Rock radio in the Lehigh Valley gets a live host again on Monday night. Al Gilotti, known on the air as Big Poppa, is bringing his show 50 Odd Years to LehighValley.FM every Monday from 8 to 11 p.m.: three hours of deep album cuts, underappreciated bands and new music, broadcast live from a home studio in Bethlehem. Listen free at LehighValley.com/radio.
The Show
The pitch for 50 Odd Years is simple, and it is the opposite of what a tested classic rock playlist does. Gilotti skips the staples you can hum from memory because you have heard them ten thousand times, and spends the three hours on what those bands recorded on side two, on the acts that deserved a bigger run than they got, and on new music that is worth hearing right now.
Independent artists get real airtime. So do local shows and local events. Every week Gilotti also designs a custom poster for whatever he is featuring, which is not something anybody asked him to do and is a decent shorthand for how he approaches the whole thing.
If you want to scratch a rock and roll itch, this is the cure, served with a heavy dose of home-grown Lehigh Valley flavor.
Fifty Odd Years, and a Studio Called the Goldendoodle Ranch
Gilotti is a long-time Bethlehem resident who raised his family here. He works full time in drug safety. Music and radio have always been the other half of the ledger.
Guided by his mentor, AJ Fritz, he launched 50 Odd Years on WLVR in 2018 and named it after a Neil Peart lyric. The run lasted until COVID-19 pushed community hosts out of the WLVR studio. Pre-recording three hours a week around a full-time job turned out to be more than the schedule could hold, and the show went quiet.
The microphone called him back. He joined A Mix that Rocks, a Georgia-based internet station, and later Philly Rock Radio, broadcasting live from a home studio he calls the Goldendoodle Ranch. Both gave him what he wanted most, which was a place to champion independent music and the people making it.
What neither could give him was the Lehigh Valley. Now the show is home.
This Is the Part We Promised
When we launched LehighValley.FM in early August, we said the music was a starting point and not the whole plan, and that original programming built for this region was what we actually wanted. We also said we were not going to announce a lineup we had not built yet.
This is the first piece of it, and it is exactly the kind we hoped for: a host who lives here, plays what he wants to play, and answers to nobody's national programming department.
The context has not changed since August. iHeartMedia's June layoffs took Mike Kelly and Becca Lynn off B104 mornings, Joel Shimer off middays at WZZO, and Dan Holzman off 790 WAEB after roughly 30 years. Audacy came out of Chapter 11 and moved toward regional management. Two national companies still program most of what comes out of a Lehigh Valley car radio.
Meanwhile the noncommercial stations here, WDIY 88.1, WMUH 91.7, WXLV 90.3 and WLVR 91.3, kept putting local voices on the air through all of it. WLVR is where 50 Odd Years started. We are glad to be the next stop rather than a replacement for any of them.
How to Listen
The stream is free and needs no app or account. Open LehighValley.com/radio in any browser, or go to LehighValley.FM, and press play. The player follows you as you read the rest of the site, so you can leave it running.
Song requests go through the form on the radio page any time, on or off the air.
And if you run a venue, book shows, play in a band or promote events here, the invitation from August stands. Write to team@lehighvalley.com. Monday nights are the first show on this station. They will not be the last.
At a Glance
The show: 50 Odd Years with Big Poppa, live and hosted, three hours of deep cuts, independent artists and new music
The host: Al Gilotti of Bethlehem, on the air since 2018, previously WLVR, A Mix that Rocks and Philly Rock Radio
When: Mondays, 8 to 11 p.m.
Where: LehighValley.FM, streaming free at LehighValley.com/radio
Origin of the name: A Neil Peart lyric
Broadcast from: The Goldendoodle Ranch, Gilotti's home studio
Requests: Submit a song on the radio page any time
Read next: Introducing LehighValley.FM: The Valley's Own Radio Station, No Corporate Playlist
