Sock Hop Radio

I spent over fifty years in radio and spent the last 24 years before retiring in 2025 as General Manager at Saskatoon Media Group, managing two FM's and one AM. I began as a dj at a radio station in BC, then one more in BC followed by two in Alberta, and finally ended up permanently in Saskatoon where I kept coming back to the on-air booth because that's where it was always the most fun. The last 24 years I hosted The Sunday Sockhop on 98Cool-FM, four hours of the music I grew up with. When it signed off for the last time on December 31 2025, the notes started coming in: where do we go for this now? Sockhop Radio is my answer. Records from my huge cd and record collection, same era, no last show.

While Sockhop Radio will feature music from the 1950's, 60's, and 70's, I love the original Rock & Roll music (especially Doo-wop) from the mid-50's through the mid-60's because it never stopped sounding like itself. A 45 from 1959 still hits the room the same way it did when it was new. These are the records I pulled out of cardboard sleeves on dark quiet nights, the ones I've been programming and talking about my whole working life, and the ones that, when I'm honest about it, I just like better than most of what came after. If it sounds good, it goes on the air. That's been my rule since I started, and I'm not changing it now.

So, this station is mine, on my terms, via the World Wide Web. Every song chosen, every break voiced, every hour built the way I'd build any good radio show. The studio's smaller than it used to be and the request line's an email these days, but the job hasn't changed: pick the right song, say the right thing, get out of the way. Pull up a chair and let the turntables spin. The records are cued and we've got nothing but time.

"If you remember when this music came out the first time, welcome back. If you don't, you're going to recognize more of it than you might think. Welcome in. Enjoy."