THE CROP OVER fever is steadily spreading across the airwaves in Barbados.
Since the first album was released on May 2, new songs are being dropped by the day. Reports indicate that there are in excess of 100 songs on rotation at some stations.
Things are expected to get much hotter when the seasonal call-in programmes blast off at the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Starcom Network.
Fireworks kicks off on June 6 with regular host Denis Johnson and his morning on air partner Ayesha Gibson.
Director of programming at Starcom Network, Ronnie Clarke, told the WEEKEND NATION the People’s Monarch competition would be held once again and that it should start at the beginning of July.
Voice of Barbados (VOB) is expected to go 100 per cent Crop Over from July 1 as well.
“We could do that in June, once there is sufficient music there. Hopefully the tents will record, or be recorded this year and submit some of the work which is never recorded in studio, which broadens the prospects for those members of the tents that don’t get a chance to record otherwise,” Clarke stated.
He said the package normally offered by Starcom should not be affected by the merger of VOB and Gospel 97.5 into the Super Station.
“The gospel content is now from 6:30 in the evening, on average, right through to the morning. So the majority of the Voice of Barbados contribution will be in that day part and many of the events such as the Pic-O-De-Crop Finals, Party Monarch, Cohobblopot will potentially gravitate to Hott 95.3 FM. Not to say that those events will be ignored, but they will just be accommodated where we have the opportunity to place them and Hott FM is no second fiddle in any way . . . . It’s not to say that VOB will be Crop Over-free zone, far from it and neither will Hott FM be a Crop Over-free zone either,” Clarke explained.
CBC’s Festival Stage is expected to start off on July 4. Host Admiral Nelson said there would be no radio version this year. It will be the first time the provocative programme will not be coming on radio.
Admiral expressed concern at the quality of the music that has been released so far. He said essential elements like melody, holding keys and the like were missing.
He said the culprits were the smaller studios, which were producing music at a cheaper cost.
The veteran radio announcer said bumpers and drinking were the popular themes this year, and that a lot of artistes were sounding similar to previous years.
He said the songs portrayed women in a “degrading and disrespectful mode”, and that there were a lot of women singing those kinds of songs as well.
Repeated efforts to get more details on the Crop Over programme at CBC from senior management have been unsuccessful. (YB)
