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launched into Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy,” but kept cutting into it to take calls.

Sang’s history on both broadcast radio and other platforms made him a
logical early hire for Amp. When his show kicked off, Amp started to sound
more radio-like. There was a contest: Win free gas by guessing how high
prices were in various states. When Gayle’s “abcdefu” played, Sang mentioned that she’d be on the following night. There were callers,
including one decade-long fan of Sang who used to listen to him on KCHZ
(95.7 The Vibe) Kansas City. Sang came to us billed as a next-gen talent,
but hes now been doing this long enough to inspire at least a few
next-next-gen talents.

Other topics in the first hour included the Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa
copyright litigation, the long road to No. 1 for Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves,” and whether couples should work together (which prompted one team member to announce that he had never had a relationship). The best moments
of the 90 minutes or so that I heard were the personal ones. At that
moment, what the show sounded like was — in a good way — when a morning team broadcasts from a convention hallway: still formatted but a little
less regimented somehow. 

One of Sang’s other topics was why Sam Fender is “like Springsteen for our age.” One of the things that I’ve most hoped for from alternate radio platforms is that one of them would offer a hipper Top 40 format that
includes those acts not typically played on American CHR. Sang played Sam Fender and the new George Ezra. (In that regard, it reminded me of what I
liked about an early Sang employer, Goomradio.) I would definitely listen
to a Top 40 format similar to what I heard Sang play, but for now the
format goes away when the show ends.

Here was Sang’s music during the first 50 minutes or so of his March 9 show:

The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber, “Stay”
Charlie Puth, “Light Switch”
Gayle, “abcdefu” (the “forget you” version)
Glass Animals, “Heatwaves”
Lizzo, “Truth Hurts” 
Sam Fender, “Seventeen Going Under”
Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You”
Olivia Rodrigo & Joshua Bassett, “Breaking Free”


At last month’s Country Radio Seminar, almost every panel I attended
somehow gravitated back to the decade-old saw about radio being “the
original social network.” Those claims always sounded a little desperate,
but it’s gratifying to be reminded occasionally that social networks and other competitors sometimes want to be radio as well. All along, the race
has been between broadcasters ability to create experiences on other
platforms and their rivals ability to match radios lean-back functionality
and stationality.

For that reason, Ive also spent the last eight years telling broadcasters
not to ignore their digital rivals. None of this reportage of a new
service’s inchoate first days is meant to in any way dismiss a potential challenger on radio’s behalf. Amazon is still Amazon, and the presence of Sang indicates an intent to “do radio” that will likely become clearer in the weeks and months to come. Radio has its own lack of new toys and its
own UX issues (like the stopset) and some of those are 15 years old. 

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