Short Version: The Tiki Bar was a monthly music program that I hosted, airing on Sundays from 2011-2018 on community radio station WGXC, 90.7 FM, Acra, serving Greene & Columbia counties in the Hudson Valley of New York State.
Long Version: I’ve always loved music. Going back to my childhood in suburban central New Jersey, I spent hours playing my oldest sister’s Beatles and Beach Boys 45s and listening to top 40 on WABC and oldies on WCBS-FM. Sometimes, I’d blast the tunes out my bedroom window to the street below. When my uncle Russ gave me a cassette tape recorder as a gift, my fate as a future programmer was sealed.
I got my start in radio during college. I had a couple of music shows, “The Rock ‘N Roll Revival” and “School Days,” on WWCU and WCUA at Catholic University, in Washington, DC. At different times, we had an AM and an FM signal. You never knew how many people could actually hear the station. We even had to wire the dorms. I got a lucky break and also deejayed a number of times at the campus rathskellar. I made lots of friends through the station including, most significantly, the fellow programmer who became the love of my life.
Fast forward more than a quarter century to 2009. I met Tom Roe on Warren Street in Hudson and he told me that there was an effort to get WGXC, a community radio station, on the air. As soon as I heard this, I knew I wanted to get involved.
I helped Patrick Doyle and a crew of volunteers outfit Basilica Industria (now Basilica Hudson) for a new year’s eve fundraiser at the end of 2009. I had an early deejay slot at the event that evening.
During 2010, I helped plaster and paint the studio at 704 Columbia Street in Hudson and participated in the station’s September “barnraising.” In October, I did a webstream from the Germantown Community Farm. In December, I did my first web stream from the WGXC studio, then another on January 16, 2011.
My first on-air broadcast was on March 20, 2011, shortly after WGXC went on the air on February 26, 2011. The station, located at 90.7 FM, Acra, serves some 78,000 listeners in Greene and Columbia counties in New York’s Hudson Valley.
When I applied for a show, I knew I wanted to again be a music programmer. I called my show The Tiki Bar, evoking memories of good times had at such establishments on Florida’s Gulf Beaches and in other locales around the globe. I described the show’s format as follows:
An intoxicating mix of tropical, surf and toe-tapping tunes, the Tiki Bar’s lively playlists include mambo, soca, calypso, bossa nova, vocal and instrumental surf, Hawaiian, exotica, blues, soul, pop, and whatever else washes up on shore.
The program originally aired the third Sunday of the month from 5-7 pm, then shifted to 6-8 pm. It continued monthly until August 21, 2016 when I decided I wanted a break and to give others an opportunity to be heard. But after about five months away, I was back. The Tiki Bar returned for several pop-up editions on Sunday afternoons beginning on January 8, 2017. The last show aired on October 21, 2018.
I’m so very grateful to the station for having given me the opportunity to again get on the air after all those years and to have fun on the radio.
Having a monthly, weekend, time slot worked well for me since at the time I was in New York City during the week and Columbia County on the weekends. It also gave me more time to think about and prepare what I was going to play. Sometimes I prepared extensively; other times, I just loaded up a bunch of records and winged it. I always tried to keep it interesting, playing deep album cuts, in addition to some hits, and avoiding playing the same song twice (except for ones I really liked).
Below is a list of how often different artists were played. Yeah, I know, it’s a little out there that I catalogued all this, but it helped with tracking which songs had been played.
On the pages of this site are playlists for all but the first of the 80 Tiki Bar broadcasts. Audio links for many of the shows can be found by searching the WGXC Audio Archive.
