{"id":36635,"date":"2019-03-22T17:30:24","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T21:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=36635"},"modified":"2019-03-22T08:19:44","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T12:19:44","slug":"the-radio-kitchen-the-hip-spot-on-your-dial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/03\/the-radio-kitchen-the-hip-spot-on-your-dial\/","title":{"rendered":"The Radio Kitchen: The Hip Spot On Your Dial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article originally appeared on The Radio Kitchen<\/strong> blog by Michael Pool<\/a>, a.k.a. “The Professor.” In an effort to preserve his writings and recordings, we are republishing The Professor’s archived posts in a special collection here on the SWLing Post.<\/em><\/p>\n

Note that not all of the original links and recordings could be recovered, but the majority have been. Of course, all of the views and opinions in this article were those of The Professor.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

“The Hip Spot On Your Dial” was originally published on December 10, 2007. Enjoy:<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hip Spot On Your Dial<\/h1>\n

by The Professor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m old enough to remember when they first pulled the oldies radio concept out of the box and plugged it into the wall. And it literally was a gadget. A\u00a0machine<\/em>. I was a kid in suburban Detroit in the early 1970\u2019s when I found one of very first all “oldies” stations to go on the air. The station (which started on FM, then simulcast on AM and eventually became an AM station), and then became known as \u201cHoney Radio<\/a>.\u201d There were no DJ\u2019s, just jingles, commercials and lots of dated top 40.<\/p>\n

Automatic or not, the programming of Honey Radio was immediately intriguing to me and some of my friends at the time. As the album rock format was wandering deeper into crap like Uriah Heep and Kansas, I\u2019d impatiently fumble with the dial looking for something (anything<\/em>) different and kept perching the needle on this new station that played only\u00a0old<\/em>\u00a0rock and roll. Half of it I\u2019d never heard before.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine now, when most oldies stations play such a tight and boring playlist, but the original oldies format was born in the “American Graffiti” (and then “Happy Days”) era, when old rock and roll was immediately more evocative and uplifting than the arena rock epic thud and guitar solos that were clogging up the album rock format.<\/p>\n

From what I recall of early Honey Radio format, the music spanned from 1955 until 1967 or \u201868. I started soaking it up\u2013 Rockabilly, r&b, doo-wop, even dopey pop. I loved it all (okay,\u00a0except<\/em>\u00a0Neil Sedaka\u2026). And it filled in a missing chapter in top 40 history for me\u2013 between my mom\u2019s record collection and the music I had been hearing on the radio since diapers. Listening to the station turned me on to a whole world of recording artists I barely knew before (and ones you probably won\u2019t hear much on oldies radio nowadays), like\u00a0Huey \u201cPiano\u201d Smith<\/a>,\u00a0Ral Donner\u00a0or the\u00a0Impressions. And not just the big canonical hits, but other choice tracks that charted too. All that from a robot radio station.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A little later (after I\u2019d stopped obsessively listening), Honey Radio added real DJ\u2019s and in the final tally had a good run as Detroit\u2019s premiere oldies station until shutting down in the early 90\u2019s. The demise of Honey came as the format\u2019s followers were\u00a0surging into middle-age, and the new thinking in advertising advocated virtually abandoning that once valued demographic. This shift in advertising strategy drove more and more oldies outlets to desperately expand their playlists into the hits of the1980\u2019s, and drop almost all the 50\u2019s and early 60\u2019s music that fueled the original format.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There are some good, even interesting, oldies stations that are still out there (WLNG<\/a>, for example). And a few brave ones have popped up and bucked the era-shift gentrification of the oldies format, and specialized in the early rock era with music libraries much larger than the mind-numbing 300 tested superhits that make up the format in most markets. However, these days radio stations exist in a cutthroat environment, where anything but sucking in big piles of money every day isn\u2019t just unacceptable. It\u2019s fatal. The profit margin possible with creatively (or lovingly) programmed oldies radio is almost never enough to keep these\u00a0stations<\/a>\u00a0alive for very long. It\u2019s not that true-blue oldies stations don\u2019t attract a loyal audience, it just isn\u2019t big enough or young enough to have a chance in the dog-eat-dog world of contemporary radio advertising. That is, unless you happened to have purchased a radio station for a\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0reasonable price,\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0making a fat profit isn\u2019t necessarily your goal. Then you have choices. Then you have\u00a0WHVW<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A true\u00a0media miracle<\/a>,\u00a0WHVW<\/a>\u00a0in Hyde Park\/Poughkeepsie, New York, is the ultimate oldies station for the culturally inspired fan of American roots music. While there\u2019s a number of hosted regular programs, the majority of the WHVW\u2019s air time is occupied by a music automation system, otherwise known as \u201cMurray the Machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Programmer\/owner \u201cPirate Joe\u201d Ferraro has radically expanded the oldies format with Murray. But instead of following the present-day model of stretching the format forward in time and taking on dodgy material, Joe has lopped off the late 60\u2019s music and everything that followed. No psychedelia, no bubble gum, and thankfully no Jim Croce. While he\u2019s held on to the doo-wop and rockabilly of the classic 1955 to 1964 era (adding a helping of folk music that was popular at the time), the rest of library goes\u00a0further<\/em> back in time. But unlike the hit parade highway you might hear on senior citizen radio, Ferraro opts for the rural routes of r&b, blues, old jazz, and classic country. All and all, it\u2019s the rockin\u2019 20th century\u2013 an \u201coldies\u201d overview based on favorites of record collectors and the kind of music that kept people putting nickels in jukeboxes for decades. While I haven\u2019t done a scientific study of all the ingredients of Pirate Joe\u2019s automated format, but I can tell you one thing\u2013 it\u2019s compelling, and unlike any radio station I\u2019ve ever heard. And it makes a lot of sense.<\/p>\n

