Fourteen Years Ago

There it is, the first playlist from the first Self Help Radio, which aired at 2pm Central on October 9, 2002 (a Wednesday) on 91.7 fm KOOP in Austin.  There are some things to note about that show.

1) There appears to be a Self Help Radio show before the first Self Help Radio.  It's not.  At that time period there was a show called "The Pilot Show" which I, as a member of the Training Committee, oversaw.  That particular day, the trainee either flaked or there wasn't a trainee scheduled - so it was up to me to fill the hour.  Most probably I knew there was no one scheduled for that time, which is why I had a theme prepared.

2) Technically, I had done a couple of theme-based shows previous to this one, on a Friday morning slot that I had to give up.  (I sort of told the story here, but suffice it to say, I could do either slot, but the fellow who had the Wednesday show would have preferred Friday, & I said cool.)  I don't count those because I didn't have a name for the show nor an intro.  This show felt like the beginning to me.

3) There is a misspelling of a band on the very first playlist there that I have corrected (on the html; I haven't uploaded it to the server yet) that has been there as long as I've had playlists on my website.  My apologies to the band.  & how embarrassing for me!

4) So eager was I to show off how many songs I had for a particular theme that I couldn't fit into an hour-long show that, for the first few playlists, I noted a few of those leftover songs.  That's what that "more war not broadcast" line means.  I soon realized that was dumb, & stopped doing it.

5) You might be curious why my first show would be about war.  Well, at the time, we had a President who desperately wanted to go to war with a country called Iraq, & was frantically looking for (& not finding, so fabricating) evidence to go to war.  Everyone knows that the United States invaded Iraq in March of the next year, but war was in the air already in October.  My friends & I really, really hoped the warmongering would lead to Bush losing in Congress, but also in the air was the spirit of 9/11.  So, darn.

That may be all to note.  I have the show on cassette somewhere, & that cassette is still in Lexington, or maybe I'd digitize it & share it.  Maybe next year!