Here’s to an endless summer of fun, surf, and sand. Cheers.
| Top Featured Artists on The Tiki Bar | Number of Plays |
| Tito Puente and his Orchestra | 40 |
| Susan SurfTone (7 in one show) | 38 |
| The Mighty Sparrow | 36 |
| Byron Lee and the Dragonaires | 34 |
| The Rolling Stones | 29 |
| Martin Denny | 25 |
| The Beach Boys | 24 |
| The Aqua Velvets | 24 |
| Tikiyaki Orchestra | 22 |
| Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass | 20 |
| Sergio Mendes (& Brazil ’66) | 20 |
| The Ventures | 20 |
| La Luz | 19 |
| Willie Rodriguez (& Int’l Stars; w/L. Casino) | 19 |
| Lord Kitchener | 19 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 18 |
| The Beatles (7 in one show) | 18 |
| Patti Smith | 17 |
| Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings | 17 |
| Celia Cruz | 17 |
| Stan Getz | 16 |
| The Kinks | 16 |
| Aretha Franklin | 15 |
| Prom Queen | 15 |
| Antonio Carlos Jobim | 15 |
| Etta James | 14 |
| The Rascals | 14 |
| Beach Day | 14 |
| Elvis Costello | 13 |
| Ramones | 13 |
| Machito and his Orchestra | 12 |
| Dick Dale (and his Deltones; w/S.R. Vaughan) | 12 |
| Link Wray | 12 |
| Squirrel Nut Zippers | 11 |
| Phantom Operators | 11 |
| Astrud Gilberto | 11 |
| Graham Parker | 11 |
| Miriam Makeba | 11 |
| Brave Combo | 11 |
| Duane Eddy | 11 |
| Santo & Johnny | 10 |
| The Hula Honeys | 10 |
| Dennis Brown | 10 |
| The Torquays | 10 |
| The Drifters | 10 |
| Bobby Darin | 10 |
| Xavier Cugat | 10 |
| Mongo Santamaria | 10 |
| The Aquadolls | 10 |
| Edmundo Ros and his Orchestra | 9 |
| Tacocat | 9 |
| Perez Prado | 9 |
| Freddy Cannon | 9 |
| The Surfaris | 9 |
| Burning Spear | 9 |
| Amy Winehouse | 9 |
| Jimmy Cliff | 9 |
| Tom Waits | 9 |
| Louis Prima and Keely Smith | 9 |
| Laura Nyro | 8 |
| Brazilian Girls | 8 |
| Talking Heads | 8 |
| The Left Arm of Buddha | 8 |
| The Yardbirds | 8 |
| Enoch Light and the Light Brigade | 8 |
| The Bird and the Bee | 8 |
| Thom Starr and the Galaxies | 8 |
| Alfred Apaka with Danny Stewart’s Hawaiians | 8 |
| Billy Preston | 7 |
| The Slackmates | 7 |
| The Bomboras | 7 |
| Atomic Mosquitos | 7 |
| Kenny Sasaki & the Tiki Boys | 7 |
| Joäo Gilberto | 7 |
| Jan & Dean | 7 |
| Howlin’ Wolf | 7 |
| Nick Lowe | 7 |
| Solomon Burke | 7 |
| Sade | 7 |
| Stevie Wonder | 7 |
| Eddie Cochran | 7 |
| Bob Dylan | 7 |
| The Dave Clark Five | 7 |
| Jimmy Buffett | 7 |
| Bella’s Bartok | 7 |
| Bob Marley & the Wailers | 7 |
| Chuck Berry | 6 |
| Marvin Gaye | 6 |
| Ella Fitzgerald | 6 |
| Eilen Jewell | 6 |
| Yma Sumac | 6 |
| Bill Black’s Combo | 6 |
| Ivy Pete and his Limbomaniacs | 6 |
| The Turtles | 6 |
| Harry Belafonte | 6 |
| Bo Diddley | 6 |
| Machel Montano and Xtatik | 6 |
| Beck | 6 |
| George Symonette | 6 |
| The Troggs | 6 |
| King Short Shirt / Lord Short Shirt | 6 |
| Ingrid Lucia and the Flying Neutrinos | 6 |
| Ray Charles | 6 |
