Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio

By Alan Haber – Pure Pop Radio

Next week, we celebrate the origins of Alan Haber’s Pop Tunes Deejay Show, and look back at an iconic on-air interview with The Knack’s late leader Doug Fieger during Pure Pop’s Retro Week.

Flashback to 1998 with The Knack’s Doug Fieger
On Wednesday, October 11 at 9 pm ET we turn the broadcast dial back to November 28, 1998, when The Knack’s Doug Fieger joined me on my weekly Pure Pop Radio show on WEBR. This was a big interview for me; I was a big fan of The Knack and always longed to find out more about their records and how they were made. I found out about that and a whole lot more, as Doug took me on a pop and roll journey, the effects of which have stayed with me to this very day.

The Knack’s then-current album Zoom had been released just five months prior to the interview, and was an on-air and personal favorite of mine. The pulsating opener, “Pop is Dead,” was a familiar spin during the weekly Pure Pop Radio shows. Doug and I spoke about the album, Doug’s writing process, the kinds of music he liked–he had an affinity for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack–and his early ambitions: he had wanted to become an artist, and was an actor in his youth, performing in plays in Detroit at the Vanguard Playhouse. He even performed Shakespeare.

During the interview, I played many Knack classics, four of which you will hear: the aforementioned “Pop is Dead”; “We are Waiting” from Round Trip; “Terry and Julie Step Out” from Zoom; and a cover of Badfinger’s “No Matter What,” which the Knack recorded for Copper Records’ 1996 release, Come and Get It: A Tribute to Badfinger.

Spend an hour next Wednesday night at 9 pm ET with me and The Knack’s Doug Fieger in an interview first broadcast on the weekly Pure Pop Radio show on WEBR on November 28, 1998. It’s a good one.

The Pop Tunes Deejay Show’s Origins
Next Tuesday and Thursday nights at 8 pm ET, I’m running the very first Pop Tunes Deejay Shows, originally broadcast in August and November of 2015. The Pop Tunes Deejay Show was a bit different during this first run of episodes, but basically the same show you’ve come to know and love.

On Tuesday, October 10 at 8 pm ET, you will hear show number one, featuring sets devoted to ELO Pop, Fab Sounds, and much more. Show number two rolls next Thursday night at 8 pm ET with sets spinning songs with the word “hello” in the title, and a survey of new tunes added to the Pure Pop Radio playlist, including tracks from Sports Fan, Michael Carpenter, The Cherry Drops, The Nines, and many more.

And then…
…I am taking next week off to smell the roses, patch cracks in the ceiling, and to focus on other things that need tending to, so make a date to take a look through our pages at the many hundreds of reviews, articles and information about Pure Pop’s various activities through the years.

When I get back on Monday, October 16, I’ll dive right back in to business, preparing a brand-new show airing exclusively right here on this site and scribing plenty of reviews and articles about the melodic pop music that you love. And working up all-new editions of the Pop Tunes Deejay Show and Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation.

Enjoy next week’s retro shows, and I’ll see you back here with bells on (not literally, of course) on Monday, October 16. Have fun!

Pure Pop Radio’s signature shows, Alan Haber’s Pop Tunes Deejay Show, playing the latest and greatest melodic pop songs from today and across the decades, and Pure Pop Radio: In Conversation, the premiere Internet melodic pop talk show, air weekly on Pop that Goes Crunch Radio.

Listen to the Pop Tunes Deejay Show on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 pm ET (two different shows every week); In Conversation airs every Wednesday night at 9 pm ET. Don’t miss a minute!

Tune in to Pop that Goes Crunch Radio by clicking on the following snazzy-looking button: