Self Help Radio 042023: Planet

(Original image by Ella Frances Sanders from here*.)

Apologies for posting this a day late. Since I have a show on Saturday mornings on XRAY (today's show was in honor of Record Store Day if you wanna listen to it) it gets kinda intense & I focus on that instead of posting this week's Self Help Radio. So I guess I'll post these on Saturdays from now on?

This week's show had the theme planet & we had fabulous guests & lots of tunes & all the usual nonsense. I had a lot of fun putting the show together. Almost as much fun as I would traveling to another planet! Oh boy! Will that happen in my lifetime? Nope. Certainly not.

So. Listen to the show yeah? It's at the Self Help Radio website. Remember to use the username SHR & pass the password selfhelp to access it. Everything that happened on the show is below. A show that should've aired on another planet. But was only on this dumb one.

Self Help Radio Planet Show

"Planet Minuet" Tom Glazer & Dottie Evans _Space Songs (From Ballads For The Age Of Science)_

"Story Of The Planets" Sally Starr _Sally Starr's Adventure To The Moon_

"Interplant Janet" Lynn Ahrens _Schoolhouse Rock: Science Rock_

introduction & definitions

"Planet Queen" T. Rex _Electric Warrior_

"Another Girl, Another Planet" The Only Ones _The Only Ones_

"Planet Claire" The B-52's _The B-52's_

"Escape From The Planet Earth" The Continental IV _Dream World_

interview with Dr. Charles Planet, who doesn't think Earth is a planet

"A Visit To A Sad Planet" Leonard Nimoy _Presents Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space_

"Planet Earth" Devo _Freedom Of Choice_

"Lonely Planet Boy" The Pastels _Comin' Through_

"Planet Rock" Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force _Street Jams: Electric Funk Part 1_

interview with Lemuel, a visitor from another planet

"Planet Of Fools" David Thomas & Two Pale Boys _Erewhon_

"Planet Of Women" Sonny & The Sunsets _Tomorrow Is Alright_

"Red Planet" Alvvays _Alvvays_

"Planets Ain't Aligned (feat. The Freestyle Fellowship)" Nobody _No Categories 2: A Ubiquity Compilation_

interview with Preston Truitt, discoverer of Planet X

"Blues For Planet X" My Favorite _Tender Is The Nightshift: Part 1_

"Planet X" Red Ribbon _Planet X_

"First Day On A Brand New Planet" Urusei Yatsura _We Are Urusei Yatsura_

"Happy People, Scary Planet" Kawaii _If It Shines, We Have It_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by/conclusion & goodbye

"Planet E" Tiga _No Fantasy Required_

"Fear Of A Blind Planet" Wax Tailor _The Shadow Of Their Suns_

"Planet" Ken Nordine _Wink: Ken Nordine Does Robert Shure_

"Shoot The Planet" MomusMcClymont _Two_

* Yeah, it's fucking arrogant to stick my dumb logo on such a wonderful drawing but fuck I love it so much & it fit the theme so well I hope I can be forgiven.

Whither Planet?

(These planets are too close together!! Image from here.)

As mention yesterday, Self Help Radio has already explored the themes Mars & Venus. It is not inconceivable that the show may one day explore Mercury or Jupiter or Saturn or even Uranus. (Sorry, it's one of those jokes that's just always there, one can't help oneself.) But what about the term "planet" in general? We live on a planet. Aliens visit us from other planets. We'd all like to one day travel to another planet. Starfleet is the exploration & defense arm of the United Federation Of Planets. I want to do a show about planets but not be confined to our solar system or even literal planets! Why can't we hear songs about metaphorical planets? Did John Donne say something about no one being a planet? Or something sort of like that?

This afternoon, from noon to 2pm Portland time, on Freeform Portland - which you can listen to in town at both 90.3+98.3fm & online everywhere at freeform portland dot org - we will explore the term planet while listening to songs about planets of all kinds plus talking to people somehow related to one planet or another. & then the next astronomy-related show can be about Pluto or Neptune. Or maybe moon, sun, or star. Like space, the possibilities are endless! Or at least there's just a lot of possibilities. Like there's a lot of space. A lot of themes about space.

Okay. I'm done now.

Preface To Planet: Three Questions

(image from here)

Question one: Haven't there already been shows about planets on Self Help Radio before?

Answer one: Yes! There's been a show about Mars. & about Venus. But that's it!

Question two: What's the farthest planet to be discovered at this point?

Answer two: According to this article, the melodiously named OGLE-2014-BLG-0124L might be the furthest away. It's 13,000 light years away. It's a gas giant but really who isn't.

Question three: Does Gary have a favorite planet?

Answer three: Ooo, I've never thought about that. I kinda like the Changeling planet in the Star Trek universe with the Great Link, but since I'm not a Changeling, I'd be kinda out of place there. I wish I could wander around all the planets in our solar system, actually. Like Dr. Manhattan on Mars in Watchmen. But maybe I don't have a favorite planet.

Meet Pete

On Sunday we brought this beauty home to our little home. His name is Pete & he's almost eleven weeks old. We've had him for a little over forty-eight hours & we took him to our vet today, where this picture was taken. He's sweet & a bit bitey & the rest of the household doesn't quite know what to make of him. He's very bonded to my wife which is as it should be. He's too adorable for words. I'll probably post too many pictures of him over on the show's Tumblr page if you wanna keep an eye for him there. Or just ask! We've already taken hundreds.

Other Places, Other Spaces

Wow! Look at these incredibly boring logos!

Just a small bit of information about where to find the radio shows I do. This is a question no-one has every asked me. I'm just pretending someone gives a shit.

Every radio show I do is archived for a time at the Self Help Radio website. As a rule, I prioritize Self Help Radio - it's my baby - so the most recent show is at the top of the page. But in-between there'll be episodes of my other shows, so what if you can't wait a week to listen? Luckily they're archived at the web pages of the stations on which they air.

The Dickenbock Report can be found at its page at XRAY dot fm. Although for some reason this past week's show isn't there. Oh well. I'll put it up later this week on the Self Help Radio page.

Corporate Standardized Programming doesn't have a page on KBOO's website yet, but the first two episodes (& tonight's as well) are on the old Self Help Radio page there. There'll be a page for that show at some point but things move slowly at KBOO - the staff are incredibly overworked.

See? A small bit of information. Very small. Mostly unhelpful. Utterly unimportant.

Self Help Radio 041323: Options

(it's at least one of your options)

As usual, you had the option to listen to this week's show, which had the theme "options," when it aired at its regular timeslot, Thursdays noon to 2pm on Freeform Portland. Almost certainly you did not avail yourself of that option. As was your right.

But then you heard that in addition to the music, I talked to a psychologist about option paralysis! to a retired General who wrote a book called "Failure Is Not An Option"! to a fellow opening a club in town called Options! & to a game show host trying to sell a game show called Options! Maybe you thought, I might have enjoyed that. In case you did - & sure, you didn't, but in case you did - you now have the option of listening to the show any time you want.

It's at the Self Help Radio website. You'll need a username & password to listen - that's SHR & selfhelp respectively. Every song I played & the interviews are listed below, so you have the option to skip around to what you want to listen to.

Aren't options great?

Self Help Radio Options show

"I'll Take An Option On You" Peggy Healy, Roy Bargy, & Rhythm Boys _I'll Take An Option On You_

"Options" Gomez _Whatever's On Your Mind_

"Options" Woolen Men _Options EP_

introduction & definitions

"Options R" Wire _Pink Flag_

"Options" The Proletariat _This Is Boston Not L.A._

"Sabbatical With Options (feat. Aesop Rock)" Prefuse 73 _Surrounded By Silence_

"Options" Sa-Roc _The Sharecropper's Daughter (Deluxe Edition)_

interview with psychologist Dr. Sandy Stern

"C Is The Heavenly Option" Heavenly _Le Jardin De Heavenly_

"Heavenly Option" Cinnamon _The Courier_

"No Options" Lunatics On Pogosticks _Whatever Gets You Through_

"I Need Options" Freezepop _Secret Companion_

interview with self-help author Brigadier General Herman Masterson (Ret.)