| Ronnie Spector | 6 |
| Aqualads | 6 |
| Petula Clark | 6 |
| Rhythm Rockers | 6 |
| The Surfmen | 6 |
| Paul Revere and the Raiders | 6 |
| Jefferson Airplane | 6 |
| Tsunamibots | 5 |
| Tony Bennett | 5 |
| Jerry Cole and his Spacemen | 5 |
| The Aquamarines | 5 |
| Dean Martin | 5 |
| Johnny Farina | 5 |
| Katharine Whalen’s Jazz Squad | 5 |
| Joe Cocker | 5 |
| Arthur Lyman | 5 |
| John Lee Hooker | 5 |
| Elmore James | 5 |
| Girl in a Coma | 5 |
| Grady Martin and the Slew Foot Five | 5 |
| Les Paul and Mary Ford | 5 |
| Pepito Pavon Orchestra | 5 |
| Natural Dreams | 5 |
| Hot Sardines | 5 |
| Otis Redding | 5 |
| The Hula Hawaiians | 4 |
| Zee Avi | 4 |
| Meiko | 4 |
| Connie Francis | 4 |
| Marianne Faithfull | 4 |
| Combustible Edison | 4 |
| Asleep at the Wheel | 4 |
| B-52s | 4 |
| The Island Serenaders | 4 |
| Abby Lappen | 4 |
| Enrico Domingo & his big band | 4 |
| Buena Vista Social Club | 4 |
| Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes | 4 |
| Charlotte Gainsbourg | 4 |
| Warren Zevon | 4 |
| Belmonte and his Afro American Music | 4 |
| Jerry Vale | 4 |
| Fiona Apple | 4 |
| John Lennon | 4 |
| David Johansen | 4 |
| Yellowman | 4 |
| Ian Hunter | 4 |
| Johnny Poi and his Surfboarders | 4 |
| Benny Goodman Orchestra | 4 |
| Johnny Pacheco | 4 |
| Pretenders | 4 |
| Bob Freedman and his Group | 4 |
| The Elisabeth Waldo Group | 4 |
| Lord Foodoos & his Calypso Band | 4 |
| The Echo Friendly | 4 |
| Joe Cuba Sextette | 4 |
| Steve Clayton | 4 |
| Joe Jackson | 4 |
| Dionne Warwick | 4 |
| The Fabulous Thunderbirds | 4 |
| Isley Brothers | 4 |
| Pete Fountain | 4 |
| King Prince & the Islanders | 4 |
| The Monkees | 4 |
| Arthur Murray Orchestra | 4 |
| Lene Lovich | 4 |
| David Byrne | 4 |
| Kimmy & Bobby (Monster Fighters) | 3 |
| The Slickee Boys | 3 |
| The Who | 3 |
| Los Straightjackets | 3 |
| Nat King Cole | 3 |
| Blues Magoos | 3 |
| The Searchers | 3 |
| Jayson | 3 |
| Bindley B. | 3 |
| The Astronauts | 3 |
| Don Tiki | 3 |
| Roy Smeck | 3 |
| Cutty Flam | 3 |
| The Stooges | 3 |
| Al Green | 3 |
| Louis Armstrong | 3 |
| Impressions | 3 |
| Toots & the Maytals | 3 |
| John Prine | 3 |
| The Evanstones | 3 |
| Peter Ram | 3 |
| Pete Seeger | 3 |
| Paquito d’Rivera and his Orchestra | 3 |
| James Brown | 3 |
| Alice Cooper | 3 |
| Wilson Pickett | 3 |
| Buckwheat Zydeco | 3 |
| Cheap Trick | 3 |
| Robert Roker and the Calypso Playboys | 3 |
| Dave Grusin | 3 |
| Beth Orton | 3 |
| The Surf Weasels | 3 |
| Box Tops | 3 |
| Chris Isaak | 3 |
| Andy Williams | 3 |
| Pete Balboa and the Nassau Palms | 3 |
| Norah Jones | 3 |
| Frankie Carle and his Orchestra | 3 |
| Blondie | 3 |
| Ross Talbot | 3 |
| Chet Baker | 3 |
| The Ronettes | 3 |
| Elvis Presley | 3 |
| The Four Seasons | 3 |
| Brian Hyland | 3 |
| Lead of Foxes | 3 |
| The Velvet Underground with Nico | 3 |
