Random thoughts & other unrelated information from the dude who does "Self Help Radio" - a radio show which originated in Austin, Texas & now makes noise in Portland, Oregon. Listen to new & old shows & look at playlists at selfhelpradio.net.
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Monkey Day
December 14 is Monkey Day. There are lots of musical reports about monkeys. We'll sift through the most informative. We'll also probably call lots of primates monkeys that are not, technically, monkeys. & Dick Dickenbock will get lots of angry letters. That would be terrible. Unless one likes letters.
The show is on Sunday from noon to 1pm on XRAY. That's on the air in Portland at 91.1+107.1fm & online everywhere at xray dot fm. You'll go ape for the show! (Time to start writing those angry letters!)
Friday, December 12, 2025
This Week In Self Help: December 7 9 + 11
Lots of radio was shoveled this week - I didn't even try to clean it up.
Sunday December 7 was National Letter Writing Day on The Dickenbock Report on XRAY.
Tuesday December 9 Self Help Radio had a show about shovels on KBOO.
Listen to the show on the KBOO website (after Self Help Radio). Listen to the show on Self Help Radio's website.
As always - you might need a username (SHR) & a password (selfhelp) to listen to shows on the Self Help Radio website.
Now if you'll excuse me - they're making me clean up my mess after all.
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
Self Help Radio 120925: Shovels
This show, it turns out, is shovel-ready.
You were expecting that, sorry.
Here's the show about shovels. I sometimes feel my shows are random but I heard from someone on Bluesky who's in Chicago that they're using their snow shovels a lot. & here in Portland where new builds are going up everywhere I see lots of shoveling. So it's somewhat appropriate. Although if it is, it's entirely by accident.
Please use your entrenching tools while you listen. The show is now at the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website. If you use the latter, please remember the username SHR & the password selfhelp. Most everything that happened on the show is below.
As Erica Boone would say: BYOS. Bring your own shovel!
interview with activist for Shovels For Peace Erica Boone
Monday, December 08, 2025
Whither Shovels?
Just a quick note: this is the last show of 2025 with a new, unique theme. The next three weeks are shows that have "repeated" themes. You can see what those upcoming theme are on the Self Help Radio website.
There'll be time to consider the year later but it's been a fun year for me (at least when I'm talking about the show). I can't believe I've now spent 23 years on this nonsense, but I also can't imagine what else I would be doing.
A show about shovels. Hm. Why did I think of that? I'm tempted to say it had something to do with a movie or television show I saw recently. I spent a lot of this year watching all six seasons of Downton Abbey & just watched the three movies. Maybe shovels play a part in some subplot? I don't know. Isn't that appropriate at the end of the year after months of different themes to just throw up one's hands & say "I don't know! I'm doing a show about shovels! Who cares why?!? It's a show about shovels!"
Anyway, it airs tonight on KBOO. Midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere.
Please insert your "shoveling manure" joke anywhere into the proceedings, I promise it will be apt.
Sunday, December 07, 2025
Preface To Shovels: I Have Shoveled
For many this might be an insult.
But I have lived more than half a century as a mainly non-athletic type.
One could say I am pretty comfortable with who I am.
This is true:
One time a worker at our house asked my wife if I had an opinion about the work to be done.
She said, "Don't ask him. He's not handy."
The worker - a male - looked ashamed for me. I did not feel the slightest bit of shame.
So should someone stare at me & decide "That is not a person who has ever used a shover," it would not offend me. Indeed, I would understand.
But! I have used a shovel! & many times!
When we lived in Kentucky we had ridiculously long circular driveway.
& we had snows four or five times a year.
& when it snowed, I went out to shovel.
& the picture up there is proof. A snow in 2015.
Though I confess I was not the only one who shoveled that day.
It took quite a while & a couple of hands.
It was below freezing outside & at some point I realized I had become so warm in my winter gear that I had stripped down to a tee shirt.
You may ask, but if you don't care if people don't think you've shoveled, why mention this?
Of course the show this week is about shovels. It's something I think about in relation to shovels.
But also. It's always nice to subvert expectations.
For though one might look as though they cannot shovel, it turns out at least some of them can in fact shovel.
Saturday, December 06, 2025
Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Letter Writing Day
That's Sunday noon to 1pm on 91.1+107.1fm here in Portland & online everywhere at xray dot fm. We've very sorry, Dick Dickenbock is making us say this, it'll be a show you'll write home about. Again, apologies for that.
Friday, December 05, 2025
This Week In Self Help: November 29 + 30 & December 1 + 2
It was a pretty busy week for me. Here's what I did:
On Saturday November 29 I subbed for three hours on KBOO playing soul music. I was not calling it a sub for the show that's usually there, An Evening Of Afrotainment, as I am woefully unqualified to host that show. But it's in the timeslot, so you can listen to it on the KBOO website. & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.
