Every few months I get the itch to get back on the air and spin some music on the old college radio station. And fortunately for me, I’ve great friends still keeping WLFR alive who allow me some air time.
I never prepped for my radio show back in school, it was always “on the fly.” I’d simply decide what my first song would be and that would determine the tone of the beginning, I’d take it from there and see where the music would lead me. Back then, I was on air weekly and I knew what I could rely on in the station’s music library. Now, my personal library is much larger and I’m not as familiar with WLFR’s. Plus, with the online stream, there’s the possibility of many more listeners potentially tuning in to hear what I’m playing and any mistakes I’m making!
Listening back through the recording, I made a couple mistakes, as is bound to happen when you only do this once or twice a year. I get a little rusty. I’m sure I made more, I haven’t finished listening! But I had fun! My only problem is there is never enough time to share all I want to play and I had to cut out a bunch of songs. 🙁
Thanks for all who listened!
Here’s what I played:
Paul Westerberg-Making Me Go
The Detroit Cobras-Hot Dog
Hello=Fire-She Gets Remote
St Deluxe-Slip Away (I wanted to play New Wave Stars & thought I’d cued it up properly, but apparently I didn’t! getting settled in at the beginning of the show takes some time)
The Tyde-Go Ask Yer Dad
Ric Menck-Wishing on A Star
Yuck-Georgia
Liechtenstein-Postcard
The Clean-Twist Top
Treecreeper-Last Days
Dolorean-Violence in the Snowy Fields
Yo La Tengo-You Tore Me Down (request for Adam)
AA Bondy-There’s A Reason
Bill Fox-Let in the Sun
Ardentjohn-Home
I’m from Barcelona (Jason Sollenberg)-Sick of Love
The Long Ryders-Run Dusty Run
Glossary-Save Your Money for the Weekend
Vulture Whale-Teedy
Frightened Rabbit-The Loneliness & the Scream
Versus-Shooting Star
Dropkick-Give it Back
The Sneetches-I Need Someone
The Small Change-I Could Tell
The Waxwings-Clouded Over
Standard Fare-Philadelphia
Admiral Fallow-Squealing Pigs
The Bats-The Old Ones
Teenage Fanclub-Sweet Days Waiting
Yo La Tengo-What Can I Say
Velvet Crush-Seen Better Days
Big Star-Thank You Friends (unfortunately, it got faded out by the next DJ who not only showed up late, but has no concept of how to properly transition from one program to the next. The song is only 2 minutes long!! …damn kids.)
Sadly, my friends are struggling to get today’s students involved in WLFR in a way of understanding what non-commercial radio is all about today. I feel it’s more important today than it was back in the early to mid-90s when I was a student. It’s my hope they can keep WLFR alive and well, but I fear for its future. Without the students, it will fade away. I’m not sure I’ll be able to get on air again, there’s little to no room for community members, and even as an alumna of the college and WLFR, I’m not sure that counts when it comes to the politics of college funding for student organizations.