| Neil Young | 3 |
| Lesley Gore | 3 |
| The Mighty Duke | 3 |
| Clifton Chenier | 3 |
| Pierre Noles & his Orchestra | 3 |
| The Hold Steady | 3 |
| Rodriguez | 3 |
| Arthur Conley | 3 |
| The Fifth Dimension | 3 |
| Laura Veirs | 3 |
| Ramon Marquez and his Orchestra | 3 |
| Moki Kaaihui and his Orchestra | 3 |
| Hole | 3 |
| Dusty Springfield | 3 |
| George Benson | 3 |
| Dixie Cups | 3 |
| Junior Brown | 3 |
| Standells | 3 |
| Lorde | 3 |
| Arrow | 3 |
| Los Indios Tabajaras | 3 |
| Al Hirt | 3 |
| New York Dolls | 3 |
| Eloise Lewis and her Goombay Trio | 3 |
| Joao Gilberto | 3 |
| Susan Tedeschi | 3 |
| Carole King | 3 |
| Duke Ellington | 3 |
| Corrine Bailey Rae | 3 |
| Dr. John | 3 |
| The Supremes | 3 |
| Lloyd Price | 3 |
| Lou Christie | 3 |
| Francis Lai | 3 |
| Patsy Cline | 3 |
| Chaquito and his Orchestra | 3 |
| Jose Madeira and his Orchestra | 3 |
| The Islanders | 3 |
| Lera Lynn | 3 |
| Rafael Seijo and his Charanga Orchestra | 2 |
| Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 | 2 |
| Argueso and his Orchestra | 2 |
| Calypso Gary | 2 |
| Gail Harris and the Wailers | 2 |
| Jackie Gleason | 2 |
| Martin Cilia | 2 |
| Guadalajara Brass | 2 |
| Quartetto Gelato | 2 |
| Swingin’ Medallions | 2 |
| Castaways | 2 |
| Knickerbockers | 2 |
| Rare Earth | 2 |
| Crazy Elephant | 2 |
| Spanky and Our Gang | 2 |
| Small Faces | 2 |
| Diego Obregon Grupo Chonta | 2 |
| King Creole | 2 |
| Harry James Orchestra | 2 |
| Carmen Miranda | 2 |
| Apollon Quartet | 2 |
| Ana Caram | 2 |
| Dave Brubeck Quartet | 2 |
| Classics IV | 2 |
| Sammy Davis, Jr. | 2 |
| Ravi Shankar | 2 |
| Boubacar Diebate | 2 |
| Pink Martini | 2 |
| Fountains of Wayne | 2 |
| Josephine Premice | 2 |
| Rosemary Clooney | 2 |
| Johnny Rivers | 2 |
| The Accelerators | 2 |
| Citizen Cope | 2 |
| Sly & the Family Stone | 2 |
| King Eric and his Knights | 2 |
| Darwin David | 2 |
| The Doors | 2 |
| Three Dog Night | 2 |
| Walter Wanderley Trio | 2 |
| Percy Faith Orchestra | 2 |
| Luis Bonfa | 2 |
| Bonnie Raitt | 2 |
| Human Sexual Response | 2 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 2 |
| The Surfriders | 2 |
| The Catholic Girls | 2 |
| The Lovin’ Spoonful | 2 |
| Peter and Gordon | 2 |
| ? from Mambo Cha Cha, Riviera Records | 2 |
| Ben E. King | 2 |
| Happenings | 2 |
| Rufus Wainwright | 2 |
| The Barbarians | 2 |
| Sinead O’Connor | 2 |
| The Heptones | 2 |
| Dinah Shore | 2 |
| The Stylistics | 2 |
| Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas | 2 |
| Lord Flea and his Calypsonians | 2 |
| Keith Richards | 2 |
| ELO | 2 |
| The Steve Miller Band | 2 |
| Millard Thomas Group | 2 |
| Laurindo Almeida | 2 |
| Ases Do Ritmo | 2 |
| The Grateful Dead | 2 |
| The Argentine Orchestra and Singers | 2 |
| The Andrew Sisters | 2 |
| Peggy Lee | 2 |
| John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers | 2 |
