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Backbeat Radio Broadcast on radio stations across Canada and the U.S.A. See below for a list. |
It's coming soon!
Our annual, year-end listener favourites show features songs listeners have told me they especially like.
Got a favourite? - send me an email and I'll get it on the show.
Backbeat is a one-hour radio show featuring vintage popular music. It's not about nostalgia. It's a fun and lively exploration of our shared music history with an emphasis on artists and records that have been underrated, forgotten or just ignored over the years.
We also play new music from emerging artists who honour that history. Music submissions are welcome. Send info and links to
Want to get an idea of the unique music featured on Backbeat? Check out our playlists. Even better, you can listen to shows from the past two months on demand at any time for free. Click here to see available shows.
This site is meant to be used as a resource so you can learn more about the music played on Backbest. The playlist includes links to articles and videos about specific records played. We also have links to some great sources of more general information for research, just scroll to the bottom of this page.
Backbeat was named Best Music Variety Show for 2023 by the National Community and Campus Radio Association. It is a favourite on radio stations across Canada and the United States as well as with on-line listeners all over the world because it is fun, informative and entertaining.
Backbeat is available for free to any radio station in the world - either broadcast or on-line, just fill out this simple form to get started or see more details here ... For breaking news follow backbeatradioshow on Facebook.
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Our Home Station CKHA-FM, 100.9 Haliburton, ON Sundays at 10 AM Eastern time |
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CFBW-FM Bluewater Radio 91.3FM Hanover, ON Sundays 8 PM Eastern time |
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At various times on: |
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CFIS FM Boomer Radio 96.1 FM Prince George, B.C. Thursdays 7 PM Pacific time |
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CHBB FM Voice of Bonne Bay |
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CKOL FM 93.7 FM Campbellford, ON Part of the overnight mix |
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CHSR FM 97.7 FM Fredericton, NB Sundays, 8 AM Atlantic time |
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CFMH-FM |
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MVPR
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| And Many More |
Backbeat is also distributed If you know of one not listed here, let us know! We'd love to list it. |
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CFRO |
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KGIG |
This week we've got drinkin' songs, redemption songs, blues songs, boogie songs and country chestnuts. We'll hear a Canadian group trying to sound British, who later pivoted to sound very American and a song from Brad Strang who doesn't sound like anybody else.
Here are links to some artist web sites and articles that give more detailed info on some of the songs or artists I've played recently.
*Note clicking on a link may take you to another web site in a new window or tab.
Steve Dawson web site
https://www.stevedawson.ca/
Sean Poluk web site
https://seanpoluk.com/
Jake Vaadeland & The Sturgeon River Boys tour schedule
https://www.jakevaadeland.com/#tour
The Story of the Zoot Suit
James Hunter/Bonnie Rait U.S. tour dates
https://www.jameshuntermusic.com/
Big Fancy and the Shiddy Cowboys on Bandcamp
https://bigfancy.bandcamp.com/album/the-legendary-loser-wins-again
Weepin' Dave and the Diamond Boys web site https://www.weepindave.com/
Ken Tizzard and Music for Goats - Whiskey Wednesdays https://kentizzard.com/
"Ducktails, Drive-ins and Broken Hearts - An Unsweetened Look at '50s Music" by Hank Davis
https://sunypress.edu/Books/D/Ducktails-Drive-ins-and-Broken-Hearts
Ronnie Douglas on LastFM: https://www.last.fm/music/The+Ronnie+Douglas+Blues+Band
Blue Moon Marquee web site: https://bluemoonmarquee.com/
Pat Johnson web site: https://patjohnson.ca/home
Here are links to web sites, blogs and podcasts that I use to research and learn more about the vintage music played on Backbeat. Use them to do your own research or even legally download some of the music.
Spontaneous Lunacy
A website designed to tell the entire history of rock ‘n’ roll music from its birth in 1947 to the present day, one song at a time. Reviewer Sampson looks at all the records he feels helped develop the rock style, both good and bad. As he says, it's for people who are obsessed with arcane details of records made seven decades ago that almost nobody heard at the time. I read it every day. He offers knowledgable, insightful, witty and sometimes scathing reviews with links to listen to or purchase the songs. Warning, you could spend hours reading this, Sampson has been at it for two years - posting every day until he mysteriously stopped in February 2024 after posting the final record for 1952. There's still a lot to read and let's hope he gets back at it soon
https://www.spontaneouslunacy.net/master-index/
A History of Rock in 500 Songs
An ambitious project by Andrew Hickey. He starts at 1938, so it isn't just rock, and each episode includes a number of related records so there will be way more than 500 songs by the time he's finished. Well written and well researched.
https://500songs.com/podcast/
Vocal Group Harmony Web Site
Their stated purpose is to "provide information about the rhythm and blues vocal groups of the 1930s, 1940s & 1950s and their records". To that aim they offer up hundreds and hundreds of pages of pictures, label scans, press clippings, commentary and free, downloadable music files they make from the original 78s (all are Public Domain). Check out the Article of the Month and the new Black Artists Videos page
https://www.vocalgroupharmony.com/ARTICLE.htm
Cocaine & Rhinstones
Cocaine & Rhinestones is a podcast about the history of country music made in the 20th century. It is not in chronological order. You can listen to episodes or read the transcriptions on this web site. Tyler Mahan Coe offers in-depth articles on country music and the people who made it. Another rabbit hole of reading (or listening). Tyler "took the summer off" at the end of season two and hasn't posted since but we assume he is busy researching - there's a lot of research.
https://cocaineandrhinestones.com/
Second Hand Songs
An excellent resource for finding out who recorded what and when. They are in the business of finding original copyright holders for those in the film and TV industries who want to licence songs, so they are quite accurate. Plus you can find original versions of hit songs you didn't even know had been recorded earlier.
https://secondhandsongs.com/
And don't forget there are many original articles on this site, check them out. If you have any suggestions for sites to add here, please shoot me an email, I'll have a look.