Sloan’s Secret Stash

It happens to everyone. You hear a commercial and there's a song in it that sparks your memory, and you think, " Hey who sang that?" or maybe, "What a kick-ass tune, haven't heard that in years! Why haven't I heard that on the radio since?".

There are a slew of closely guarded secrets as to how why you don't hear some songs that were mighty popular in your youth and how radio stations pick the music they do play, but it generally boils down to what we call 'research'.

Music researchers, or 'consultants' are usually a group of skulking, slim-cigar-chomping men dressed in casual dinner jackets and polo shirts, who for some reason, can't be seen if you look directly at them. They gather together in vacant warehouses and dimly-lit backstreet pubs to contrive sinister plans as to how radio stations across the country will bow to their will. They then charge said victims (radio stations) scads of cash.

They start by picking what they believe is a good cross section of a particular radio format's (Classic Rock, in the LOON's case) target listeners. They then bring them together, ply them with salty and sweet bar appetizers, and proceed to play short clips of Rock And Roll hits. They'll ask these poor 300 or so unsuspecting lemmings a series of questions about each song. Their answers, fair reader, pretty much determine the playlist of many a radio station across the country.

Fortunately for you, Loonie, The LOON decries this snarky practice. We have TWO request shows during your day. One on your drive home with Kevin Key (lovingly called 'One For The Road') and the other I host: The All Request Electric Lunch. During these forays into danger, YOU ARE IN CONTROL. For the most part. Of course, Key and I do have the final say on what gets played. We have to weigh many things when you call for that request. Many times the song you've asked for simply isn't available in the digital realm we work in- and sometimes that stings a little, because we remember the song, we liked it and if we had it and the time was right, we might surely play it. To remedy this, I have created a weekly feature here on the website; Sloan's Secret Stash.

Each Humpday, I'll take one of your requests, try to dig it up in good quality video and post it.

Now if you're a fan of The LOON on Facebook, you may have seen a couple of posts by a guy named Derek. He has a keen ability to request songs and bands from the 80's that have either faded, or just been forgotten. His requests were the impetus for this series. So in honor of Derek, the first thing I'll break out of the secret stash is a band he asked for today: Giuffria. The song is 'Call To The Heart'.  Released in 1984, many of us mistook them for Journey. The tune peaked at #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985. The song resurfaced four years ago in the 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City' video game playing in 'heavy rotation' on the radio station 'Emotion 98.3'. The leader, Gregg Giuffria is commonly known for his 70's LA glam rock band 'Angel'. Check it out, it's one of the first 'Hair Band' performance videos.

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