Rock Radio Scrapbook


AIRCHECK OF THE WEEK
For week of August 31, 2014
Edition #799

Talent: FREDDY VETTE
Station: 
CJBQ Belleville, Ont.
Date: 
August 8, 2014
Time: 52:02 (unscoped)

(Photo courtesy Freddy Vette)

Focus groups, consultants, playlists, who needs 'em?

Freddy Vette has won listeners simply by playing the music he loves, for people who love the music.

On September 2, 2009, Vette began making waves with his '50s and '60s afternoon drive show at CJBQ. No 300-song, consultant-approved playlist here! Vette has dug deep to play the rock 'n' roll tunes forgotten by oldies/classic hits radio. Doo-wop, rockabilly, Motown, British Invasion, instrumentals, novelty tunes - you name it - Vette has played them all (he even makes Can-Con interesting). Those tunes, plus Vette's upbeat approach and personalized PAMS jingles adds up to a show more than worthy of the music and radio it celebrates.

Rock Radio Scrapbook asked Vette how his show got started...

"Here in the Quinte area, as CHUM faded off the dial in 2009, we also lost Peterborough's 980 KRUZ and Oldies 960 in Kingston. Both of those stations flipped to FM and moved from Oldies to the "Classic hits" format. I have made my living as a musician playing '50s rock and roll since 2002. When those stations faded away, I knew there was an audience that wasn't being served because I was meeting them face to face, venue to venue all over Ontario. Rock and Roll was/is alive, just not on radio.

That's exactly what I said to management when I approached 800 CJBQ in Belleville. Full-time country format at the time, I asked them to take a chance on a '50s/'60s Rock and Roll program. Sunday night at 8pm? Tuesday at Midnight? A nice specialty program at 3am on a Wednesday? I didn't care. I was just asking for an opportunity to reach an audience I knew were out there. (Full disclosure: I graduated from the radio broadcasting course at Loyalist College in 1992 and worked part-time at CJBQ while attending college. My illustrious radio career ended in 1992 after a 4-month stint at CKGB in Timmins.)

To my surprise, I was given an opportunity. A better one than I had imagined. Weekday afternoon drive, 4 till 6pm starting September 2, 2009. Within 3 weeks, it was expanded to 3 till 6, within a year, 3 till 7pm (it was expanded to 2-7 pm in 2014).

Thanks to the internet, I've been able to immerse myself in Rock & Roll radio from the past (read: fall in love) to inspire the Freddy Vette Show. Classic jingles, high energy delivery , characters, irreverent fun, callers, super-local information and the music. I've sat under the learning tree with Jungle Jay, Brian Skinner, Jack Armstrong, Cousin Brucie, Red Knight and others to make the program sound as authentic as possible. (Thanks, in large part, to this website.)

I have been given free reign with my playlist (Thank you CJBQ!!!). The hits (strictly from 1955 to 1970) mixed with seldom-heard songs, neglected Can-Con. (The Diamonds recorded more than just the Stroll and Little Darlin', who knew?) I also believe in music discovery for people over a certain age. Just because you may be over 50 years old doesn't mean you don't enjoy music that is new to you (from the 50s/60s). I take chances everyday with requests that I'm hearing for the first time on the air. It's always a musical adventure and I've learned that listeners also enjoy the unpredictability rather than the same limited list of tested hits churned out over and over....and over.

The program has been a success in ratings and revenue for Quinte Broadcasting. I really owe it to my program director Sean Kelly and owner Bill Morton."

Vette, who was born in 1972, got interested in the music of the '50s and '60s at a young age by listening to his parent's records of the era. He learned how to play the drums, the guitar and the piano, joined bands that played the music of his favourite era and then in 2002 started his own '50s and '60s band, Freddy Vette and The Flames. The group plays letter-perfect renditions of '50s-'60s songs with his wife Betty heading a "girl group" section within the band. Check them out, but now enjoy his radio show.

Lots of great songs here, including tunes by Fats Domino, Etta James, the Animals, the Beach Boys, Elvis, Tommy James, the Rascals, Ronnie Hawkins and even some rockabilly with Johnny Powers. Enjoy!

Hear Freddy Vette on CJBQ here.

(The Freddy Vette Collection)

 




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