On Monday November 1 very early in the morning I played an hour of music from 2025 which I hadn't gotten around to playing yet on KBOO. It was in a timeslot where there's currently no show scheduled, but you can listen to in on the Self Help Radio website. (KBOO doesn't archive shows that are unscheduled.)
On Tuesday November 2 there was a Self Help Radio show on KBOO about graffiti. You can listen to it on the KBOO website. & also on the Self Help Radio website if you want.
Remember - you might need the username SHR & password selfhelp to listen.
Anyway, I hopefully won't be so busy this next week. I'm gonna go paint a train.
Tuesday, December 02, 2025
Self Help Radio 120225: Graffiti
Ooo, almost got caught last night! Self Help Radio tags all over Portland! You can graffiti the town with the power of the airwaves!
Graffiti was sung about & discussed, although I didn't get a chance to read dirty graffiti from the walls of Pompeii or - apparently! - from English churches in the 16th century. I miss discovering graffiti in strange bathrooms on my college campus. I remember being in an unfamiliar building & discovering this gem: No matter how beautiful she is, someone somewhere is sick of her shit.
As someone who was never beautiful & who has shit most everyone is sick of, I present the graffiti Self Help Radio episode. Listen at the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website. Remember you might need a username & password for the latter. Everything that happened on the show is below.
Work on your tag. Be careful. Stay out of trouble.
Monday, December 01, 2025
Whither Graffiti?
When people think of graffiti, they think of the intricate work of some artists - often commissioned, as I believe the art in the image above is - but of course graffiti can just be writing - sometimes names, like tags, or sometimes rude sentences (or not rude, sorry to impose my judgment on them). I was thinking a while back about how in two of the three college stations at which I deejayed, the bathrooms were marked up. Just really, really marked up. Here's a snap of the one at KVRX from around 1995:
& from about twenty years later, something pithy that always made me laugh found in the WRFL bathroom:
In fact it was in a fit of nostalgia that I came across that WRFL pic a few weeks ago & that's what made me think about doing a show about graffiti.
As a side comment: I do wish I had documented those magnificent restrooms more completely. Neither exists any more. The building in which the original KVRX studios lived was demolished around 1999 I think, & the WRFL bathroom was destroyed when the UK Student Center was remodeled around 2015 or 2016. Too bad.
Songs & interviews about graffiti tonight on KBOO. Midnight to 2am. That's 90.7fm here in town & online everywhere at kboo dot fm. Now. I'd better start working on my tag!
Sunday, November 30, 2025
Preface To Graffiti: So Much Graffiti
The city is much more active now & the graffiti level has dropped. There are still some rudimentary tags here & there but hardly any sentences written on the sides of walls as in the picture I took above, dated February 26, 2022. Nearly four years ago, wow. Hard to believe what we've lived through.
Or didn't live through, as the case may be. There are people I don't talk to because of the pandemic. Their inability to understand the deadliness of the virus - coupled with their incredibly stupid fear of vaccines - made me decide I didn't need those people in my life. It was a really dumb time & it continues to be very dumb.
You don't need me to tell you that, tho.
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: National Computer Security Day
Friday, November 28, 2025
This Week In Self Help: November 21 23 + 25
A busy week! How do I start? Way back a Friday ago.
Friday the 21st. The Songcircle on KBOO. New releases. Listen here at KBOO. Listen here at Self Help Radio.
Also Friday the 21st. Also on KBOO. I subbed Plugged In. I played lots of pretty electronica from this year. Listen here at KBOO. Listen here at Self Help Radio.
Sunday the 23rd. The Dickenbock Report on XRAY. It was Eat A Cranberry Day. Listen here at XRAY. Listen here at Self Help Radio.
Also Tuesday the 25th. Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO. More new releases. Listen here at KBOO (after Self Help Radio). Listen here at Self Help Radio.
At Self Help Radio you might need: username SHR, password selfhelp.
Hopefully not such a busy week ahead. Happy holiday weekend!
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Self Help Radio 112525: Magda's Birthday Show 2025
Here it is, the annual birthday show I make for my wife. She said "Thank you for making a birthday show for me" drowsily as she drifted off to sleep. Marriage saved for one more year!
About a third of the songs on the show were from 2025. That includes older songs on new releases, like the Red Sleeping Beauty singles collection & the John & Yoko box set. Most of the rest were songs I just came across this year. I have a folder - this is true - full of birthday songs that I don't really like all that much. I always think one year I'll release a deliberately sub-standard birthday show, so that's why I keep them. But I continue to find birthday songs I like so - not yet!
Have a birthday party & listen to the show either on the KBOO web page or on the Self Help Radio web page. If you choose the latter, you might need the username SHR & the password selfhelp. In any event, bring your own hats & cake. I ate all the cake.