For the last decade or so, I\u2019ve had family in Poughkeepsie, which places me within the transmission range of WHVW a few times a year.\u00a0 I\u2019ve stacked up a number of airchecks of WHVW over the years\u2013 mostly captures of Murray on the job. But what a well nursed and well-fed automation system Ferraro has set up. No matter how many tapes I\u2019ve gathered of his automation over the years, it always sounds fresh.<\/p>\n

WHVW – Murray the Machine 11-23-07\u00a0 61:35<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/archive.org\/download\/WHVWDARWINLEE112507\/WHVW_-_MURRAY_THE_MACHINE_11-23-07.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

(download<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>While the Pirate Joe\u2019s music machine does a heck of a job, there\u2019s a skeleton crew of real live on-air personalities who keep WHVW human as well, and fun to listen to. Like Pirate Joe (who does a wonderful afternoon drive weekday shift himself), the DJ\u2019s musical appetites are mostly variations on Joe\u2019s musical themes\u2013 record collector\/characters who live and breathe old jukebox shakin\u2019 hits and rarities. Curt Roberts, the morning drive guy goes for more of an eclectic golden oldies approach, adding some soul and garage sounds to the mix. And what a voice. And the personalities of Roberts and Ferraro set the tone for the\u00a0on-air persona<\/a>\u00a0of WHVW\u2013 wry and dry and isn\u2019t the music great. It\u2019s straight-forward\u2013 rarely exuberant and rarely boring. And I like it.<\/p>\n

WHVW – Curt Roberts 11-22-07\u00a0 29:55<\/p>\n

[This audio has not been recovered.]<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t get up in WHVW territory enough to know the schedule well, and their website (which looks like it was put together with mid-90\u2019s know-how) usually seems a bit out of date. But you can see what the official schedule was late last year\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0(the link to this page has mysteriously fallen off the\u00a0home page<\/a>). And while it\u2019s not much a web site, there is some history of the station and a few pictures. And sadly, they do not stream their air signal there (or anywhere). But if you want to get an idea of some of WHVW\u2019s glowing fan mail, Joe has posted a bit of it on\u00a0this page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One show that\u2019s been a Sunday mainstay for well over a decade now is Darwin Lee Hill\u2019s \u201cReal Hillbilly Jamboree.\u201d It\u2019s a three hour hand-crafted hootenanny, featuring\u00a0 hits & obscurities from all the classic country music sub-genres, as well as some more recent material from neo-traditionalists and aging legends. That said and all technical descriptions aside, Darwin\u2019s show is consistently warm and informative radio, including occasional interviews with country legends. And the music is always heartening. Kinda makes you wanna buy a second home in Poughkeepsie.<\/p>\n

WHVW – Darwin Lee 11-25-07\u00a0 62:08<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/archive.org\/download\/WHVWDARWINLEE112507\/WHVW_-_DARWIN_LEE_-_11-25-07.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

(download<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I wish I could say that WHVW could be the harbinger of a new creative era of AM music programming. But I\u2019m a realist, and there\u2019s little reason to think that the glory of this little radio station is much more than fortunate happenstance. As his nickname implies, Ferraro is a former radio pirate, someone with synergistic mastery of musicology and old radio technology, who happened to get a good deal ($350,000) on a lowly class D AM station. While there\u2019s still bargains like that around, they\u2019re more likely in desolate North Dakota or rural Mississippi. WHVW is located in an actual city (albeit a small one), surrounded by the fringe suburbia of New York City. It\u2019s a convergence that brings a big chunk of musical Americana to the radio dial in a place where people really live and play, or at least drive through on their way to Albany.<\/p>\n