"Modern Options" Steven James Adams _Old Magick_

"The Saturday Option" Lambchop _What Another Man Spills_

"At The Purchaser's Option" Rhiannon Giddens _Freedom Highway_

"Not An Option" The Wild Reeds _The World We Built_

interview with club owner Andrew

"Apple Option Fire" Hot Lava _Lavalogy_

"No Mundane Options" The Paddingtons _No Mundane Options_

"Keeping Options Open" Tuns _Duly Noted_

"Option 8" Horsegirl _Versions Of Modern Performance_

you can an option game show host Milton Graves interrupts!

"Death Is Optional" Negativland _Speech Free_

"Technicolor Option" Knifehandchop _Rockstopper_

"Option Paralysis" Githead _Profile_

conclusion & goodbye

"If War Was Not An Option" Suheir Hammad _Poems Not Fit For The White House_

"Vinoo Mankad Option" Muslimgauze _Tandoori Dog_

Whither Options?

(image from here)

Can I tell you, people in Portland have it good. There are so many options for great non-commercial radio here! In most other places, you may have a college station, or a community station, & then the NPR station. Usually the NPR station doesn't compete with the college/community station for music, but in Dallas & Austin there's an NPR music station as well. A part of me doesn't really consider anything NPR does in the same category as college & community stations because they playlist. Most of their deejays are just voice talent like on commercial radio stations.

& I don't really count commercial radio stations, although of course they're an option. This is true: the only times in the last few years I have heard commercial radio stations is either coming from a car that is passing or from people working on our house. & the stations seem utterly unchanged from when I listened to them in the 1980s, over forty years ago.

But as I was saying - options! On the left side of the dial are the stations at which I deejay! Plus there's others including some low power stations on both sides of the Columbia! It's incredible. I had too many options when I came to Portland & I had to settle on three. But there are more!

Is that the reason why Self Help Radio is about options today? I don't think so. I can't remember, actually. But listen today from noon to 2pm Portland time on Freeform Portland - we're on 90.3+98.3fm in town & online at freeformportland.org. You have the option not to do so, of course, but I hope you don't take it.

Preface To Options: Option D

This is one of the few images on my computer with the name "option." It's named "option d," presumably by me, since among the options I've had I have no chosen becoming my father or joining the army. I might have once made conceptual art but I wasn't very good at it. I am almost certain to die if ever I am alone in the woods.

A reverse-gurple image search suggests to me that I found it on this blog. That does not tell me where the blog found it. It's popped up here & there without any attribution. If I were a better detective - or didn't have a radio show to put together - I'd try to find out where it is. It's very funny.

Anyway, I like what I've done with the show so far. Fingers crossed it stays okay for tomorrow!

Sock It To Me Sakamoto

(image from Wikipedia)

Very early this morning, on the show Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO, I played three hours of music by the late, great Ryuichi Sakamoto. I'll put it up on the Self Help Radio website anon, but you can listen to it now should you be so inclined at the KBOO website.

It didn't occur to me at the time, but this is one of the reasons I wanted to do just a general format show - to be able to have the time & space to showcase a performer like Sakamoto. I am grateful I had the opportunity today.

Supermarket Movies

(image from the IMDb)

When Self Help Radio behaves itself, we are visited by our resident cinephile, Chuck, who talks to us about movies involving the week's theme. This week it was supermarkets!

You didn't hear the show? Shame on you! No double coupons this week! Go please to the Self Help Radio website & avail yourself of our fresh selection of supermarket tunes!

Now that you've done that:

Have a look at the IMDb keyword list that Chuck used to find supermarket movies.

