Friday nights at 8 And Saturday nights at 10 & 11 (bonus episode) on Illinois Classical, FM 90.9.
The show, simply put, is a celebration of the golden age of the hi-fi and beyond! It's American popular music from the 1950s and 1960s with a few modern numbers thrown in for good measure.
Be here this week for The Atomic Age Cocktail Party for a special listener-suggested program. We’re calling the show Atomic Boptails…a look at how be-bop music evolved throughout the hi-fi era. We’ll hear from Dizzy Gillespie, Gene Krupa, Cannonball Adderley, and many more.
This week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, It’s Easy to Remember; songs from the hi-fi era about memories and the act of remembering. We’ll hear from Eartha Kitt, The Four Freshmen, Frankie Laine, and many more.
Coming up on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, the spotlight is on songwriter Frank Loesser…the man behind Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and lots of other favorites from the movies and Broadway. We’ll hear from Julie Andrews & Carol Burnett, Chet Baker, The Four Aces, and many others.
On The Atomic Age Cocktail Party this week, it’s “Lounge On The Rocks.” We look at that strange time when lounge artists had to deal with changing musical tastes when popular music was moving away from American Songbook standard to rock, pop, and R&B. We’ll hear from Julie London, Wayne Newton, Sammy Davis Jr. and many others.
This week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, you’re in for a laugh. It’s a show titled Comedy Tonight! We pull out some of the best comedy records of the hi-fi era from some legends of the comedy scene. We’ll hear from Bob Newhart, Nichols and May, Mort Sahl, and many others.
Coming up on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, it’s a Numbers Game. A look at tunes from the hi-fi era that use all sorts of numbers in their titles. We’ll hear from Ray Charles, Nelson Riddle, Bobby Darin, and many more.
This week, on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, we’re Mad About Mercer…Johnny Mercer that is. We take another deep dive into the songs of one of the most important lyricists of the hi-fi era. We’ll hear from Tony Bennett, June Christy, Aretha Franklin and many more.
Coming up, on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, a look at the 1990s Lounge Revival. A time when folks were rediscovering the sounds of the hi-fi era and classic Atomic Age artists were being pop stars again. We’ll hear from Joey Altruda, Pat Boone, Combustible Edison, and many more.
On The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, it’s That Nelson Riddle Touch. Another look at the one of the great arrangers of the hi-fi era and all the talented people he worked with. We’ll hear from Nat King Cole, Jack Jones, Peggy Lee, and many more.
Coming up on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, we’re keeping things Light and Breezy. It’s an hour of snappy songs from the hi-fi era, all performed with a light touch. We’ll hear from Barney Kessel, Blossom Dearie, Bobby Hackett, and many more.
Jason Croft has been collecting, enjoying, and programming lounge, easy-listening, and other music of the Atomic Age for over two decades. Now he is sharing this genre with you every Saturday and Sunday night with the Atomic Age Cocktail Party on WILL-FM. When he’s not knee-deep in his record collection, he’s the Technical Director for The 21st, local host for Here and Now, and one of the voices of AM580 on the weekends.
Campbell Hall
300 N. Goodwin
Urbana, IL 61801
217-333-7300
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