GALAXY VALLEY RADIO

The Firecracker 500 countdown was the July 4th countdown on WNEW, New York City’s rock & roll station. I remember listening to the countdown every year with my father from about 1988. It was fun and something really cool to listen to at the parks and while we waited for July 4th fireworks or traveling to and from out July 4th activities. Listening to the July 4th countdown became another activity I looked forward to doing on July 4th, along with the fireworks and parades.

WNEW did a really good job with the idea of counting down the best rock songs, and especially after #75, then you really started getting great song after great song. Guaranteed great rock & roll for the Fourth of July. I want to make a note right here, this is during a time when commercial rock & roll l radio stations were still pretty good.

I remember asking what he thought the number 1 would be and his response was “I think it’s going to be Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven”. He was right. Year after year Stairway to Heaven reigned supreme, and the lead-up to hearing Stairway was some of the best rock & roll ever made. There were some songs I associated hearing on the countdown because they were not in heavy rotation on the stations. Paradise by the Dashboard light, Funeral for a Friend are a couple examples.

WNEW’s countdown was July 4th and July 4th weekend, and my local rock radio station WPDH used to have their countdown on Labor Day Weekend. The last weekend of summer vacation before going back to school. I always like WNEW’s better, looking back, I think it was because July 4th was just more exciting and Labor Day weekend was kind of depressing being that last weekend before summer vacation ended and school started back up.

Sometime in the mid 1990’s, I was listening to the countdown with my father on WPDH on Labor Day weekend. The DJ on WPDH let the listeners know that we were at number 2 on the countdown, and then Stairway to Heaven played. I remember being in disbelief, the mighty Stairway to Heaven was dethroned after so many years of holding that number 1 spot on both stations. Layla by Derek & the Dominos was number one that year.

I was chatting with my dad the next day and Stairway to Heaven losing number one and how I was surprised by it. My dad said, “Let talk about that for a bit.” I don’t remember the exact words but do remember his point. In everything in the world there are records, sports records, box office records, TV ratings and Billboard charts, just to name a few, and all those records are kept for a reason. Records are meant to be broken. My dad also said, “And Layla is a very worthy song to not only break the record but to be number #1.” My dad was right. Stairway to Heaven’s #1 record on the countdown was now officially broken.

Over the years since then WENW changed its format to a all talk radio station, and WPDH moved their countdown to Memorial Day Weekend. And commercial rock & roll radio stations became, well more commercialized, and the countdown on July 4th kind of faded and disappeared from my July 4th activities ……….for a lot of years.

In 2021 WPDH had their Memorial Day 500 Countdown, and it showed just how commercialized that station had become. It was awful. I’ll give you an idea out of 500 classic rocks songs the Beatles charted two times. Two Beatles songs in the top 500 greatest rock & roll songs, and Hey Jude wasn’t one of them. Journey was on the list 8 times. I know this is personal tase, but there are not 8 Journey songs better than Hey Jude. Like I said commercial rock & roll radio stations became more commercialized, and here was the proof. It was disappointing reading down the list of songs WPDH picked that year.

Then a thought came into my head “Well if only someone who had a radio station and could do a better job, it’s one thing to say they did a bad job, but it’s another to prove it and do it better.” I created and hosted the first Firecracker 500 on the other radio station we were all on at the time and it aired on July 3rd and 4th 2021. The countdown was my highest listened to show on that station, beating out the Grateful Dead live from Soldier Field in 2015. My record number of listeners was broken.

We started Galaxy Valley Radio, after the other radio station closed, just over a year ago now. It was just in time for The Firecracker 500 Countdown. It’s become a fun yearly event for me again. Guaranteed great Rock & Roll for your July 4th, and 2024 will be no different. The Firecracker 500 Countdown will air from July 3rd though July 4th commercial free on Galaxy Valley Radio once again. This is perfect thing to put on and listen to during your BBQ’’s, your firework displays and parties.