There's also a list on Letterboxd.

If you'd like to see some of these movies for free, check out Chuck's Youtube playlist. There's also a list of films on the IMDb which you can stream elsewhere for free.

Have a look at some of Chuck's Letterboxd reviews.

& to find out what movies he's watching next - follow Chuck on Twitter!Z

Anyway, those are too many items for the Express Checkout Lane. What were you thinking?

Self Help Radio 040623: Supermarkets

(original image here)

Self Help Radio's return to Freeform Portland was I think a nice affair. It's nice to be in those studios, the new Freeform Portland studios, in the afternoon. It's nice to have an episode of SHR that's only two hours long, it's just nice. I hope it's a nice program. I have no idea. I don't trust my judgment.

Alas, Freeform Portland doesn't archive its shows like KBOO did, so to listen to this you have to go to the Self Help Radio website. There you'll find the show (along with the others I do). You'll need to have a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) to listen. Is it fun to listen to while in a supermarket? Why don't you do that & report back? Everything that happened on the show is below.

Happy shopping!

Self Help Radio Supermarket Show

"Supermarket" Earl Sinks _The Man With 1000 Names_

"Supermarket Full Of Cans" The Eyes Of Blue _The Mod Scene_

"Let's Loot The Supermarket" The Deviants _Disposable_

introduction & definitions - featuring the Definition-O-Tron 3000!

"Supermarket Blues" Eugene McDaniels _Headless Heroes Of The Apocalype_

"Supermarket" Pete Dunaway _Black Rio 2 (Original Samba Soul 1968-1981)_

"A Supermarket In California" Allen Ginsberg _Howls, Raps, & Roars: Recordings From The San Francisco Poetry Renaissance_

"Abominable Snowman In The Market" Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers _Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers_

interview with Jack & Jill Johnson, owners of Jack & Jill's Supermarket

"Lost In The Supermarket" The Clash _London Calling_

"Fairytale In The Supermarket" The Raincoats _The Raincoats_

"Le Supermarché" Les Calamités _À Bride Abattue_

"Supermarkets" George Carlin _On The Road_

"Supermarket Fantasy" Screeching Weasel _Boogadaboogadaboogada!_

interview with five-time Bagboy Of The Year winner Barry Knock

"Supermarket Scene" Icecream Hands _You Can Ride My Bike: The Best Of Icecream Hands_

"Supermarket" Denim _Novelty Rock_

"Electronique Supermarket" Skanfrom _Cashier Escape Route_

"Supermarket Casanova" Hyperbubble _Candy Apple Daydreams_

interview with supermarket consultant Tom Buddy

"Queen Of The Supermarket" Bruce Springsteen _Working On A Dream_

"Supermarkets" Jerry Seinfeld _I'm Telling You For The Last Time_

"Touching Boys (In Supermarkets)" Alice & The Enemies _Alice & The Enemies_

"Supermarket Sushi" The Chickpea Darlings _Bitter Lemon_

our resident cinephile Chuck stops by

"Precarious (Supermarket Song)" Martha _Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart_

"Supermarket" Wet Leg _Wet Leg_

"Matt Neffer, Boy Spotwelder: At The Supermarket" Bob & Ray _Classic Bob & Ray, Volume Three - Selections From A Career: 1946-1976_

"Supermarket Supermodel (feat. Chela)" Seth Bogart _Seth Bogart_

conclusion & goodbye7

"Supermarket" Iggy Pop _Skull Ring_

"Rob The Supermarket" Kid Kapichi _Here's What You Could Have Won_

"Supermarket" Flux Information Sciences _Private/Public_

Whither Supermarkets?

As discussed yesterday, today's show differs from the previous Self Help Radio show about "markets" (see that playlist from 2018 here) in that it's a show not about all markets but only supermarkets. But that's not really the story, is it? The story is that Self Help Radio has returned to Freeform Portland! That's right, we're back on the station where the show first found a home when it came to Portland. I'm sure I've talked about the reasons for that before.

