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This month's donations:
We at Totally 80's would like to thank all of our loyal listeners for their support, and positive feedback. Thanks for making us part of your entertainment routine.
Your donation will help keep Totally 80's streaming on the internet, bringing you the music and memories of the 80's, and make it less of a personal financial burden to the people who try and keep the station running.
If you've already contributed, thank you and please keep helping us as much as you are able to in the future!
My interests these days, is listening to The Big 80's on Sirius radio and collecting all my favorite old 80's movies on DVD.
But my favorite activities and memories while growing up in Colorado during the 80's included the Atari & Intellivision Video Game Consoles.
Chucking quarter after quarter into arcade games like Galaga, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Frogger, Donkey Kong.
And of course, seeing, not just listening to the music with the debut of MTV. I was watching when "Video Killed The Radio Star".
Music
80's Concerts I Have Seen:
Def Leppard Night Ranger Loverboy Foreigner Styx Huey Lewis & The News Steve Miller Band
Movies
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The 80's redefined the teen movie as the box office was dominated by movies about growing up, fitting in, and discovering who you were and would become as a young adult.
Classic 80's movies of that genre included Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, War Games, Footloose, Better Off Dead, St. Elmo's Fire, The Karate Kid, Weird Science, Say Anything and Valley Girl.
Hollywood stars that began their careers in 80's movies included Brat Pack stars Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Emilio Estefez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Andrew McCartey.
We also became familiar with Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ralph Macchio, John Cusack, Michael J. Fox, Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman and Catherine Mary Stewart in more high school based films.
80's music stars also found their way to the silver screen with Prince starring in Purple Rain, Rick Springfield in Hard To Hold, ZZ Top with a cameo in the Back To The Future trilogy, Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan, among others.
Other top movies in the decade included Risky Business, Rainman, and Top Gun, all starring Tom Cruise, Beverly Hills Cop, 48 Hours and Coming To America featuring Eddie Murphy, Night Of The Comet, Strange Brew, Lethal Weapon, Ghostbusters, About Last Night, Gremlins, National Lampoon's Vacation, Twins, Dirty Dancing, and Good Morning Vietnam
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Have you ever owned and actually worn any of these items made popular in the 80's?
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Parachute or Spandex pants
Legwarmers
Checkered Vans
Dark Ray Ban Sunglasses
Gold Chains
Skinny Neck Ties, Especially the piano keyboard one
Thriller style leather jacket
Lace gloves
Acid Washed Jeans Swatches
Ocean Pacific fashionable, pastel-colored shirts
Or maybe you participated in one of these hot 80's only fads...
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Breakdancing
Atari or Intellivision Video Games
Ghettoblasters or Boomboxes (Thank god for iPods, my shoulders were killing me)
Clunky top loading, manually tuning VCR's that weighed about 65 pounds and cost $1200.
The Jane Fonda Workout Video (No doubt watched on above same clunky VCR)
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Television
The 80's had it's share of quirky series and sitcoms. After all, the 80's gave us Alf, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
But viewers were also tuned into more successful action adventures shows and dramas like Knight Rider, The A Team, Miami Vice, Dallas, and Dynasty.
Without a doubt, one of the most popular shows of the 80's was the comedy The Cosby Show. Other sitcoms included Perfect Strangers, Night Court, Family Ties, Magnum P.I., Empty Nest, Who's The Boss and the latter part of the decade premiered America's Funniest Home Videos.
And of course, there was always the late night weekend programs including NIGHT TRACKS!!!!, six hours of music videos airing on TBS including videos by black artists that MTV refused to play, or the American Gladiators, and I'm still trying to figure out if it was a game show, a reality series, or just an abundant display of testosterone and steroids at work. But I admit, I was hooked on it.
And while we watched the tube, we had more than our share of great television commercials and now legendary performers that remain an unforgettable testament to the era.
Who can forget Alex of Stroh's, Spuds McKenzie or Elvira tempting us to go buy beer, even if most of us weren't of age yet, Joe Isuzu's remarkable and unbelievable exaggerations, Clara Peller demanding to know "Where's The Beef?" or the speedtalking FedEx executive when it absolutely, positively has to be said in 15 seconds or less.
