Twice (So Far) In Portland

This is dumb.  But I want to mention this.

If you've never heard me on the radio, there is something you need to know: I talk.  I talk a lot.

It's not just rambling.  In general, I have things to talk about.  On Self Help Radio, it's the theme.  On other shows, I'm usually talking about the music I just played, or perhaps the music under my voice.  Sometimes I talk to set up the next set.  But the point is, I talk.

Many moons ago, when I went away for the first time & left SHR in the hands of other programmers, whom I asked to do the show, I was a little amazed when I saw their playlists which has so many more songs than I normally played.  That's because they simply back-announced, & then went to the next set.  No embellishment, no expounding on the show's theme.  I just don't do that.

Twice in Portland this has affected me badly.  Well, thrice.

When I first started subbing at KBOO, the one available slot was for the folk block (or "strip" as they prefer to call it) in the mornings.  I like to celebrate birthdays, so I found some folk & blues artists who had birthdays on the days I was deejaying.  I discussed their lives & play some of their songs.

The KBOO folk block has long-time listeners.  They did not like how much I talked.  One of them called me after I had started a song & unfortunately said, "Get off the air!"  I pointed out that a song was playing, & after a bit of sputtering, they hung up.

The first time I ignored it.  The second time, the listeners doubled down.  Two people called to tell me not to talk so much.  I was affable & thought I could weather it.

But it did affect me badly.  I was not wedded to the folk/country/Americana/blues format, & I didn't want to be a thorn in the side of cranky regular listeners, so I haven't subbed a KBOO folk show since.  I was told by people at KBOO to ignore these curmudgeons, but for me it doesn't seem to be worth it.

This past Wednesday I subbed an XRAY afternoon show & got a text - you can get texts at XRAY! - which basically said, "Less talk please."  I remember Weird Al's response to Space Ghost on the Cartoon Network show when told to shut up: "I don't know how!"  I sent a text back that said, "I'll do my best."

There's a part of me that doesn't want to irk regular listeners but - there's a part of me that wonders, who are these people listening to radio who don't know that part of the charm of radio is listening to the person playing the music?

Therefore I will continue in my unpopular manner, yammering in-between sets of music.  What else can I do?  I'm not an iPod, I'm not a Spotsify, I'm not your personal satellite radio.  Please feel free to go elsewhere - most people have!  But I want to have fun.  This is how I have fun.