John-Angus MacDonald, founding member and lead guitarist for The Trews, is the latest Canadian rocker to join the lineup at 94.9 The Rock (CKGE-FM) Oshawa as the new host of Generation Next Radio.
Heard weeknights at 8 p.m. and weekends at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., the new music discovery show is an opportunity for new unsigned talent to get their music heard, some of the more than 1,200 acts featured on Generation Next over the last 12 years include The Glorious Sons, Greta Van Fleet, Crown Lands, Stuck on Planet Earth, and Cleopatrick.
Beginning Jan. 18, MacDonald takes over the show from guitarist Sean Kelly, known for his work backing Lee Aaron, Coney Hatch and Alan Frew, among other bands. Previous hosts have included music producer and mix engineer Brian Moncarz and Christian Tanna of I Mother Earth.
Prior to the pandemic, the show also included live performances at The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto four times a year, which program director Doug Elliott told Broadcast Dialogue, he’d like “to get back on track.”
“Fostering an environment that gives new rock stars a platform is the most important thing we can do for the artists and the radio station, so we’re not stuck playing the same Zeppelin records ’cause we stopped curating new music for our audience,” said Elliott.
Generation Next Radio rounds out a lineup that includes longtime morning duo Craig and Lucky, Loriann Villani in middays, Elliott and Meital Sperling in afternoon drive, Lee Eckley in evenings, and Canadian pop culture icon Ed the Sock at the helm of The All Night Show with Ed the Sock. Jeff Woods is heard for six hours every Sunday, starting at noon, on Classic Rock Sundays with Jeff Woods, while Cone McCaslin of Sum41 hosts Sunday evening show Cone’s Cave.
