In this episode Laura and music teacher Kara Hunter examine the songs that two DJs would have put on the air in 1992 if their adult contemporary format would have allowed it. Only one of the songs in this episode cracked the top 40. Can you guess which one it is? Along the way we discuss sonic departures including the Kinks' social commentary in "Shangri-La," and a very non-extreme track by the band Extreme. During a discussion of Nirvana's "Lithium" we muse on the fate of the album cover's naked baby and we even discuss a Depeche Mode solo project that had reviewers critiquing the audience more than the music.  

Laura and author Lisa Peers discuss Detroit's influence on music, rock inspired novels, where rock stars do their laundry and a bagpipe infused cover of a song originally recorded by a Dutch Elvis impersonator.  Songs this episode include Rod Stewart's "Rhythm of My Heart," Sting's "Fortress Around Your Heart," Wilson Philip's "Hold On" and The Surfaris "Wipe Out." Plus they talk about Lisa's new novel Motor City Love Song. 

In Episode 12 of the Saturn's Favorite Music podcast, Justin and Jane return to revisit songs about the seas. Justin explains why he is not a fan of the title of the Little River Band's "Cool Change." We discuss days of the week songs with the Mamas and the Papas' "Monday Monday." We go acoustic with Jim Croce's "Operator" and peak 1992 adult contemporary with Celine Dion's "If You Asked Me To."  Resident horse expert Jane explains how many hands it takes to measure a typical horse. (Hint: More than five.) 

Jenny Hunter is back for an episode that is surprisingly upbeat for a set of songs that cover the temporal nature of existence, nostalgia and the end of the world as we know it. Also Leonard Bernstein. Songs include Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat" and "Time Passages," Chicago's "Beginnings" and R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)," the only track that is less than six minutes long, but which makes up for it with the length of its title. Jenny talks about the best moments at Chicago concerts and Laura and Jenny explore whether there is a reference to Trump in a 1987 R.E.M. song. 

Laura calls in musician Will Hoppey to talk about  Don McLean's “American Pie” and Steely Dan's “Deacon Blues” — two very different long songs with one thing in common: they’ve rescued a lot of DJs and working players over the years. The conversation wanders from radio-cart disasters and EBS tests gone wrong and why surrounding yourself with better musicians is the best career move you can make.

Nick Bean is back to talk about Broadway, Liza Minelli and jazz hands. Nick laments never being rickrolled when Rick Astley's “Never Gonna Give You Up” was a meme. Bruce Springsteen's “Human Touch” leads to a discussion of when you need an uplifting song and when it's more cathartic to wallow in the sadness. And there are divergent opinions on Arlo Guthrie's “Alice's Restaurant.” One of the hosts gives it an A, while the other thinks it is 20 minutes of his life he'll never get back.

Vinyl rules in this episode. A 1969 stoner anthem crashes a small-market radio shift as the wrong Lee Michaels song is played on air, the conversation wanders through hidden vinyl tracks, chateau recording studios in France with Elton John, the surprise appearance of Styx’s “Plexiglass Toilet,” and the classical roots of Eric Carmen’s All By Myself. Plus, a personal bombshell: Jenny reveals her all-time favorite song.

Fan favorites Jane Taylor and Justin Miller are back for an episode that starts on a yacht and ends in a hotel you may never be able to leave. They kick things off with Christopher Cross’s “Sailing,” which leads to waiting room music, funerals with questionable playlists, and the stodginess of the Grammy Awards. They compare and contrast Cross's “yacht rock” with the MTV video yachts of Duran Duran as they take up “Rio” and reveal their favorite Duran deep cuts. Elton John’s “The One” leads to a comparison with “Your Song,” and a discussion of intimacy, distance, and how love songs age. After a detour into the question of what the best song of the 70s might be, the episode closes with a long stay at the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” touching on desert road trips, childhood fear, resorts that are past their prime, and strangely ineffective cutlery. 

In this episode, Laura is joined by performer and self-proclaimed “lyric guy” Nick Bean to talk through a deceptively simple stretch of early-90s radio playlists — and the rules hiding inside them. From the Dave Clark Five's blunt persistence to Rod Stewart’s affectionate Motown tribute that buries The Temptations deep in the mix, the conversation moves to inspiration, authority, and who gets positioned as “variety” rather than default.

The heart of the episode centers on two back-to-back songs by women — Gloria Estefan’s Coming Out of the Dark and Mariah Carey’s Vision of Love — and the broadcast logic that once said they shouldn’t sit next to each other. Along the way, Laura and Nick unpack vulnerability, gendered expectations in music and comedy, the difference between empowerment and display, and what it meant to hear genuinely new voices at the moment they arrived.

On this episode of Saturn’s Favorite Music, Laura Lee welcomes back fan-favorite guest Jenny Hunter for a deep dive into adult-contemporary greatness, confusion, and accidental murder ballads. They tackle the eternal sing-along that is The Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” grade Phil Collins’ infinitely repeating “One More Night,” question the chart-smashing mystery of Kenny G’s “Sentimental,” and attempt to solve the soft-rock true-crime puzzle of Richard Marx’s “Hazard.” Along the way, they debate bathroom songs, circular breathing, karaoke-booth reverb, suspicious rivers that don’t exist, and why a melodic ballad somehow involves a possible homicide.