I don’t listen to much radio anymore. I rely on my own collection to satsify me and things like Pandora to show me some new music. But, periodically I come across a radio show on a college station or a public radio station that is hosted by someone who’s really passionate about the music and can really share insight into the songs s/he plays. Almost invariably these shows are low on the FM dial at 1am on a Saturday morning, so I often don’t get to hear a show more than once.
Back when I relied more on radio to teach me and introduce me to new music, there were a few shows that always did it for me. Here are a few:
- Point of Departure, hosted by Ludwig van Trikt – Back in the mid-90s this show was on 90.1 FM in Philaelphia, PA, Temple Public Radio which, at the time, played only jazz. This show was on Saturday nights from midnight until 3am and always featured the most intense left field avant-garde and post-contemporary jazz. This is one of those genres I love but still have a lot to learn about, and going back to the few tapes I made of this show (one of which I converted from cassette to MP3 last night), I still pick up on a lot of stuff that I missed the first time around.
- Club Crush/Raw Deal, hosted by G, Easy-M, and Tony D – No doubt, this show, which ran from the late 80s through the early-to-mid 90s, was the most formidable and influential radio show I listened to. They played hip-hop that stations like Power 99 wouldn’t touch and often featured tons of live in-studio guests. In fact, this show was responsible for really breaking the Wu-Tang Clan. Interestfully, former host G is still doing promotion for Wu-Tang. Thankfully, I have over 100 tapes of this show, so revisiting this classic is still possible.
- The Wake Up Show, hosted by Sway and King Tech – This show may still be around, but it was really at its best in the 90s when they broke all kinds of new and upcoming artists (can anyone say Eminem?) and always featured amazing freestyles and cuts. This was a west coast show, so I had to hear it via dubs until it was eventually aired on a station in Philly in the late-90s, when I was able to occasionally catch it while travelling. Great stuff.
As nice as the automatic recommendation engines are, I’ve gotta say that there’s still nothing like a show (or podcast) hosted by someone who really knows the music. Personal recommendations trump suggestions by Teh Computor every time.
Posted in Television, Movies, and Music
Miss Abbotsford April 14, 2007, 5:19 am
You should listen http://www.coopradio.org.
I. S. Sue April 19, 2007, 9:30 pm
I was an army brat back in the 50’s in Germany. I listened to great radio shows and had no English tv to watch. Fans of the Greaseman have heard him do imitations of some of those shows. Shame he never talked about the shows that inspired him. As long as you have internet you have internet radio. KBRW is the northernmost station in the USA. You loved Northern Exposure? This is the station that could have been on that show. Not as good but still love those weather forecasts. WFMU is the best station. Mainly great records that never got the play that they should have gotten. Jean Shepherd could forever about the most boring subject and yopu would hang on every word. Nobody else in the world could do an hour on army water bags. Some of the shows were taped and saved. WBAI has played them at 5 in the morning but WBAI does not do streaming.