Happy birthday!
introduction & explanation
interview with Wojciech & Agnieszka, who were in the Polish community with Magda
interview with Oliver, who had been a grad student with Magda
Monday, November 24, 2025
Whither Magda's Birthday Show 2025?
Nearly every year that Self Help Radio has been in existence - that's like 23 years now - I have dedicated a show to the love of my life - first when she was just my girlfriend, now as my wife - around the time of her birthday. Do I play songs that make me think about her? Do I share songs that we both love equally? Nope! I play songs about birthdays. She's still charmed by it tho.
What makes the show difficult for me is that I don't repeat recordings. Which is to say, I may play covers of famous birthday songs, but once I've played that recording of the song, I don't repeat it. So I need to find new birthday songs - either ones that have been released in the last twelve months or ones I have otherwise missed - on every birthday show. & that's a challenge!
Sunday, November 23, 2025
Saturday, November 22, 2025
Coming Up Tomorrow On The Dickenbock Report: Eat A Cranberry Day
November 23 is Eat A Cranberry Day. We've stocked up on cranberries in all manners of food - sauce, juice, pie, & more - & Dick Dickenbock demands we eat cranberries while we report on the fruit tomorrow.
That's Sunday, from noon to 1pm, on 91.1+107.1fm in Portland, xray dot fm everywhere. Why wait for Thanksgiving?
Friday, November 21, 2025
This Week In Self Help: November 16 + 18
The Dickenbock Report on XRAY FM reported on National Button Day.
Self Help Radio on KBOO FM had a show about freedom.
(All the songs were in fact titled "Freedom.")
Corporate Standardized Programming on KBOO FM continued the freedom theme.
Remember! You might need on the Self Help Radio web page
username: SHR password: selfhelp
This next week tho I'm going to be a little more busy I think.
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Self Help Radio 111825: Freedom
A show about freedom. With all the songs called "Freedom." There were lots of songs called "Freedom." They spilled into the third hour, which is a show called Corporate Standardized Programming. But might as well be the third hour of Self Help Radio.
Also my silly guests tell me their favorite freedoms. It gets pretty ridiculous.
& when you're free, if ever you're free, you can listen for free. It's at the KBOO web site & at the Self Help Radio website. At the latter you may need to use the username SHR & pass the password selfhelp. All the songs are called "Freedom" but everything that happens on the show is below.
Tho I feel a little free dumb right now.
+ conclusion & goodbye
Monday, November 17, 2025
Whither Freedom?
Apologies for the goofy stock photo. It's public domain. In all the pictures I've taken over the last few years not a single one had the title "freedom." So there you go.
Last week on the show I joked, when announcing this theme, that I thought it might be a good idea to do a show about freedom while we still had some of it in this country. For a lot of my fellow residents, freedom is a precious commodity. I'm not sure that was what was in my mind when I first thought of the theme, but golly it seems a good reason to do the show at this point.
Listen to a show about freedom tonight, midnight to 3am, on 90.7fm in town, kboo dot fm everywhere.
It's very strange to be aware that I now have less freedoms than when I was born, & even stranger to know there are people in this country - including members of my family - that aren't even aware of that.
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Preface To Freedom: Why Isn't Your Show More Political
Something I am sometimes asked - more in the past, really, than in recent times - is "Why isn't your show more political?" It's a question that puzzles me. I suppose there are people on the right who listen to noncommercial radio, noncommercial music, but the right wingers in my family have never paid any attention to the music I like & have at their most charitable called it "weird." If it hasn't appeared on commercial radio, they wouldn't have heard it, let alone approved of it. & frankly I have very rarely met conservatives who volunteer or do radio shows at the stations I am at - & usually those do country shows.
Mostly I've hoped that people would think, oh he's on a left-leaning radio station, he must also feel that way, & that's certainly true, although I have disagreed with my stations in the past. But the company I keep should surely be a clue - yes, I might have silly improvised interviews about pigeons, but that doesn't mean I am not antifa.
Ultimately I end up saying something like, "I personally think noncommercial radio is an incredibly revolutionary thing." & I believe it. I volunteer at the stations at which I deejay, I ask for listener support on the air, I wear clothing that promotes them, & I support them financially. Because it may seem like oddballs in a little room playing their favorite music or sharing their opinions, but it's so dramatically unlike the current media landscape that we have ventured as far out as the Dadaists did at this point.
Noncommercial radio is my passion & I have given so much of the last thirty years of my life to it, & will continue to do so. That means every show on a station like KBOO or XRAY or Freeform Portland is inherently political. It's about freedom of expression. It's about challenging the status quo. It's David versus a Goliath as tall as a tower.
So perhaps if ever I am asked the question, "Why isn't your show more political?" I should just answer, "Honestly, I don't think it could get any more political!"




















