August 25, 2003
Radio Again
OK, one last thing about radio and this will cease to be a blog about the airwaves. (Although you have to admit, it's been a little while since I last posted about the FM dial -- I've been holding it in.)
Did anyone catch Radiohead deejaying on Q101 Friday afternoon? It was incredible! The whole thing reminded me of the good old days of XRT, when their motto was "Everything, In No Particular Order," only mostly modern music. Bjork segued into classic reggae, which transitioned to The Roots, and then on to something else entirely. Charles Mingus and Lisa Germano shared the playlist with The Streets and Outkast and obscure electronica. One of the boys even threw on a downer of a poem (a eulogy for someone, spoken by an old British bloke over a chamber quartet) then apologized for such depressing "drive time" fare. And it was commercial free for over an hour!
I tell you, if there was a station that played such randomness all the time, I'd be a devoted listener, even through the commercials, just so it'd stay on the air. Sure, there are shows on a few radio stations nationwide that are like that, but they're mostly on college stations or tiny indies, and when the DJ's time is up it's back to the standard playlist. How great would it be if you never knew what would be on next? Wouldn't you tune in to find out? I'd be captivated.
Predictably, Q101 went right back to their usual formula of hard rock after they made up for the commerciallessness with five minutes of ads. If only they'd learn from the experiment! Hell, maybe they (or some other station) will just start giving bands blocks of airtime to play whatever they feel like. Or listeners, even. That'd be cool -- I'd sign up for my 15 minutes of DJ fame.
Posted by Andrew Huff at August 25, 2003 02:04 PMi used to have a radio show in college that was like that. i called it "playing at various speeds".
Posted by: pi at August 25, 2003 02:21 PMI know I keep plugging the station on my own site, and you've probably checked them out before, but you really should spend some time listening to WFMU. One of the few free-form broadcast stations in the country, and one that takes NO underwriting grants or government money: all of its expenses are paid by listener contributions, so they owe nothing to anybody but the listeners.
I highly recommend listening on Wednesdays starting at 8:00 AM, when station manager Ken Freedman takes over the airwaves. He's followed at 11:00 by Irwin Chusid, and then at 2:00 by Kenny G (not that Kenny G). This nine-hour block of programming, I guarantee, will cure what ails you. And they've got so much more stuff happening every single day. It's almost worth moving to New Jersey to hear the station. (Fortunately, they webcast.)
Posted by: jima at August 25, 2003 03:18 PMI have no speakers (or for that matter, soundcard) at work, Jima, and I generally listen to CDs at home. My radio listening is in the car, where WFMU is out of reach. Otherwise I'd be all over it.
Posted by: Andrew at August 25, 2003 03:24 PMYou poor bastard! Nevertheless, I mention that WFMU archives all of its content, so you can have a listen to any program at any time.
Posted by: jima at August 25, 2003 04:09 PMHa-ha! More input that you won't be able to output from your car...
KEXP, Seattle -- the station Paul Allen built; but really, it's dynamic.
Posted by: Mr Day-Day at August 25, 2003 08:54 PMWow! Go, Q101. Too bad I missed that segment last Friday -- I would've been a happy listener too, I'm sure.
Posted by: +mojan. at August 26, 2003 08:22 AMi was commuting back home on the subway while the boys were spinning at Q101 - but, i'm glad to hear about it. radiohead also played some great reggae as the stage music pre- and post-show, which is something i love to follow given my love for phish.
phish is very eclectic & the music they play at shows is all over the board. in fact, when phish puts on their big festivals, they usually hijack a local station for a weekend & while doing live feeds of the shows, they also play all sorts of stuff in between for the fans.....bands that can connect with listeners through the music of others really gives a bigger picture of those artists.
Posted by: miss ellen at August 26, 2003 09:29 AMIf only someone had thought to just lock Radiohead permanently in the studio. Then they could have changed their slogan to "Q101: Keep Listening or We Shoot Thom Yorke"
I'd be listening right now if that were the case.
Posted by: Phineas at August 26, 2003 02:01 PM