27/08/2020
A friend of mine, who is on the management team, has asked if I would do a fortnightly show on our local internet community station, GNET Radio…
…At (just before) 5:00 p.m. UK time on 27 August “Songs From Under The Floorboards – independently-minded music from the post-punk period and beyond” will be broadcast across the ether.
I have never done this before, so it could be a bit of a car crash.
If anyone can listen, that would be great, and all bouquets & brickbats would be gratefully received!
Sorry, forgot to add a potentially important element:
http://www.gnetradio.com
Then just click on “listen live”.
Thank you.
That sounds like fun!
Good luck! Are you going to be talking, or just playing songs?
Hi,
Between the 20+ songs I hope to play (all but 1 from my own collection), I shall endeavour to inform, educate and entertain…
…If nothing/nobody else, that may satisfy Lord Reith.
. .
I
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I hope you’ll be playing some Public Service Broadcasting then, from the first album.
Ha!
A track scheduled for Show 2.
Good luck! This will be my breakfast show tomorrow!
Thank you.
Whereabouts in the world are you?
Lucky devil: love to have a crack at that, even if ignoble disaster ( on my behalf!)
They’re always after people for my local community station North Herts Radio but I decided I didn’t fancy it.
https://www.northhertsfm.com
Splendid. I shall tune in. I trust you will play some Little Feat.
No, as it doesn’t fit the brief.
However, my friend Keith – “Third Stone From The Sun”, 15:00 to 18:00 does and will again I am sure…
Will your show be on Listen Again? I will be stuck in a Teams meeting at 5pm.
Yes, though I have no idea how/when…
…As you asked, I shall find out and direct you to it.
Yes I’m a catch up kinda guy too.
Here’s a tip: don’t start the broadcast with “Now then, guys ‘n’ gals”
Thank you.
Sound advice.
I am going for the far more relevant “Good evening. I am angry. I am ill, and I’m as ugly as sin. My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.”
Bound to wow the listener, that.
Good for you, Biggles!
Hope it all goes well.
How can it fail? You have such great taste in music!!
Thank you so much KFD.
If I am spared and get a second show, I will continue with my introductory welcome. Show 2:
“Do you realize, you have the most beautiful face?
Do you realize that we are floating in space?
Do you realize that happiness makes you cry?
Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?”
It seems the 4th line “may not be appropriate”…
Did those lyrics one time in a mindfulness group many years ago. There were tears, there was laughter… Hang on a minute, there was just tears. Perhaps don’t.
I have been doing two shows a week on local radio (FM and internet) for nearly 8 years now and I’m sure you will have fun. Be yourself and you will be fine.
Thank you.
I was asked initially to do a weekly show (“your kind of music will fill a gap in our schedule”) – yeah, I bet it does.
How the flip to you do 2 shows a week?
Ha! There have been some weeks when I’ve filled in on the Daytime show and done 4 hours every weekday, plus my Sunday afternoon show of 2 hours and the Gig Guide of 2 hours on Tuesday evening!
I fondly remember spending weeks planning my first programme, but now I get a playlist done in an hour or so. Daytime radio I do off the cuff – there is a structure of adverts, news, weather, traffic, competitions and I just pick music from various eras to play around that – there are folders of 60’s, 70’s etc up to the 2010’s and also current hits….it’s really not that hard. We get around 60-70 people entering competions so you have to deal with that and keep your eye on traffic news and other messages like requests.
The oddest thing at the start is hearing yourself in the headphones! The big thing to remember is to always know what you are doing next…i.e. whilst a record is playing, make sure the next tune is cued up either on the computer or on disc, and don’t feel you have to talk between each record….play two in a row with a sweeper or jingle in between sometimes. Also, most listeners to our station are civilians…play some hits!
Sound advice.
Glad I don’t gave to worry about jingles, news, or phone-ins!
Plenty of two-in-a-row, though I have been told that 3 is too many and not to go anywhere near 10 minutes of music without a “vocal intervention”..
If you’re playing Afterword friendly stuff, don’t forget to namecheck the track name and artist. It drives me nuts to hear something that grabs my attention, only to find the presenter doesn’t credit the artist and track name.
Absolutely right @davebigpicture ! And yes, 3 in a row is usually a no-no unless you make it a feature. A friend does a soul and Motown show and does a three in a row somtimes – they are short records anyway. I’m not sure I agree totally with the ten minute rule….I have being playing classic live tracks on my Gig Guide show as there are no gigs at the moment, and have often exceeded that.
Good luck. I’d listen to any show with that title – not enough love for Magazine on radio.
Thank you.
Only the first and last tracks scheduled to be by Mr Devoto and his mates…
Thank you for all the kind comments and helpful advice.
Leaving for the studio in an hour – I need to be there early as I have never done this before, so need to be shown which buttons to press and when.
Not nervous at all. Not in any way worried. Not me, sir.
😱 😰 🤢
One more thing….make sure you don’t play a track with anything sweary or offensive in any way. Not sure whether Ofcom cover internet stations, but they really don’t like it!