So rather than laborious explaining to you why the show is about supermarkets, & in lieu of doing the show in an actual supermarket, I'll just take this to say that today April 6 I'll be at the new Freeform Portland studios from noon to 2pm Portland time with a somewhat brand-new Self Help Radio (all the interviews today are new! some of the songs I played on the previous markets show!) which you can listen to & it won't be in the middle of the night on 90.3+98.3fm in Portland, & online everywhere at freeformportland.org. I hope you can tune in.

By the way, why didn't I record it in a supermarket? Let's just say a person whose name was not Fred Meyer was very rude to me in the plant milks section & leave it at that.

Preface To Supermarkets: This All Seems Very Familiar

It isn't a supermarket but I'm having déjà vu!

Longtime listeners of Self Help Radio, of which there are none, might have warned me about this week's theme. I forget about my shows very soon after I've done them - it's almost a necessity, since I've been doing this for over twenty years. But I keep a page of themes I've covered over on the SHR website. It's supposed to protect me from repetition.

But as I was listening to songs for this show, I felt like I had done a show about supermarkets before. So I checked the list. No, "supermarkets" was not there. I assumed some of the songs might have fit other themes. But the feeling kept nagging at me. & I decided to look for songs in playlists.

Voila! In 2018, I did a show about markets.

That show was recorded, & it aired in Kentucky, so almost certainly no one listening to Self Help Radio now heard it then. I'm not sure anyone even heard it then! & I haven't gone back to the blog for those shows (except to steal the picture above) so I'm not sure if I thought I couldn't find enough songs for a show only about supermarkets.

But guess what! I have! & I'll also probably play the supermarket songs I played five years ago for the markets show! I have no shame! What! You don't really care! You're just pretending to care!

It'll be fun to kind of revisit a theme as I return the show to Freeform Portland. That was I can also pretend I meant to do it. But I did not.

What Did I Do On April 4, 2017?

You know what? I don't recall. I was living in Fort Worth, Texas, at the time. We had just been living there for a few months. I was still doing Self Help Radio remotely - recorded in Texas, airing in Kentucky - but I was volunteering at KNON, so that might explain this:

It's called "Dallas Skyline Morning." I bet I had gone up to KNON for some reason.

But Gary, you may say, wasn't your mother still alive? Might you have gone to visit her? Perhaps, but I'm not sure I would've turned onto I-75 if I were going to her apartment. I might have continued down I-30. This picture was taken from I-75.

Also, look at this:

This picture was almost certainly taken on the ramp that goes from I-30 (seen to the left) to I-45.

Hey Gary, I hear myself say, don't you have a rudimentary dumb journal that you keep to tell you what you were doing on those days? I do, but where's the fun in that? My memory deserves to be challenged once in a while.

But okay. I checked. I was working as Traffic Director at KNON at the time. This was on my way to work.

Not very exciting, after all. But I do like the picture of downtown Dallas. It looks like the buildings are awkwardly waiting for something to happen.

Corporate Standardized Programming

(hopefully better logo coming soon?)

Tonight on KBOO - midnight to 3am on 90.7fm & kboo.fm - is the premiere of my new radio show, Corporate Standardized Programming. It is "replacing" Self Help Radio in the sense that it is that show's previous timeslot. Self Help Radio will now air on Freeform Portland on Thursdays noon to 2pm.

The show is what some might call "general format" - there's no theme, or there might be a theme for individual sets - the whole three hours won't be devoted to something dumb like chipmunks or crosshatching.

The show is also recorded - I put it together on Saturday - but I will live tweet it. (At the show's Twitter account.) Which is cool because I am giving away tickets tonight! How will I do that? I have a text line for the show which I will monitor.

The show takes its name from a George Carlin bit which I will use to open the show. Like Self Help Radio, which isn't a self-help radio show, this really isn't "corporate standardized programming." I seem to like to title my radio shows what they're not. How strange to realize I have a schtick this late in the game!