Books
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Popular authors of the 80's included horror creator Steven King, who had no fewer than ten bestsellers in the decade, including Cujo, Misery, The Tommyknockers, Christine and Pet Semetary.
Tom Clancy's political thrillers also did well during the decade of the Cold War as he hit the top 10 with Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger and Red Storm Rising.
Robert Ludham began his Bourne Identity trology, and Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" became the most controversial book of the decade, considered blasphemy by Muslims, the book was banned in India and burned in demonstrations in the United Kingdom.
In mid-February 1989, following a violent riot against the book in Pakistan, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran and a Shi'a Muslim scholar, issued a fatwa calling on all good Muslims to kill Rushdie and his publishers, or to point him out to those who can kill him if they cannot themselves.
Rushdie was placed under British police protection and remained in hiding until 1998.
Totally 80's Online 20,000 Listener Hours in May!!! Milestone just reached. And the train keeps on runnin' down the tracks!!! Thanks for the support!!! view more
PLEASE NOTE: This MySpace profile and the web station are about the artists and music of the 80's. We are not interested in promoting 80's cover bands or international artists that have no ties to the decade. Please do not ask to be added, for it will be denied.
Listen Now!!
We proudly present 'Totally 80's' Internet radio station. Just click the logo above to visit and listen.
To visit the official website of Totally 80's Radio, click
Totally 80's is the concept of former professional radio broadcaster Aaron Phillips who spent over 20 years in radio in Grand Junction, Colorado and Flagstaff/Prescott, Arizona. Aaron created the station with the goal to be the complete online 80's music alternative, regardless of era, genre or style. Rock, Pop, R&B even Jazz or Country Crossover... we enjoyed it all and you will hear it again here. As well as relive your memories of the world changing events of the 80's.
While most 80's radio stations offer a select genre of the 80's or play just a core group of 400 songs, Totally 80's concept allowed us to mix over 2700 songs in rotation, giving a variety unheard of anywhere else and with the ability for listeners to log on to our website and make interactive requests...
And the station's sound is
enhanced by professional radio voice artist Jeff Hutchens, whose imaging is
heard on over 100 stations around the nation.
The station streams 24/7 featuring all the biggest hits spanning the years 1980-1989, plus some rare recordings and album tracks that were seen in the early days of MTV or played on college radio.
The stream is hosted on Loud City, which assures that the artists receive their much deserved royalties.
They call the 80's "The Lost Decade", with forgotten fads, hairstyles and a collection of one hit wonder recording artists, but there will never be another decade like the 80's. And with our programming concept, we hope to make the memories of the decade as fun and fresh as it was when we were all living in the 80's.
The decade of the 80's... known for the end of the Cold War, America's dominance at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the dawning of the video music age with the debut of MTV, the emergence of the synthesizer pop music and the harder Heavy Metal rock sound2, the video arcade, the compact disc, the home VCR, the personal computer, the discovery of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, Max Headroom (TV's first computer animated personality), outrageous fashion ideas... some good (Levi's 501 Jeans)... some not (Parachute Pants?)... and who can forget New Coke?? *ack*
Grand Junction, Colorado was excited about our new shopping mall, and the international prestige that followed with the Coors Classic Bicycle Race. Hollywood had it's eye on Western Colorado as the area served as the backdrop in the Kevin Costner film, "American Flyers" and the music video "Cannonball" by Supertramp. Breakdancing was the new fad. And 80's Rock dominated the radio airwaves.
The 80's was responsible for some of Rock Music's Top selling albums (when they still sold vinyl LP's), like Michael Jackson's "Thriller", Madonna's "Like A Virgin" and The Police "Synchronicity". And movies that remain classics today like "Footloose", "Ghostbusters", "Beverly Hills Cop", "Back To The Future", "E.T.", "Good Morning Vietnam", Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "On Golden Pond" and "Flashdance".
The 80's also will be remembered for things that shaped the way we live today, the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident in Russia led the world toward safer energy alternatives and away from nuclear as an alternative, the discovery of the AIDS virus, leading to advances in treatment and possible cures in medical science, and the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, leading to a remodeling of the American Space program and the shuttle that would eventually play a key part in the construction of the International Space Station.
Yes... it all happened in the 80's.
