Clock Hours and Cats

In this episode, Laura Lee and Jenny Hunter focus on some of the staples of early 90s adult contemporary radio. They talk about time travel, cheery songs about dysfunctional relationships, MTV Unplugged, and whether anything is ever truly “uncool” if it still gets stuck in your head. The conversation jumps from small-market radio station “clock hours” to Lennon–McCartney “rejects” that sound exactly like Beatles songs, before landing on Vanessa Williams’ comeback. Jenny shares what it was like to watch Williams become the first Black Miss America in a not-very-enlightened living room, and how “Save the Best for Last” feels like a quiet, satisfying rebuke to the people who tried to take her down. There are letter grades, a cat named Moses, cassingle memories, and a brief fantasy about an alternative-rock Barry Manilow covers album—but mostly it’s two friends revisiting the AC hits that filled the air between grunge explosions, and finding more there than just background music.