Maybe you'll listen. If not, the show will be archived on the KBOO website & on the show's website. As always, my radio stuff is as easy to ignore when it's on the air as when it's on the web.

Switcheroo

(Some weirdo on the Freeform Portland Discord)

On Tuesday morning, I did my last Self Help Radio (for now) on KBOO. I believe I have been doing the show in the midnight to 3am slot for well over two years now - since the Fall of 2020. Since perhaps the middle of 2021 I've been doing it live in the KBOO studios.

The thing is, I never really wanted Self Help Radio to be three hours long. It's not been easy to fill 180 minutes with a particular theme - & I've spoken before about how I dislike "broad" themes - like cars or colors or whatever - I like a little bit of a challenge. But challenging is what it has become.

You might not know this but I've also been doing a two-hour version of the KBOO show on XRAY on Saturdays. It seemed to make sense - streamline the show for a different audience - but I've started to feel like that was cheating. As well I was doing both shows live. It was a tad boring for me.

It's been kind of exhausting as well schlepping up to KBOO on Monday nights. With the prospect of Freeform Portland opening its new studio, I decided on a change. Bear with me.

Self Help Radio is moving back to Freeform Portland. It'll happen (live! at the Freeform Portland studios!) from noon to 2pm on Thursdays. But wait! Don't I already have a show there now?

Yes, & the last episode of The Dickenbock Report aired yesterday. I am moving (as of next week) the Dickenbock Report to Saturday mornings, 5 to 7am, on XRAY. Where my two-hour Self Help Radio redo has been.

What about those three hours on Monday night/Tuesday morning? I don't really want to give them up! So I am doing a new show at this time. Premiering midnight Monday is a general format show I am calling Corporate Standardized Programming. It will be recorded. I'll still live tweet the show but won't be going up there & being extremely exhausted all day Tuesday.

To sum up, Gary's week of radio will, starting Monday, be:
Tuesdays midnight to 3am: Corporate Standardized Programming (on KBOO)

Thursdays noon to 2pm: Self Help Radio (on Freeform Portland)

Saturdays 5 to 7am: The Dickenbock Report (on XRAY)

The XRAY & KBOO shows will be archived at their respective sites, & I'll probably archive all three at the Self Help Radio website.

Yeah, switcheroo implies something sneaky, & this took a while to pull together - the various programming folks at the three stations were all very sweet - but I couldn't think of a better word!

Self Help Radio 032823: Instant Radio Show

As announced this morning, Self Help Radio's "Instant Radio Show" is the last episode of Self Help Radio on KBOO for now. It was a program that should've been a bit more clever - instead, you know, I just played a lot of songs that used the word "instant." I also talked to some folks like I do, I had a segment about idioms, & otherwise filled three hours the best I could.

What happens now with Self Help Radio? It's going to be on a different station next week. I'll talk about that on Friday. For now, be aware you can listen (for one last time!) at kboo.fm or (like usual) at selfhelpradio.net. As usual, the latter needs a username & password (SHR + selfhelp respectively) but at least it can be downloaded. Everything that happened on the show is linked below.

Three hours a week was hard! I can't believe I lasted as long as I did.

Self Help Radio Instant Radio Show

"Instant Man" Ronnie Self _Bop-A-Lena_

"Instant Happy" Don Ho _Instant Happy_

"Instant Night" Beauty Pill _Instant Night_

introduction & definitions

"Instant Replay" Dan Hartman _Step Back & Boogie_

"Long Live Instant Pandemonium" Robert Pollard _Of Course You Are_

"Instant Disassembly" Parquet Courts _Sunbathing Animal_

"Instant Flame" Grape Room _Heart Of Gum_

"Instant Nightmare!" The Dears _Lovers Rock_

interview with Jason Lemon of Instant Karma Unltd.

