Submitted to Cashbox Canada
Happy birthday Cashbox Radio! Three years is a milestone for a new radio station.
I remember when Sandy Graham approached me that she wanted to create a radio station and she invited me on that ride. First, I was kind of surprised that she wanted to do a radio station. Radio was kind of dead. Then I thought about it. I didn’t know anyone that was listening continuously to their playlists. If you have done them yourself, you never get surprised with a song that you had forgotten or be surprised with a new great song. Assuming the role of Station Manager and managing partner has been a great experience.
“And here Sandy said the golden words, ‘we need to make a station that plays both the past and the new’. I thought about it and listened to some Swedish radio. Yes, there so many stations playing just 80’s or just dance hits or they play the music you have never heard before. Many of the internet stations are just some dude putting in songs that they find in a long playlist. So, I decided to once again go back to radio. To tell you the truth, it was the first time in twenty-five years,” says Peter Åstedt on Cashbox Radio. Assuming the role of Station Manager and managing partner has been a great experience.
There was not really any station playing these legendary artists and then mix them with new great music and on top of that present really great songs from the rest of the world. And here Cashbox Radio came up with the strategy to play three famous songs, but the fourth is new song that we want you to find out. Just like Radio The Way It Used to Be.
“We have tried several shows and ideas that didn’t work over these three years. Right now though we feel the station’s sound is unique and appealing with the mix,’, Peter continues.
The station also features interviews with both legendary artists and industry people as well as brand new artists. A concept that has been embraced by Astedt.
“It all started when I had an interview from 2001 with the now deceased Dee Dee Ramone, just before he passed away. This interview was never aired anywhere, it was more like a memory for me interviewing Dee Dee for the written article. I had to dig deep in the archives before I found it on a MiniDisc. The problem then was to transfer it from the minidisc to the computer. Just to get my old minidisc to work was a story in itself. In the end, we got it together and we could get the dead Dee Dee Ramone on air again with totally unheard material. It was a big thing in all the Ramones fanbases around on the internet.”
After that, because of the station, I had opportunities to interview legendary artists like Tommy James, Martha and The Muffins, Tony Orlando. One to remember is Don McLean that got the inspiration during the pandemic interview and gave me a private show of a song he wanted to play. Or when Tom Jackson got me totally off guard when he told me how much he loved me. It has been so many great moments at the station. It kept us sane during the pandemic and the future for Cashbox Radio looks bright and loud.