Listening to WQDR (and WQFS from Guilford College) when I was in high school is what taught me that there was more to pop music than theTop 40.
Contrary to popular belief, real AOR stations were nothing like the miserable “classic rock” format that they morphed into. Although they did play some hippie rock that was already past its “sell by” date, there was at least some variety to their interpretation of it–not just the same 17 Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin songs over and over again.
And they also looked to the present and future by playing artists like Elvis Costello, the Clash, and even Earth, Wind and Fire (which just didn’t happen on rock stations in 1979 when all music by African American acts was assumed to be “disco”). They gave their listeners credit for much more sophistication than commercial radio stations do now.
It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was better than most commercial radio before or since.
Try KCRW on for size. The website’s kind of sucky,but the wide variety of music is terrific,hosted by numerous shows just waiting for you to sample. Any station that plays “Funkier Than A Mosquito’s Tweeter” by Nina Simone must be alright. đ