poltr1: (Moogerfilker 1)
Years ago, when I was in college, I fell in with a group of people who had the common interest of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The group was called "Don't Panic!", and were working on their version for the school's low-power AM radio station, WRUB. (It broadcast its signal via power-line communication, using the electrical system in the dormitories.)

Who was in the group? John Feinberg, Larry Fein, Ron Odde, Don Henk, Tim O'Brien, and a few others whose names I can't remember. We all had copies of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Radio Scripts, and used that book as our script.

The first show of theirs that I was involved in was the final episode, "Fit The Twelfth". They had previously broadcast the preceding eleven parts. In this episode, we crowded into the studio. There was a section where a man was feeding his cat, whom the man calld "The Lord". And several of us were meowing like cats.

The decision was made to re-record an episode (with higher quality), and the fourth episode -- "Fit the Fourth"-- was selected. I played the part of "The BBC Radiophonic Workshop", in which my role was to create sound effects for the program. With the help of my trusty old Minimoog, I came up with sounds for the demolition beams, and the sounds of a spaceship door opening and closing. When it came time to record, we all crowded into the studio, and it went well.

We never recorded the other episodes, and I wonder what happened to the tapes of the show. I wouldn't mind having a copy for posterity. I know I still have the patch diagrams for the sounds.
poltr1: (Default)
So there's another new radio station in town: Fly 92.9. Their slogan is "We play anything".

I'd like to challenge that.

In the past two weeks of listening to them in the car, I've yet to hear any Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Bjork, Gowan, Kim Mitchell, Saga, Marillion, Renaissance, the Grateful Dead, Phish, or John Valby. And I probably never will because these artists are too obscure for the average American radio listener. Either that or they've never had any top 40 hits in the States. (Okay, there's "Running Up That Hill" and "Touch of Grey", but that's about it.)

Despite my quibble, I do like listening to the station. They're not limited to any particular genre or era. (I've noticed the Eagle doesn't play anything released after 1979.) I've heard songs on there I haven't heard in years, or have never heard at all. But it seems that the only limiting factor in air play is that the song must have cracked the top 40.

I'll keep listening. And when I get tired of it, I'll change the station.
poltr1: (Default)
While going through my old audio tapes -- specifically, the ones I recorded during high school -- I found that there was a lot of stuff I taped off the radio. Not only did I have songs, but DJ voiceovers, commercials, and sounders. It was like listening to those radio programs all over again.

Reminiscing about 97 Power Rock, Oil of Dog, and days gone by. )

The closest thing I've found to free-form radio since then is a program on Cincinnati's WOFX-FM ("The Fox"). On Sunday nights from 6-9, Mary Peale hosts "Jelly Pudding", which features a lot of obscure music from artists I've either heard of, marginally heard of, or not at all. I think it's great.

Profile

poltr1: (Default)
poltr1

May 2025

S M T W T F S
    123
45678910
11121314151617
1819 2021222324
25262728293031

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 12th, 2025 07:05 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios