The Hits Keep Coming

I've been thinking about the way I put my shows together. Generally, before I head to the studio, I pick out 5 or 6 albums from home (often what I've been listening to in the past week) to bring in for the show. Sometimes this sets the tone for the program, but more often than not, it becomes bail-out material when I can't find anything else. I started DJing in college at KCAT in Ellensburg, WA. We were only broadcasting on the cable system at the time, and I believe my entire training lasted about 20 minutes. We had a fairly strict (by KAOS standards) rotation system, which only afforded the DJs about 3 or 4 picks an hour. It was cool, as we had good music directors - or at least ones whose taste matched up with my own. In any event, the rotation system was loosened up, and we only had to play 6 tracks of rotation an hour, and we could pick which ones. This gave me lots more time to fill, and I adopted the attitude that I wanted my show to be very immediate, and I would rarely pick out much music ahead of time. Instead, I opted to grab CDs as I went in an effort to maintain spontaneity. This was pretty easy, since I was quite familiar with the library by then. It also helped that the library was essentially the walls of the broadcast booth, and were in arms reach. After I started on KAOS, I had to start doing more planning, since we have an entire separate room for our library, and no rotation tracks to fill. I've adjusted by usually pulling about twice as many CDs as I can play in my shift. I also focus heavily on the new (past 3 months) releases. I get to hear lots of new music this way, but at the same time I tend to neglect stuff that I've played in the past. So I'm making an effort to mix up the playlists a little more. The new time slot helps, as I'm more awake, and I have a little more time to prepare. The challenge for me is to not rely too heavily on my favorites and to remember music I've been neglecting. The other tricky part is to remember that my memory of what I've played is a lot longer than the listeners.

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Not much new music this week, though I'm still listening to some of the other recent releases. I rescued the Irving cd from the crypt pile this week. I must have forgotten to mark that I had played it several times, since I had only initialed it once. I also am enjoying the new Black Heart Procession album "The Spell", but I still need to listen to it all the way through. I also got the Yo La Tengo album, "Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics." I ordered the CD off of their website and I really like it. It's a collections of cover songs they performed on WFMU for people who pledged during their membership drive. Some of the songs are great, and some are hilarious. I thought the show went well, and I had a lot of fun with my rock set. That was one of those times where the songs clicked with my mood and I went with it. It seems really corny when I write that, but that's how it goes.

Playlist for May 8, 2006

9:00pm T.Rex - Mambo Sun - Electric Warrior - Reprise/Rhino Elf Power - Peel Back The Moon, Beware! - Back To The Web - Rykodisc *new* Band Of Horses - Our Swords - Everything All The Time - SubPop *new* the Hollies - Bus Stop - The Very Best Of The Hollies - United Artist Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Back In Your Life - Back In Your Life - Beserkley the Smittens - Gin and Platonic - Gentlefication Now! - Dangerfive Yo La Tengo - Raw Power - Yo La Tengo Is Murdering The Classics - Egon Built To Spill - Mess With Time - You In Reverse - Warner Bros. *new* Field Music - If Only The Moon Were Up - Field Music - Memphis Industries *new* the Young Fresh Fellows - When The Girls Get Here - The Men Who Loved Music - PopLlama/Frontier the Replacements - Favorite Thing - Let It Be - TwinTone/Restless Pretty Girls Make Graves - Wildcat - Elan Vitale - Matador *new* Parts & Labor - Stay Afraid - Stay Afraid - Jagjaguwar/Brah *new* Quasi - When The Going Gets Dark - When The Going Gets Dark - Touch & Go *new* 10:00pm Modest Mouse - Doin' The Cockroach - The Lonesome Crowded West - Up the Stabs - Black Widow - Dirt - Art School Dropout *new* the Murder City Devils - Make It On My Own - Murder City Devils - Die Young the Black Angels - Black Grease - Passover - Light In The Attic *new* Cato Salsa Experience - I Can Give You Anything - A Good Tip For A Good Time - Emperor Norton Tight Bros From Way Back When - Bring Your Thunder - Lend You A Hand - Kill Rock Stars the Black Heart Procession - The Replacement - The Spell - Touch & Go *new* 764-HERO - The Long Arm Of The Law - Nobody Knows This Is Everywhere - Tiger Style the Flaming Lips - Haven't Got A Clue - At War With The Mystics - Warner Bros. *new* XTC - Helicopter (Unused Single Recording) - Coat of Many Cupboards - Virgin the Fastbacks - Dreams I.H.S. - The Day That Didn't Exist - SpinART the Wrens - This Boy Is Exhausted - The Meadowlands - Absolutely Kosher Irving - Care, I Don't Care - Death In The Garden, Blood On The Flowers - Eenie Meenie Mates Of State - What It Means - Bring It Back - Barsuk *new*

Playlist for May 1st, 2006

9:00pm the Stabs - Six Foot Rodent - Dirt - Art School Dropout Records *new* the Black Angels - The Prodigal Sun - Passover - Light In The Attic *new* Mission Of Burma - 2wice - The Obliterati - Matador *new* Parts & Labor - A Great Divide - Stay Afraid - Jagjaguwar/Brah *new* Don Caballero - Sure We Had Knives Around - World Class Listening Problem - Relapse Records - *new* Tic Code - Exenbox - Facade - Sickroom *new* Lambchop - The Scary Caroler- The Decline Of Country & Western Civilization Part II: The Woodwind Years - Merge *new* Field Music - It's Not The Only Way To Feel Happy - Field Music - Memphis Industries *new* Built To Spill - Gone - You In Reverse - Warner Bros. *new* I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Lights - Fear is on Our Side - Secretly Canadian *new* the Magic Magicians - Dakota - 'Girls' - Suicide Squeeze 10:00pm Five Gears In Reverse - Magnetic Bicycle Craft - You're Not Asking The Right Questions - Montesano the Flaming Lips - The Sound of Failure - At War With The Mystics - Warner Bros. *new* the Fiery Furnaces - Black-Hearted Boy - Bitter Tea - Fat Possum *new* the Black Heart Procession - Not Just Words - The Spell - Touch & Go *new* Mates Of State - Like U Crazy - Bring It Back - Barsuk *new* Starlight Mints - Pearls (Submarine #2) - Drowaton - Barsuk *new* Elf Power - All The World Is Waiting - Back To The Web - Rykodisc *new* Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Magic Hour - Elan Vital - Matador *new* B-52's - Strobe Light - Wild Planet - Warner Bros. the Essex Green - Elsinore - Cannibal Sea - Merge *new* Pink Mountaintops - How Can We Get Free - Axis Of Evol - Jagjaguwar *new* Rainer Maria - Life Of Leisure - Catastrophe Keeps Us Together - Grunion David Byrne & Brian Eno - Regiment - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts - Nonesuch *new*