The PopCulteer
July 1, 2022

This week we have a momentous episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, which celebrates its sixth anniversary as part of The AIR on July 1. You’ll get a unique birthday celebration Friday afternoon on The AIR.  The AIR is PopCult’s sister radio station and also officially turns six years old today, even though its roots reach back more than a couple of years before that.  You can hear this anniversary show on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM, we have an encore episode of Mel Larch’s DISCO showcase, MIRRORBALL! Mel will return with a new episode next week. You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Saturday at  9 PM (kicking off a mini-marathon), Sunday at 11 PM, Monday at 9 AM, and Tuesday at 1 PM  exclusively on The AIR.

At 3 PM, on Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, Sydney Fileen reaches back to her very first episode, and replicates the line-up of New Wave artists from her debut program, but she replaces every song with another by the same artist.

It’s a very clever way for Sydney to revisit her first episode without just repeating it. As for repeating it, Friday night at 8 PM you can tune in for a special airing of the very first episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, followed immediately by an encore of Friday’s new episode, so you can compare them, back to back.

I was really impressed with the concept, and thought it was a great way to mark six years of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. Check out this new playlist, based on the artists from the first episode…

Big Electric Cat 093

M “Neutron”
Bow Wow Wow “Mile High Club”
The Humans “Pipeline”
The Fixx “Stand Or Fall”
Adam Ant “Dog Eat Dog”
Kim Wilde “2-6-5-8-0”
The Buggles “I Love You Miss Robot”
The Human League “The Lebanon”
Romeo Void “A Girl In Trouble”
Split Enz “Shark Attack”
Yazoo “Situation”
Pete Shelley “Telephone Operator”
The Waitresses “Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful”
Elvis Costello “Secondary Modern”
Ultravox “The Ascent”
Depeche Mode “Wrong”
XTC “Meccanic Dancing”
Martha and the Muffins “This Is The Ice Age”
Missing Persons “Hello I Love You”
Trio “Hearts Are Trump”
Wall of Voodoo “Two Minutes To Lunch”
The Go Gos “We Got The Beat”
Animotion “Let Him Go”
Gary Numan “I Nearly Married A Human”
Orchestral Manuevers In The Dark “The Punishment of Luxury”
The Beat “Rough Rider”
ABC “4 Ever 2 Gether”
Heaven 17 “Who’ll Stop The Rain”
Thompson Twins “No Peace For The Wicked”

At 8PM Friday, tune in for a rebroadcast of the first edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, from six years ago, and for the sake of comparison, here is the playlist for that program…

Big Electric Cat 001

M “Pop Musik”
Bow Wow Wow “I Want Candy”
The Humans “I Live In The City”
The Fixx “Red Skies”
Adam Ant “Desperate But Not Serious”
Kim Wilde “Kids In America”
The Buggles “Clean Clean”
The Human League “Don’t You Want Me”
Romeo Void “Never Say Never”
Split Enz “How Can I Resist Her”
Yazoo “Don’t Go”
Pete Shelley “Homosapien”
The Waitresses “I Know What Boys Like”
Elvis Costello “Green Shirt”
Ultravox “The Thin Wall”
Depeche Mode “Just Can’t Get Enough”
XTC “Generals and Majors”
Martha and the Muffins “Echo Beach”
Missing Persons “Destination Unknown”
Trio “Da Da Da”
Wall of Voodoo “Mexican Radio”
The Go Gos “Vacation”
Animotion “Obsession”
Gary Numan “Are Friends Electric”
Orchestral Manuevers In The Dark “Enola Gay”
The Beat “Save It For Later”
ABC “Poison Arrow”
Heaven 17 “We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thing”
Thompson Twins “Doctor Doctor”

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Saturday afternoon, Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR.

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back every day for fresh content and loads of or regular features.