The Acoustic Storm In The Press

Parets likes his music unplugged

By Anthony Violanti
Ocala Star-Banner (Gainesville-Ocala, FL)
October 21, 2007

Classic rock without the amplifiers.

That might be the best description of Jeff Parets’ own little radio revolution. Parets is the host of the nationally syndicated program, “The Acoustic Storm,” a three-hour show heard locally at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Sundays on WIND-FM 95.5.

The format takes classic rock icons, such as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac and strips down their sound.

Instead of the usual hit singles or album tracks, Parets plays rare acoustic and live performances.

“I’ve always liked acoustic and unplugged performances; it just connects with me on a pure level,” Parets said by telephone from Phoenix. He has worked in radio since the late 1970s and developed the acoustic programming concept about a decade ago.

“These performances, I think, make these artists more real,” Parets said. “Part of the appeal is that it’s more intimate and human. In a live performance, there are no re-takes or smoothing things out in a studio.”

Eventually, the program caught on, and now “The Acoustic Storm,” is syndicated to about 55 radio stations across the country, Parets said.

WIND-FM was one of the first to pick it up. “It’s unique programming, and we’ve always liked it,” said Kevin “Crash” Davis, the station’s program director. “Consistently, it’s one of our highest-rated shows.”

“We think the show is perfect for Sundays,” Davis said. “It’s a time to chill out and take it easy. The music fits that mood. Jeff has a laid-back style, and you can tell he loves the music.”

Parets constantly searches for new material. “I’m always scouring record stores for re-issues and live performances,” he said. “A lot of this stuff gets released now in retrospective box sets and unplugged performances.”

A breakthrough came during the mid ’90s with “The Beatles Anthology” CD releases. The discs offered previously unreleased acoustic and studio performances by The Beatles.

“We’ve had a great response to The Beatles’ acoustic work,” Parets said. He added that George Harrison’s acoustic version of “While My Guitar Gently Weaps” is one of the most popular songs on the show. Another is Paul McCartney’s live version of “Blackbird.”

Gainesville native Tom Petty is also a regular feature.

“He’s an important artist who incorporates so many influences in his music,” Parets said of Petty. “To me, he helped bridge the gap between the great rock of the ’60s to today’s contemporary music.”

A recent playlist from the show included the following artists: Bruce Springsteen doing an acoustic version of “Born to Run,” Emerson Lake & Palmer singing a live cover of “Lucky Man” and Mason Williams offering an acoustic take on the ’60s’ instrumental “Classical Gas.” Also on the list, the Rolling Stones playing the track “Not Fade Away,” from an early album and Neil Young performing “After the Goldrush.”

Classic rock has long been dominated by male performers, but Parets also sprinkles his playlists with female artists. “My favorite is Joni Mitchell,” he said. Other women who can be heard on the show include: Laura Nyro, Janis Joplin, Heart, Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez.

Whether it’s a classic rock male icon or the folk and jazz-influenced sounds of Mitchell, Parets keeps playing them on “The Acoustic Storm.”

The reason, he said, is simple: “I’m committed to this music.”

Anthony Violanti can be reached at 352-867-4154 or [email protected].

Sound of The Storm a Fond Memory

By Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic (Gainesville-Ocala, FL)
August 12, 2001

Many people remember the rumble of thunder and the voice. “The Storm in the Valley, KSTM, 107, Phoenix-Apache Junction.”

Just as MTV was debuting on cable television, a new radio station was debuting on Valley radio. The Storm, as it was called, hung around for less than six years, soaking its audience in a mix of old music and new, insight and humor, with a lineup that could be the envy of any radio station today.

Doing business out of Apache Junction at 107.1 on the dial, KSTM-FM was the Valley’s last refuge from highly formatted, overly programmed and irritatingly repetitive music. It debuted 20 years ago, on Aug. 5, 1981, with the Beatles’ Tomorrow Never Knows.

It featured Mary McCann, who later worked at KZON-FM (101.5); Andy Olson, now doing weekends on KSLX-FM (100.7); and Dennis McBroom and Lee Powell, who have been heard doing traffic reports on radio lately. Jeff Parets, who works at KJZZ-FM (91.5) and does a program for KSLX called The Acoustic Storm on Sunday mornings, was Program Director, Music Director and disc jockey.

“At the time, corporate rock was pervasive,” Parets says. “There was such a large void for informative and entertaining music programming.”

Variety, thoughtfulness, musical context and balance were the intangible keys to making it work.

The station resembled an FM from the early ’70s, when the Top 40 charts included not just rock and pop music, but also country, jazz, even standards and show tunes. KSTM played such artists as U2, Police, Eurythmics and R.E.M. long before any other station. “For years, we were the only ones playing R.E.M.,” Parets says.

Andy Olson, the KSLX personality who covered nights for KSTM, says the magic of the station was that “the audience was never sure what we were going to play next.” It could be jazz, reggae, the new British rock or Rolling Stones. “People listened, and they stayed listening,” he said.

The station had a weak signal. It couldn’t reach the west side of town for much of its existence. The audience was small. Parets says the station averaged a 2 share, a rough indicator of percentage of the total audience. Such are the hazards of operating on a shoestring and playing not only popular songs but also deep cuts from albums, which many programmers say will drive away listeners.

The signal and the format gave KSTM the feeling of a feisty underdog that respected its audience.

“It was a special audience,” Parets says. “It was not a passive audience.”

The station broadcast for six years before its owners decided they could make more money by making it more like their AM station. On June 14, 1987, KSTM became KVVA-FM, the first Spanish station on FM in Phoenix. KVVA exists to this day.

The last song was The Who’s The Song is Over.

Arizona Republic radio columnist Bud Wilkinson was deluged by letters from outraged listeners; he ran three columns covering them.

“I’m still in shock,” wrote Jan Molina of Scottsdale three weeks later.

“Don’t people have any pride in a quality product?” asked Michelle Frogge of Tempe.

“Once again, the powers that be have silenced the beat of those who march to the beat of a slightly different drummer. We are left with an audio wasteland consisting of the force-fed pabulum of `popular’ music and the self-indulgent sameness of retread oldies,” said Mike and Kathy Jacka of Phoenix.

The change was made quietly on a Sunday evening.

“People were heartbroken,” Parets said.

Olson says, “You’d be amazed how many people call up and hang on to it, to this day.

There were a few attempts to recapture, the feeling, but none, not even full-powered KZON-FM (101.5) in its early days, could recapture lightning in the bottle.

Parets believes it could be done, however.

“If done right, a station could succeed. It depends on finding people (to hire) who believe in the concept. The audience was loyal, and you could sell that loyalty to advertisers.”

Olson thinks it is more likely that such a station might show up on the Internet, but he also believes it could work.

“A station like that becomes your friend.”