At WJEF, how the latest new/old tracks make the rotation

From cheesy ‘80s to ‘50s country to one ‘90s song an hour, a look at how the latest 14 songs were added to the rotation in JEFF92’s continual oldies build-out from the halls of Lafayette Jeff

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AT WJEF, HOW THE LATEST NEW/OLD TRACKS MAKE THE ROTATION

It’s been a while since we’ve done this exercise, checking in on the evolving rotation at your favorite high school-run oldies radio station, WJEF.

I last posed this question to Jamie Long, director of Lafayette Jefferson High School’s radio and TV program and ultimate decision-maker at JEFF92, more than two years ago: So, at a student-run, not-your-typical-oldies station that concentrates on the ‘50s through the ‘80s, how does a song make the cut to be loaded into a rotation that already includes 4,370 one-hit wonders, deep cuts and pop classics?

Long is the third person in that seat since Bill Fraser launched things at 91.9 FM in 1972 and Randy Brist nurtured the program and the station for 34 years “from the halls of Lafayette Jeff.”

And the definition of an oldie keeps getting closer in the rear-view mirror, with JEFF92’s playlist creeping into the early-‘90s – more than a decade before any of the radio/TV students were born. Long said the additions are less about shakeups for the station’s format – “you know, three or four ‘50s, three or four ‘60s, three or four ‘70s and ‘80s,” he said – and more about making things deeper.

“What I want to do is more of a curating the decades that we already have,” Long said. “Finding the songs in those decades that weren't necessarily Top 10, Top 20 hits – maybe the Top 60 or Top 100. … I'm not ready to put on Dave Matthews and Hootie and the Blowfish and Limp Bizkit. The philosophy is to build out.”

Here's what he’s talking about, with 14 of the most recently added songs to the WJEF catalog and rotation.

“Sunday Morning,” The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)

“This was a suggestion from my good friend Keaton Bresnahan,” Long said. “This song encapsulates the band’s first album. The entire album is classic, of course, but I like Nico’s vocals on this track, and it has a cool ‘60s groove.” This makes the second song from the Velvet Underground added to the Jeff-92 lineup, after “Rock & Roll” from the band’s “Loaded” album went up a year ago, Long said.

“You Don’t Want Me Anymore,” Steel Breeze (1982)