"Instant Karma!" John Lennon _The John Lennon Collection_

"Instant Party Mixture" The Who _Maximum As & Bs (The Complete Singles)_

"Instant Mashed Potato" Chris Knox _Songs Of You & Me_

"Instant Hit" The Slits _Cut_

"Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance To Anything)" The Dead Milkmen _Death Rides A Pale Cow (The Ultimate Collection)_

interview with Andy Jett of Instant Psychedelics

"Instant Reaction" Clarence Carter _Testifyin'_

"Instant Love" The Main Ingredient _Brotherly Love (The RCA Anthology)_

"In An Instant" System Exclusive _System Exclusive_

"Instant Feeling" Aerial FX _Watching The Dance_

"Instant Weight Loss" Sparks _Angst In My Pants_

interview with Charles The Dragon Tamer

"Instant Tunes" XTC _White Music_

"(Do The) Instant Mash" Joe Jackson _Look Sharp!_

"Instantly Yours" Bill Nelson _Do You Dream In Colour?_

"Of The Instant" Gang Of Four _Songs Of The Free_

"Instant Coffee Baby" The Wave Pictures _Instant Coffee Baby_

idioms!

"Instant Knowledge" The Asteroids _Life On A Asteroid_

"Instant Doppelgängers" Surfer Blood _Snowdonia_

"Past Tense Hopes & Instant Fears On 42nd Street" 39 Clocks _Subnarcotic_

"ACME Instant Dehydrated Boulder Kit" Severed Heads _Goodbye Tonsils_

"Instantaneous Decisions" Sun City Girls _Libyan Dream_

a "big announcement"

"Instant Love" Chance Gordon _Instant Love_

"Instant Love" The Monzas _There Ain't Nothing Like Shaggin' (The Secret History Of Carolina Beach Music)_

"Instant Happiness" The Bare Facts _"No Tease..." (Primi-Teen Pounders • Inept, Outta-Tune Teen Romp From The (w)Rec(k) Room!)_

"Instant Love" Bob Leers _Rock-A-Billy Boys_

"Instant Reaction" The Go _Don't Take Her Away_

conclusion & goodbye

"Side One" Jimmy Nelson _Jimmy Nelson's "Instant Ventriloquism"_

Whither Instant Radio Show?

(image by David Shrigley)

Tonight's theme is "Instant Radio Show." Will I show you a simple way to make a radio show? Nope! Will I play a lot of songs that use the word "instant"? Yep!

C'mon, you know my show is dumb. Always assume the simplest, most literal possible scenario.

It's on tonight midnight to 3am Portland time on 90.7fm & kboo.fm.  If you listen live you'll hear an important announcement late in the show!

Preface To Instant Radio Show: Carnation Instant Breakfast

(image from here)

As a child, I watched a lot of television. We were very poor, & mostly we ate junk food. It made me desire the junk food I saw on television - well, any food I saw on television, really. But the more novel the better. Case in point: Carnation Instant Breakfast.

The Wikipedia tells us, "Carnation-brand Instant Breakfast (Renamed Carnation Breakfast Essentials in 2022)* was introduced in 1964. It is a powdered instant drink that is manufactured with protein, vitamins & minerals & sugar. It is typically prepared with milk, & is available in different flavors, such as chocolate, vanilla, & strawberry. Powdered forms are marketed in individual-serving packets & in cans. Carnation also manufactures prepared bottled instant breakfast drinks in liquid form."

For the life of me, I can't recall if I ever had Carnation Instant Breakfast. But boy when I found out about it, I wanted it. It's just not the sort of thing my mom would buy for us - "You have chocolate milk," she might say, even if I explained it wasn't just chocolate milk.

Was there a commercial for Carnation Instant Breakfast that was showed during Saturday morning cartoons? I don't know. At some point, I stopped seeing the commercials, & I hardly ever thought about Carnation Instant Breakfast again. Until this week, thinking about this show. I wonder if it even still existed. & it does, sort of. It's called something else.

Doesn't Instant Breakfast sound like the name of an early 70s prog band tho?

* Italics mine.

Coming Attactions

Will explain soon.