The Spirit of The Radio (History Lesson Part I) (#15)

My obsession with Don Joyce’s Over The Edge is well documented, and my entire history in radio was originally pitched, in 1998, as, “Over The Edge with more music.”  Only in the last several years have I finally gotten there, but as is often the case, nearly everything I do for the rest of my days will carry his influence all over the place.

With that in mind, I have been a huge fan of his How Radio Was Done series of broadcasts, and have been wanting to tackle a similar subject on my own program.  But I wanted to include things that he’d overlooked.  I wanted to use segments from the CBC Radio program The Wire, and clips from the Ken Burns documentary, The Empire of The Air.  And, of course, I wanted to play more of the source material.  Where Don would mix and cut up and use the source recordings as raw sound to manipulate, I was interested in the story.

The results were finished in the summer of 2015, and was released as a podcast over at anywhereanywhen.com.  That podcast, as is, will remain over there for the historic record.  With it is included a 4000+ word essay on the selections in the program, and those words are still 100% relevant to what you will heard today.

But this program is a re-mastering of that podcast, re-imagined for broadcast on KMUZ.  Not a lot has been changed, but the breaks and the form have been massaged to fit FM better.  So, it’s a new-old show, perfect for a vacation.

This is merely Part I; this story is too big to be told in a single hour.  Consider it a taste of what it to come, and there is a whole lot more, for sure.  There’s at least two more hours of this story to come, and more as I work furiously in the studio.

This is week one of the vacation episodes.  Next week: The Martian Chronicles, Part II.

Enjoy!

 

Spinitron Playlist

 

 

The Spirit of The Radio

Side A: The Very Thought Of You

01.) Austin FM Theme * Paco Jones * Austin FM Theme * Self-Released (2016)
02.) Hallo, Hallo * Jowi Taylor, Paoblo Pietropaolo & Chris Brookes * The Wire * CBC Radio (2005)
03.) Electricity * Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band * Safe As Milk * Buddah Records (1967)
04.) Tremens * Sonic Youth * SYR 1: Anagrama * SYR (1997)
05.) Two Golden Microphones * Nurse With Wound * Second Pirate Session * United Diaries (1998)
06.) The Very Thought Of You * Bing Crosby & George Stoll Orchestra * Forever Bing * UCJ Music (2003)
07.) Menuett G flat major & Valse bleat * Beethoven (Kathllen Parlow – violin; George Falkensten – piano) * Menuett G flat major & Valse bleat * Edison Amberol 4M-28026 (1912)
08.) Aria from Massanet’s “Le Cid”: O Souverain, O Juge, O Pere * Enrico Caruso  * O Souverain, O Juge, O Pere * Victor Talking Machine Company (1916)
09.) After Dinner Toast at Little Menlo * Arthur Sullivan * ENHS E-2439-7 * Edison Records (5 October 1888)
10.) The Lost Chord * (performers unknown) / composted by Arthur Sulivan * ENHS E-2440-3 * Edison Records (August 1888)

Side B: The Microphone & The Radio Tube

11.) Alexander’s Ragtime Band * Billy Murray * EDIS 36065 * Edison Records (1911)
12.) Paradise * Bing Crosby * The Bing Crosby Story Volume I: The Early Jazz Years (1928 – 1932) * Columbia Special Products (1967)
13.) You Outta Be In Pictures * Rudy Vallee * You Outta Be In Pictures * Victor Talking Machine (1934)

Side C: When The Radio’s On

14.) When The Radio’s On * Jimmy Vigtone * Teen Line No. 5: Powerpop & Pop-Rock 45s V-Z * Hyped To Death Records (2004)
15.) Empire Of The Air * Ken Burns * Empire Of The Air: The Men Who Made Radio * PBS (1992)
16.) Shikaku Maru Ten (Radio Waves) * CAN * Cannibalism 2 * Spoon Records (1992)
17.) Spirit Of The Radio * Rush * Permanent Waves * Anthem Records (1980)
18.) Radio, Radio * Elvis Costello * This Year’s Model * Radar Records (1978)