The Infinite Dial

Every few years, I come across my perfect gold-based radio station. It plays the songs of the '70s and '80s that I grew up with, including many which have selected themselves off the radio in most places. Ideally, it's also somewhere other than the U.S., so that I can discover some records that were never on the radio here.

There probably aren't a lot of people for whom this sounds like the perfect radio station, but I know a few kindred spirits and they should be made aware of Western Australia's Gold MX, which I've been listening to for hours at a time since I discovered them late last week. Gold MX is a small-market outlet with what sounds like a deep list of '70s and '80s, a smattering of '60s and '90s and some unusual segues (Hendrix into Chris DeBurgh).

Here's a stretch of Gold MX from early Saturday morning local time:

Jimmy Nail, "Ain't No Doubt"
The Sweet, "Wig-Wam-Bam"
Mary Wells, "My Guy"
Oasis, "Don't Look Back In Anger"
Bread, "Sweet Surrender"
America, "You Can Do Magic"
T-Rex, "Ride A Wild Swan"
Dusty Springfield, "Son Of A Preacher Man"
Harpo, "Moviestar" (European oddity that's somewhere between Abba and Pilot's "Magic")
Suzi Quatro, "The Race Is On"
Dire Straits, "Walk Of Life"
Queen, "Flash's Theme (AKA Flash)"
Redgum, "I've Been To Bali, Too"
Steppenwolf, "Born To Be Wild"
Bee Gees, "Love So Right"
Roy Orbison, "Cryin'"
Eric Carmen, "She Did It"
Climie Fisher, "Love Changes Everything"
Hoodoo Gurus, "Good Time"
Rolling Stones, "She's A Rainbow"
Orleans, "Dance With Me"
Jon English, "Get Your Love Right"
Bananarama, "Robert DeNiro's Waiting"
Wilson Pickett, "In The Midnight Hour"
Gordon Lightfoot, "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"
Cher, "Believe"
Fleetwood Mac, "You Make Lovin' Fun"
Martika, "Love Thy Will Be Done"