unhealthy to me. What kind of logic would justify this playing habit? I don’t want to complicate things even further until nobody can understand my rant. (In 2011, I ranted about Taiwanese Hokkien dramas on national TV and it doesn’t make any sense. Ironically it is one of the most viewed posts on my blog, because I guess I mentioned so many shows by name)

Several songs are already overplayed. After a period of time, another set of songs will be overplayed. That includes Your Best 5 timeslot as well, which listeners “control” the playlist for the station. It replaced the commercial-free 95 minute Music Marathon, which I felt was better.

In September or October of 2013, for instance, Baby Baby by Amy Grant. Now a little less. But another example now would be Back for Good by Take That and Summertime Sadness by Lana del Rey (What happened to Video Games?).

Anyway, back to Media-c*ck Kla$$ 95’s song selection. The scope as far as I know, becomes narrower. All I get is mostly crap now, leaving good old music (some earlier than 1984, some in the present) in the dust, some only “returning” on weekends.

Why did you change to another version of a few songs?

Additionally, songs were played differently from last time (and by that I mean back in 2008). For instance, Teardrops on My Guitar by Taylor Swift (pop remix was used instead of the original), More than Words by Extreme (too long an ending made Media-co*k use the shorter radio edit, also heard on Gold 90.5FM), the coda for November Rain by Guns N’ Roses was never aired again (again, too long a song, blah blah blah). Maybe for once or twice they should play the original/alternate-if-there-are-two-versions versions. Otherwise, there will always be YouTube.

Fortunately, most songs are still the same good old versions. But I take issue with the few remaining ones.

I Love to Live in the Past

If only MediaCorp Radio can regress (and by that I mean don’t rotate songs so heavily, latest or not, widen the scope of its song selection, and in a few cases play songs as it was originally made), we would enjoy the music even better.

And if they somehow manage to bring back the All Rock weekend, I suggest they don’t limit the scope of the song selections to 1985 and later. Play older (earlier than 1985) songs like Rock the Casbah by The Clash, some old Aerosmith songs (Dream On, for instance), Soldier of Fortune by Deep Purple (I still don’t know about this song), etc, just like last time (these songs listed are only a small portion of what I heard when the All Rock weekend was still around, and maybe just on this Rock Weekend, if it ever comes back).

Anyway again, they should just diversify songs. Same with Gold 90.5FM and 98.7FM.

Conclusion

I guess some had moved to Kiss 92 FM (SPH-owned) and some turned to Internet radio because they are so frustrated with Class 95FM. Maybe I am feeling their pain. Oh, I am still torturing myself because I want to find out what the hell happened to this once good old station. I don’t blame the DJs for the change. I blame the management for this. I won’t be surprised if next year or so, Class 95 won’t be Singapore’s No. 1 English radio station anymore.

And another note: The FM reception is sh*tty, especially in eastern Singapore.

I mentioned so many songs by name, so that I can provide some evidence from my experience.

One more thing: Even if times are changing, Class 95FM should have no reason to completely dump songs released in approx. mid-1970s to 1985 (that Gold 90.5FM still plays), some of which were played on its R&B Weekend and the All Rock weekend, the only times I could hear them, and when these weekends were gone, so were these songs. IMO, it’s a failed way to stay fresh. Rival station, Kiss 92FM still plays some old early 80s songs as far as I know, while playing some of the latest songs.

~ by merlion444 on December 15, 2013.