Maybe it’s fueled by my desire to connect with the local community. Maybe it’s my selfish need to play the music I want, whenever I want it. Maybe it’s because I feel like I’m kindred spirits with Marc Maron and Terry Gross. Whatever it is, I’ve started hosting a radio show.
I’ve always had a fascination with radio. I think it started when I was an intern for a local station in high school. It all seemed so whimsical – a relationship with the community through the air. A personality that people knew, but never met. When I was an intern, the DJs used to send me on ridiculous missions – most notably dressed up like a Christmas tree and waving to people on the side of the road, or being the gatekeeper of concert tickets where listeners had to decipher clues over the air to find me in town. It was a great way to encourage my shy high school self into becoming a sociable person (or at least less shy).
The new show is whatever I want it to be, which I continually find to be incredible in this carefully calculated, mainstream radio climate. Due to streaming services and other factors (thoughts on that for a future post), the radio industry is certainly not the giant it once was, so it seems that all stations are doing everything they can to hold on to listeners. At a low-power, non-profit FM station, that problem doesn’t exist. It’s been a liberating, exhilarating experience, and I’m thankful for the opportunity.
The show is called Beats Per Minute (after my initials, BPM), and I’m doing it twice a month so that it doesn’t ever feel like work. I have guests, I play records, and talk about whatever I feel, to whoever wants to listen. Check it out sometime, either on 92.9 if you are in the NW Philly area, or gtownradio.com.