| Gary Lewis and the Playboys | 2 |
| Gene Krupa | 2 |
| Elton John | 2 |
| Sabina | 2 |
| Buddy Holly and the Crickets | 2 |
| Nina Diaz | 2 |
| She | 2 |
| The Mamas and Papas | 2 |
| The Tradewinds | 2 |
| Love | 2 |
| Eric Burdon & the Animals | 2 |
| The Champs | 2 |
| The Temptations | 2 |
| Anna Burch | 2 |
| Jarrod Dickenson | 2 |
| George Harrison | 1 |
| Jerry Miller | 1 |
| Willie Nelson | 1 |
| Paul McCartney | 1 |
| Blaire Alise & the Bombshells | 1 |
| Esy Morales and his Latin Rhythm Orchestra | 1 |
| Faye Adams | 1 |
| Buddy Guy | 1 |
| The Sandals | 1 |
| Billy Valentine & Jackie Smiley | 1 |
| Vince Guaraldi Trio | 1 |
| Fun Boy Three | 1 |
| Jona Lewie | 1 |
| Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | 1 |
| Brand New Luddites | 1 |
| Percy Sledge | 1 |
| Sam & Dave | 1 |
| Andrew Strong | 1 |
| Generation X | 1 |
| Barry White | 1 |
| Bobby Freeman | 1 |
| Gar Francis | 1 |
| The Moody Blues | 1 |
| Adele | 1 |
| Johnny Marr & The Healers | 1 |
| The Clash | 1 |
| Lowell Fulson | 1 |
| R.E.M. | 1 |
| The Shangri-Las | 1 |
| Pamela Davis | 1 |
| Mike Daly and the Planets | 1 |
| Don Ho | 1 |
| The Tymes | 1 |
| Ellis Regina | 1 |
| Goldie & the Gingerbreads | 1 |
| The Art Mooney Big Band | 1 |
| The Debutantes | 1 |
| Lord Invader | 1 |
| Preservation Hall Jazz Band | 1 |
| The Hollies | 1 |
| Frank Sinatra | 1 |
| Nancy Sinatra | 1 |
| Lucinda Williams | 1 |
| Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | 1 |
| Bing Crosby | 1 |
| Oscar Lopez | 1 |
| Wanda Sa | 1 |
| Camille Howard | 1 |
| Tito Rivera and his Cuban Orchestra | 1 |
| Pharrell Williams | 1 |
| Roy Young | 1 |
| B.B. King | 1 |
| Clarence Carter | 1 |
| Aaron Neville | 1 |
| C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band | 1 |
| Jimmy Charles | 1 |
| The Spy Tones | 1 |
| The Ides of March | 1 |
| The Original Trinidad Steel Band | 1 |
| Trinidad Bill | 1 |
| Alfredito and his Orchestra | 1 |
| Sheila Chandra | 1 |
| Varsity Latin Orchestra | 1 |
| Discoteque Orchestra | 1 |
| Jamaican All-Stars | 1 |
| Rene Cabel and his Orchestra | 1 |
| Denise Belfon | 1 |
| Cream | 1 |
| Chad and Jeremy | 1 |
| Brenda Lee | 1 |
| Buffalo Springfield | 1 |
| Earth, Wind & Fire | 1 |
| Nina Simone | 1 |
| Esquivel | 1 |
| Jimmy Scott | 1 |
| Allan Welch | 1 |
| Lou Reed | 1 |
| Peter Tosh | 1 |
| Wavesauce | 1 |
| Red Baraat | 1 |
| Outer Space Heaters | 1 |
| Gerald Wilson | 1 |
| Robert Palmer | 1 |
| The Love Singers | 1 |
| ABBA | 1 |
| Tommy James and the Shondells | 1 |
| Perry Como, Ted Weems & Orchestra | 1 |
| Mark Lindsay | 1 |
| Les Fradkin | 1 |
| Tsunami of Sound | 1 |
| The Lounge Lizards | 1 |
| Raylene and the Blue Angels | 1 |
| Steven Garrick and his Party Twisters | 1 |
| Leo Addeo | 1 |
| The Sultans | 1 |
Story By Jim 
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