Totally 80's brought back the 80's with the best music of the decade and more. Every song was a hit... every song, a classic. With only the best music from the best decade of the century. Totally 80's featured musicmakers like Bryan Adams, The Police, The Cars, Madonna, Huey Lewis & The News, Duran Duran, R.E.M., Pat Benatar, Billy Joel, The Gogo's, Depeche Mode, Devo, Journey, Loverboy, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Rick Springfield, Cyndi Lauper, and many, many more.
“Clearly, the 80s hold special memories for many listeners. Since launching an 80s program on WPLJ-FM seven years ago, we have seen first hand that adults have a seemingly insatiable appetite for music from that decade” said Tom Cuddy, VP of Programming for the ABC Radio FM Station Group.
It's All 80's, all the time. Totally 80's!!!!
Aaron is a 25 year veteran of professional radio, working markets in Western Colorado, and Northern Arizona and he is the winner of three Colorado Broadcasters Association awards for "Best Entertainment Program", given for a nightly request and dedication show he created and hosted in the early 90's.
Starting in radio during his senior year in high school in 1982, Aaron spent the best days and most formative moments of his life in the 1980's.
"I think I entered the 80's at the perfect time in my life. I turned 16 in 1980 and got my driver's license, so I spent a lot of time driving around listening to the radio from 1980 on the car radio. And later was parked in front of the TV mesmerized by music channels like MTV and video shows like Night Tracks! Yeah, I was there. I lived every moment of the 80's and loved most every one. So it's inevitable that a fan of the music of the 80's has many great memories that those songs remind me of.", Aaron says.
Aaron has also been generous with his time and recognition to help a number of charities over his career, including the American Diabetes Association's Walk For Diabetes, The American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer Awareness Week, Golden Retriever Rescue Of The Rockies and more recently, the New York Walk For AIDS.
All of the commercials you just heard above were written, recorded and produced by yours truly and shows the diversity of what one must be able to accomplish in radio to have been it as long as I did.
The last commercial was a little campy and silly, but I still laugh every time I hear it because people would walk up to me in public at events or even in the grocery stores and say "You're Mulletman!". Talk about making me blush.
As Program Director of Totally 80's, Aaron is the writer, producer and the voice behind the weekend countdown show "Aaron's Amazing 80's Top 40 Countdown".
More from Aaron: "Saturday mornings always had me awake early, tuned in to Q-FM from 8am till Noon, listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40. I would sit there and make a list of all the songs I liked as Casey counted them down, all the way to number one.
Kasem founded the popular American Top 40 franchise in 1970, hosting it from 1970-1988. Aside from his "long distance dedications", Kasem is best known by his signature sign-off "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."
After Kasey's weekly broadcast was over, I headed to the local record shop which stocked the Billboard Top 100 songs of the week on vinyl 45's and I would pay 89 cents each to buy the ones I wanted. Yeah, they call them records, and I have over 4000 of those 45 rpm singles in my music collection today. Come to think of it, most of my allowance was spent in Airtime.
My first car and driver's license came in 1980 when "Ride Like The Wind" was always on my radio. My first girlfriend and kiss when I was 17 remains immortalized in my memory by the song "I Love You."
Graduation... Central High School class of 1982. Our class song, "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey.
I got my first brand new car in 1983, which was actually a limited edition 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Recaro. Only 2000 were made that year with the cloth interior, T-tops and performance package and I drove mine off the dealership with just 35 miles on the odometer. I didn't keep my driver's license or that car very long. But the appearance of the car, and my career position as a night time radio DJ, spawned my on air nickname at the time, "The Night Rider".
The one thing about having that car. I never had to look hard for a date. It's the car. Chicks dig the car.
I spent most of the 80's as a radio DJ, beginning during my senior year in high school, playing all the great popular music I loved and I was exposed to so many genres of 80's pop as a result of my radio background.
I was cruising North Avenue listening to Def Leppard when most people had no clue who the band from England was or bands like Loverboy, Night Ranger, Survivor, Journey, Bon Jovi, the Canadian bands Saga and Aldo Nova and later some of the synth pop groups like Duran Duran, The Fixx, Culture Club, Berlin and others.
On the other side of the coin, I was also probably the only white guy in town who's cassettes in his car also featured some of the best R&B acts of the time which rarely received radio airplay in a mostly white small town. So my friends were jammin' along with me as we listened to Kool & The Gang, Cameo, Lakeside, Prince, Gap Band and Rick James.
