Atomic Age Cocktail Party

Atomic Age Cocktail Party

Friday nights at 9 & Saturday nights at 11 on WILL-FM

The show, simply put, is a celebration of the golden age of the hi-fi and beyond! It's American popular music from the 1950s and 1960s with a few modern numbers thrown in for good measure.

Harold Arlen (1096)

Coming up on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, the spotlight is on songwriter Harold Arlen, the man behind such classics as “Over the Rainbow,” “The Man That Got Away,” “Stormy Weather,” and others. We’ll hear from Frank Sinatra, Abbey Lincoln, Judy Garland and many more.

Floral Arrangement (1095)

Good music is in bloom this week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party. It’s a program we’re calling “Floral Arrangement”—songs from the hi-fi era about flowers. We’ll hear from Al Hirt, Julie London, Wayne Newton, Bobby Vinton and many more.

More Big Band Hi-Fi (1094)

Coming up, on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, it’s More Big Band Hi-Fi! Another look at the influences of Big Band music when it came to artists of the hi-fi era. We’ll hear from Buddy Morrow, June Christy, Ray Anthony, Syd Lawrence & His Orchestra, and many more.

Sax Appeal (1093)

We’re all about the Sax Appeal, this week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party. It’s a sampling of some of our favorite saxophone players of the hi-fi era…with a spotlight on cool sounds of Plas Johnson. We’ll also hear from Gerry Mulligan, King Curtis, Zoot Sims, John Coltrane and many more.

Marvelous Mambos (1092)

On The Atomic Age Cocktail Party this week, it’s Marvelous Mambos! It’s another look at the mambo craze of the 1950s and its influence in the decade that followed. We’ll hear from Tito Rodriguez, Billy May and His Rico Mambo Orchestra, Cal Tjader's Modern Mambo Quintet, and many more.

Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (1091)

This week on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, it’s a look at that style known as Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. That special blend of cocktail cool and hi-fi hijinks that produced some of the wildest sounds of the Atomic Age. We’ll hear from Bob Thompson, Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, Dean Elliott, Juan Garcia Esquivel, and many more.

In Love With Love (1090)

On this episode of The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, we celebrate Valentine’s Day with a program titled “In Love with Love.” Not only will we have songs celebrating love but all the tunes will feature that word…LOVE... in their titles. We’ll hear from Shirley Bassey, Dinah Washington, Bobby Troup, and many more.

Home Sweet Home (1089)

This week, on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, it’s Home Sweet Home. Songs about leaving home and coming home, and songs about wishing someone would return home. We’ll hear from Nat King Cole, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gormé, Georgia Carr, Mel Tormé, and many more.

Command Records (1088)

Coming up, on The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, we put the spotlight on one of the most popular labels during the stereophonic era…Command Records. We’ll focus on many of their top-tier artists with a special look at the producer who was the creative force behind the label, Enoch Light.

The Song Is You (1087)

Tune in this time to The Atomic Age Cocktail Party, for our show titled “The Songs Is You.” Hi-fi era songs about songs, music, and melodies. Lined up, selections from Frank Sinatra, Gloria Lynne, Tony Bennett, Anita O'Day, and many more.

About the host

Atomic Age Cocktail Party host, Jason Croft, holds a martini in one hand and a record under the other arm, while wearing a fez and a smoking jacket in this retro-style illustration.

Jason Croft has been collecting, enjoying, and programming lounge, easy-listening, and other music of the Atomic Age for over two decades. Now he is sharing this genre with you every Saturday and Sunday night with the Atomic Age Cocktail Party on WILL-FM. When he’s not knee-deep in his record collection, he’s the Technical Director for The 21st, local host for Here and Now, and one of the voices of AM580 on the weekends.

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