What size of audience does community radio get?
I recall a short lived one in Stratford upon Avon in the late 1990s that I used to listen to but when it went to the wall community radio has fallen off my radar.
I would be keen to know how the set up works.
Many moons ago I was a DJ on my university radio station and the fire still burns so I would be interested in doing something local to me in the future.
It really does vary a lot. Stations also are very variable in content and quality! I am on Exmouth AiR Radio and we are quite a professional, commercial sounding station during the day with more specialist type shows in the evenings and at weekends. We don’t do the Rajar thing as it costs money, but surveys suggest we are the third most listened to station in our area after Radio 1 and 2, so we have hundreds if not thousands of listeners. Some stations are much more like student radio….there is an internet station in nearby Sidmouth that is unlistenable in its amateurishness. Community stations are always after volunteers, especially during daytimes, but don’t underestimate the commitment – lots of people dabble and then get fed up of having to go in every week at the same time and doing the prep etc. Basically it is a job without getting paid.
Also, lots of people go in thinking they are going to bring enlightenment to the great unwashed with their superior taste, knowledge, and unfeasibly large record collection and then wonder why they don’t get an audience with those Captain Beefheart rarities.
Sounds perfect for when I retire but not right now.
That could be in the next 5 or 15 years based on all the stuff that is going on!
Thanks for the guidance.
…from “our” perspective, I believe the most recent weekly statistics are along the following lines:
listeners approx. 1,800
“separate” (individual) listeners approx. 1,000
average listening time approx. 21 minutes
Shows run from 17:00 during the week (earlier on Fridays to Sundays). Music playlist streamed when no shows until midnight, I think.
Hope that helps a little.
As requested by @fentonsteve and @twang (and others?), here is the link to the “listen again” feature on the website:
http://www.gnetradio.com/timetable/event/songs-from-under-the-floorboards-with-martin/
Any feedback appreciated.
A couple of other Afterword-friendly shows on the station:
Third Stone from the Sun (Fridays, 15:00-18:00) – including a featured album and a looong track
2 Fish & An Elephant (Saturdays, 17:00-19:00) – all song titles based on a theme
– on 6 September I have been asked to co-host a “Joy Division and New Order special”
If you want any JD/NO obscurities I have most in some form or other and can ‘help’.
Thank you.
Mrs T thinks I’m a “complete obsessive” (vs my “healthy interest” stance), so hope I have everything I need, but please feel free to let me have your thoughts.
Just in case…
Well, some of my fave NO tunes have been b-sides/album tracks/mixes away from the ‘hits’:
Dreams Never End
Procession
Age of Consent
Lonesome Tonight
Sunrise
1963
Theme From Best & Marsh
All Day Long (Bernard’s best lyric by a country mile)
TrueFaith-94 (Perfecto Mix)
Waiting For The Sirens’ Call (Planet Funk Remix)
Plastic
Thank you.
I think we are looking at similar things – start with LWTUA, then go deeper with other tracks, including b-sides, different mixes and cover versions. End with LWTUA.
Always loved All Day Long – used to imagine them all in bib and tucker, backed by a (string) orchestra…
Just finished listening to the show. Congratulations on an excellent 2 hours, I would never have guessed that this was your first go [ok, so there were a few minor hiccups, but it would be more surprising if there hadn’t been – and you handled everything with aplomb]
Your voice is reminiscent of a more laid back Tom Robinson and I enjoyed most of your musical selections. Well done!
Thank you so much for your kind comments.
😚
Just having a listen now. I reckon @biggles sounds a lot like Gideon Coe. Music taste pretty similar too. I shall have a listen again (on catch up). Well done, sir.
Yes, really enjoyed that whilst mangling a database. Like having a man round to play my record collection.
I had a listen yesterday while I was working in the kitchen and thoroughly enjoyed it
Thank you both!
More details about “my” Joy Division and New Order special show to follow later this week…
Is your reach extending as far as Monaco, Electronic and The Other Two? Lots to squeeze into two hours…
…Had to cut Monaco and Revenge (Hooky and his Light feature elsewhere), but the other two(ha) bands are there – in the “what we did on our 1991-1992 holidays” section.
Also some covers and remixes, and 5 or 6 of your suggestions above…
Hello again.
I promise that this will be my last “show promo”, but thought some may be interested that Songs From Under The Floorboards will be returning to the airwaves next Thursday (10 September) at 17:00 UK time.
This show will include a “request” from @Davebigpicture, and @Kaisfatdad may well incorporate a jingle in Swedish!
http://www.gnetradio.com/timetable/event/songs-from-under-the-floorboards-with-martin/
On Saturday 5 September, again at 17:00, I shall be a guest on 2 Fish & An Elephant for a Joy Division and New Order special. If of no interest to anyone else, @fentonsteve will get to hear a number of favourites he mentioned above.
http://www.gnetradio.com/timetable/event/two-fish-and-an-elephant/
Thank you very much!
I really think you should make these Noticeboard events. After all, there’s not much else going on at the moment.