With help from the cable TV network called Music Television, or MTV for short, the 80's brought us bands that stood the test of time... John Cougar Mellencamp, Huey Lewis & The News, U2, INXS, Madonna... and legendary artists who found renewed popularity, like Tom Petty, ZZ Top, Bruce Springsteen and Tina Turner.
The network debuted in 1981, and the five original VJ's (see if you can remember their names)soon became household names, if there was anyone under 19 in the home. All my friends would gather at my house after school to watch the videos since I was one of the few with expanded cable at my house.
As cool as MTV was in the beginning, it did hasten the downfall in the popularity of radio, and was not always popular in the eyes of the classic rock artists who thrived on radio airplay.
I had the chance to interview James Young of Styx a few years back, and his opinions on the MTV concept as well as the debacle that became Mr. Roboto can be heard here.
My first radio job came not long after, in May of 1982 during the last month of my Senior year of High School, working overnight weekends on a heritage AM station in Grand Junction, Colorado.
A couple years later I was featured in the following TV news spotlight on Grand Junction radio, while I was using the airname of Phillip Lynn.
It was with great pride in 2002, that I was instrumental in bringing the all 80's radio station to Grand Junction on KSTR, 96.1. Serving as Music Director and morning show co-host, we took a station that had been mired in last place, all the way to number one in just one three month Arbitron ratings period."
Who I'd like to meet:
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Bodacious Babes Of The 80's
So many beautiful women made their debut in the decade of the 80's. Women that remain beautiful today, but I can't get over my first crush I had on them in the 80's.
Who can forget fashion and swimwear models Kathy Ireland and Cindy Crawford, the playful seductiveness of Madonna, the eyes of singers Sheena Easton, Kim Wilde and actress Catherine Mary Stewart. The steamy movie scenes featuring actresses Demi Moore, and Kelly Preston or the eye popping Phoebe Cates in Fast Times, or the simply stunning Tiffany Amber Thiessen and the appropriately named Samantha Fox?
Even with all the big hair, crazy makeup and legwarmers, the 80's simply had the most beautiful women.
Iconic Men Of The 80's
There was no shortage of looks and brawn in the men of the 80's. Many popular actors of the past 25 years all began as stars in movies of the 80's. Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Matthew Broderick, Tom Cruise, Michael J. Fox, Will Smith all began their careers in movies of TV shows during the decade.
There were athletes who, while their careers were short, remain memorable and identified with the 80's. Brian Bosworth, Hulk Hogan and Mike Tyson to name a few. Plenty of muscle, some of it perhaps suspiciously enhanced before the now common ban of Steroids in professional athletes.
Other men of the 80's just remain as icons and trivia questions of the decade. How can you not see a photo of Weird Al Yankovic, Mr. T, Boy George, or Kevin Bacon in his Footloose skinny tie and not remember back to that decade.
Hello my sweet friend. Sorry i was away for too long. Its been a sad one for me but im ok. I hope all is well with you and your loved ones. I hope you have a wonderful and safe 4th of july. God bless you and your sweet family.
Hi Totally 80's Radio! A limited number of Special Edition Benny Mardones collector's packages are being offered to Benny's friends on MySpace! Check it out on Benny's page!!!
SHE'S OUT OF CONTROL WITH TONY DANZA, AND CHANCES ARE WITH ROBERT DOWNEY JR. ARE ALMOST AT A TIE WITH ME. THERE ARE SO MANY I HAVE BUT SO MANY I DON'T....MAKES IT FUN TO COLLECT KNOWING THERE ARE TONS OUT THERE I HAVE NOT EVEN SEEN YET!!!!
Hi, Totally 80's Radio! A limited number of Special Edition Benny Mardones collector's packages are being offered to Benny's friends on MySpace! Check it out on Benny's page!!!
HEY LOVE
THANKS FOR ADDING ME AS A NEW FRIEND!
I THINK YOUR PAGE IS SO COOL, AND I APPRECIATE
YOU CREATING A PAGE IN HONOR OF SUCH AN AWESOME ERA!
PEACE BABE FROM THE BEAUTIFUL LONE STAR STATE!
HUGS, ~FRAN
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