Analog Technology

So, a few weeks ago I applied for a postion as a disc jockey at the UW's radio station, Rainy Dawg Radio. My idea for a show was to play sides of records. Here's what I wrote in my application to the station:

About my proposed show:

The format for my show would be to play the entire side of a record. The purpose of this would be to foreground the physicality of the medium. Once upon a time there were people who cared about entire albums. Once upon a time, when you wanted to hear an album, you had to seek it out. In his recent memoirs, Keith Richards writes about meeting Mick Jagger on a train platform. Richards decided to become Jagger's friend because he was holding a copy of the newChuck Berry record. People used to meet and listen to albums together. People had listening parties. It was social experience. I want to recreate that experience. Imagine this in contrast to the solipsistic experience of you ipod, or whatever. My show would offer a wide range of music, from new indie music to old timey jazz stuff, hip hop and gospel, and so forth. I'd try to focus on stuff that was rare, like LP only tracks, b-sides, out of print stuff. I'd also take requests. 

Here is a sample playlist:

The Ventures Surfing side A Dalton Records 1963

1 Pipeline

2 Diamonds

3 Windy and Warm

4 Ten Over

5 Surf Rider

6 Changing Tides

Built to Spill Live side C Up Records 2000

1 Car [Live]

2 Sing Sores Make Perfect Swords [Live]

3 I Would Hurt a Fly [Live]

4 Forget Remember When

5 Now and Then

Duke Ellington This Is Duke Ellington side B RCA Records 1971 (while this record was published in 1971, all the recordings are from 1938-41)

1 Ring Dem Bells

2 Mood Indigo

3 Delta Serenade

4 Solitude

5 Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me

Deerhunter Halcyon Digest side A 4AD Records 2010

1 Earthquake

2 Don't Cry

3 Revival

4 Sailing

5 Memory Boy

6 Desire Lines

The Carpenters s/t side B A&M Records 1971

1 Superstar

2 Drucilla Penny

3 One Love

4 Knowing When to Leave/Make It on Yourself/(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me/I'll Never Fall in Love Again/Walk On By/Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

5 Sometimes

 I finally got a response from the station. It turns out that the station has a policy against playing more than one song by a single artist during a two hour show. Aside from giving a microphone to a roomful of over-caffeinated children afflicted with Tourettes, of course I conceive of the only other format that violates the station's policy. They did, however, like the artist I chose for my playlist, and offered, if I so cared, to look at a revised playlist that abided by the one artist/one song situation that is the Rainy Dawg dogma. I'm thinking about it. Part of me want to eschew any institution with the word "Dawg" in the title.