ghost of miles

That's going to be an amazing collection. I keep meaning to pick up The Complete Doonesbury, but I think this set might overtake it on the priority list.

Yeah, I just came across a Businessweek article about the format that mentioned the "robo-DJs"--that explains the stupid voice I heard on the Indpls. station that said, "Ten songs in a row? Better than 10 refrigerators in a row." Scintillating on-air banter, that...

What do you think of this radio format? I gotta say that so far it bugs the crap out of me whenever I hear it. Given that I'm just on the creaky side of 40, I think I'm part of the targeted demographic, because it's basically what I'd call "new oldies"--dumping the 1950s and 60s for 1970s-1990s. It's inevitable that such a move would happen, and I could happily live for the rest of my life without hearing another early Beach Boys surfing song. Very little 1950s rock appeals to me these days, either. But gawd, I could happily live for the rest of my life without hearing Journey's "Faithfully" followed by Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" as well. I guess I'm not part of the targeted demographic, in a way. I was a teenager when those songs were tearing up the charts, but I was listening to the Smiths, early R.E.M., Husker Du, the Replacements, etc. So what the hell do I know? At this point I'm programming public, not commercial, radio. Maybe JACK will bust out in the major urban markets, or already has. Maybe I'm still convinced that in terms of Top 40, the early 1960s through the early 1970s were a far, far better time than the times that followed. I'd rather listen to a program like my friend Greg Adams'--Rhythm Ranch, a Monday night show on our community station WFHB that plays country, r & b, pop, and more from the 1940s through the 1970s and studiously AVOIDS the super well-known hits. So much good stuff charted that never made it anywhere near the oldies stations. Anyways, any thoughts on this? I know that NYC's WCBS (correct?) just went to this new format a few weeks ago.

This program is now archived.

Love the Kinks... I think I once started a "Kinks Korner" on the old BNBB. I've picked up all of those 1960s Castle re-issues, and, like another poster, go the most to FACE TO FACE and SOMETHING ELSE. VILLAGE GREEN a masterpiece, of course--I just find I don't spin it quite as much as the other two. How's a later album, GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT? I love "Better Things" off that, but haven't heard the rest.

Here's to a great day for a great Guy!

Well, I just placed my pre-order with CD Universe through Alan's site and threw the Brookmeyer into the mix--I'd initially thought about holding off on that one, but anything for the cause of re-issues, y'know? Looks like these have been bumped back to 8/16, btw.

A friend has offered to give me his Mosaic Chet Baker/Russ Freeman studio recordings set. I'm pretty excited, to say the least... is there a discography online for this someplace? I know I already have some of the material (the West Coast Classics CD that came out a few years ago, for starters), but I'm also sure that there's a fair amount I don't have... and I always like the booklets.

Eric, I think this is very well-stated--and I also agree with your remark elsewhere about the enjoying the challenge of retaining/increasing the audience with programming that is good. I just don't want to neglect the jazz lovers. (Which I know you're not advocating.) Spurning them entirely (as KKJZ seems to be doing) strikes me as being as mistaken as catering to them exclusively.

He's actually quite a swell guy who's been very supportive as well--been at the station for 20 years and is well-loved by our audience. One year for Christmas he gave me a copy of TO BE OR NOT TO BOP that was autographed by Diz himself... helluva nice guy, and one from whom I still have a lot to learn. Hey, I think there's a "Perfectly Frank" Night Lights waiting to happen.. probably in late-September.

At several stations that I worked at I was the Traffic Director and in a nutshell I was responsible for scheduling the commercials on the stations programs logs,working closely with the production director to make sure that our information was the same and delivering the finished program logs to the on air personnel. ← That's pretty close to what I'll be doing in that regard, Chris... basically a split between that and the fun stuff (jazz programming duties). I'll also be doing occasional news and profile pieces as well, and at least one on-air board shift a week. It's really a dream come true, and thanks so much to everyone for their messages here. This board has been wonderfully supportive of my radio efforts, in many different ways... and it's a board that seems to come up in my conversations a couple of times a day. Just this a.m., my wife was telling our friend at breakfast about the "Belief-o-Matic," which I had sent to her after seeing it posted here... and hell, that's not even jazz-related!

You & me both, Brad!

This week on Night Lights it's "Duets: Two Degrees of Separation." We'll hear duets from Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron, Mal Waldron and Jeanne Lee, Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake, Ran Blake and Anthony Braxton, Anthony Braxton and Max Roach, and Max Roach and Dizzy Gillespie. The concept for this program was rather accidental, as I was pondering a duets show and happened to notice how many of these artists appeared on other duet records. No appearances from Kevin Bacon, I promise... The program airs Saturday night at 11:05 p.m. (9:05 California time, 12:05 NYC time) on WFIU; you can listen live, or wait until Monday afternoon, when the program will be posted in the Night Lights archives. P.S. I cheated slightly; George Duvivier sneaks in on one of the "duet" tracks! Next week: "For Lady: Early LP Tributes to Billie Holiday."

Yeah, I saw that in our local public library. Looks like I might start there... thanks!

Thanks for posting about this--I'll keep an eye out for it. Just got some of Morgan's mid-1950s recordings and have been enjoying those lately.

The webmaster says the link is fixed as well... hope it's working for everybody, and thanks to graaspiano too.

Brad, I'll forward your message to the webmaster. My guess is that he won't get the message till Monday, so expect a fix by mid-late a.m. that day. Sorry about that!

I thought their name was Ornette Floyd... heard 'em on a Texas radio station once.

Your comments will be forwarded to the proper authorities, comra--er, uh, I mean, Big Al! Seriously, I am hoping that we can archive these puppies now that I'm fulltime. Somebody who came up to our booth during a local arts fair asked for them to be archived as well... you can believe that I truly am passing these remarks along!

Barak, I've been incredibly busy this week... so sorry that I missed this! Hope you had a great day.

Haven't read much sci-fi (in fact, the only Bradbury I've ever read was Dandelion Wine, which was not sci-fi), but my gut feeling is that, just as the detective novel replaced the western as a dominant cultural narrative about 60-70 years ago, so may the sci-fi novel now be eclipsing the crime story.

It is determined by the number of posts you've made. Not quality posts, just posts. The more you have, the more days you get. I think it's one week for every 1200 posts. It's on page 32 of the personnel handbook. ← Some of us are getting damned close to retirement!

Yeah, bring the kitty back! Hope all's well, Jeff! ← Sick, sick, sick! Hope AB returns soon...

That's a good one... I'll try to spin some tunes from that on my big-bands program in a couple of weeks.

Just wanted to let you all know that I've been offered--and have accepted--a fulltime position at Bloomington's NPR/public radio station, WFIU. I'll basically be an assistant jazz director and part-time traffic coordinator, and will continue doing Night Lights and The Big Bands as part of my new duties. Thanks much to this board for all of the insight, knowledge, and other assistance provided--just the plain, out-and-out support that you folks have given me, and that has contributed (in no small way, I'm convinced) to my being hired. Yesterday I sat in on the afternoon jazz program and jammed the new Uptown Parker/Diz, and damn, did it feel good! Anyways, I start Monday, July 18, which also means something akin to a 40-hour week and weekends off... both phenomenons that I haven't experienced in a loooooong time.