And the station doesn\u2019t operate in a vacuum, WHVW really serves the community. They have locally oriented talk shows and local news, something you don\u2019t hear very often these days on stations with far larger budgets and bigger transmitters. And requests from listeners carry a lot more weight when the DJ actually programs their own show. For\u00a0folks<\/a>\u00a0who live in the mid-Hudson Valley who love great (and occasionally obscure) old music, WHVW must be a godsend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For those who might have dreams of snatching up a cheap radio station and running it on a shoestring, Ferraro\u2019s WHVW offers an intriguing model. Two people on staff (including the owner) handling the weekly drive-time slots and then a roster of weekly volunteer hosts doing shows for the love of it (and perhaps the advertising they can generate), with the rest of the broadcast day filled with the offerings of a tasteful and compelling automated music mix. This way a small radio station can maintain a local connection and eschew the predictable dependency on pre-packaged music formats and syndicated talk shows. And I think that WHVW disproves the bias of a number of non-conformist radio types I\u2019ve known who equate radio automation with a lack of imagination or laziness. It all depends on who\u2019s programming the machine.<\/p>\n

Now in the age of mp3 players, I suppose you could spend a couple of years loading up on thousands of old shakin\u2019 and stompin\u2019 classics and kinds create your own WHVW in your pocket. But it would still be an imitation of Pirate Joe\u2019s musical vision. Which is on the air right now by the way. Filling the sky of Dutchess Country with radio waves carrying the likes of\u00a0Coleman Hawkins<\/a>,\u00a0T-Bone Walker\u00a0or\u00a0Harry “The Hipster” Gibson, proving that automated radio can be a non-conformist\u2019s best friend. And that it\u2019s not impossible for a radio station to be a better music machine than a money machine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following article originally appeared on The Radio Kitchen blog by Michael Pool, a.k.a. “The Professor.” In an effort to preserve his writings and recordings, we are republishing The Professor’s archived posts in a special collection here on the SWLing Post. Note that not all of the original links and recordings could be recovered, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373,56,433,3,7676],"tags":[7682,7683,7679,7615,7680,7681,1294,1295,3126],"class_list":["post-36635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-broadcasters","category-mediumwave","category-news","category-the-radio-kitchen","tag-curt-roberts-whvw","tag-darwin-lee-whvw","tag-honey-radio","tag-michael-pool","tag-oldies-radio","tag-pirate-joe-ferraro","tag-the-professor","tag-the-radio-kitchen","tag-whvw"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-9wT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10330,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/shortwave-radio-recordings-pirate-joe-via-wbcq\/","url_meta":{"origin":36635,"position":0},"title":"Shortwave Radio Recordings: Pirate Joe via WBCQ","author":"Thomas","date":"July 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For your listening pleasure: one hour of Pirate Joe. My good friend\u2013and SWLing Post reader\u2013Mike Hansgen recently apprised me that WHVW's\u00a0Pirate Joe\u00a0show is being relayed on WBCQ here in North America in the afternoons. Last week I recorded Pirate Joe starting at 3:00 PM (EDT). Propagation was not in our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"SX-99-Dial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/SX-99-Dial-1024x192.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36140,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/remembering-the-professor-michael-pool-radio-zealot-and-host-of-wfmus-audio-kitchen\/","url_meta":{"origin":36635,"position":1},"title":"Remembering \u201cThe Professor:\u201d Michael Pool, radio zealot and host of WFMU’s Audio Kitchen","author":"Thomas","date":"February 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Regretfully, I've had to bid farewell to few radio friends in the past few months.\u00a0 But until very recently I never dreamed I'd be saying goodbye to my great friend and radio arts mentor Michael Pool, known to the radio world as \"The Professor.\" Michael was an interesting individual, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Michael-Pool-The-Professor-1985.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36851,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/the-radio-kitchen-down-under-up-and-over\/","url_meta":{"origin":36635,"position":2},"title":"The Radio Kitchen: Down Under, Up And Over","author":"Thomas","date":"April 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The following article originally appeared on\u00a0The Radio Kitchen\u00a0blog by\u00a0Michael Pool, a.k.a. \u201cThe Professor.\u201d In an effort to preserve his writings and recordings, we are republishing The Professor\u2019s archived posts in a special collection here on the SWLing Post. Note that not all of the original links and recordings could be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/The-Radio-Kitchen-Header.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/The-Radio-Kitchen-Header.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/The-Radio-Kitchen-Header.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/The-Radio-Kitchen-Header.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1084,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/radio-caroline-seeks-a-spot-on-the-british-am-dial\/","url_meta":{"origin":36635,"position":3},"title":"Radio Caroline seeks a spot on the British AM dial","author":"Thomas","date":"April 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: NY Times) \"Since first taking to the air from a makeshift studio on an offshore ship in 1964, Radio Caroline has endured government raids, shipwrecks and a decade of radio silence before finding a land-based studio in the southeastern county of Kent. From there, a cast of volunteer disc\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/radiocaroline-300x195.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13495,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/99-invisible-voices-on-the-wire\/","url_meta":{"origin":36635,"position":4},"title":"99% Invisible: “Voices on the Wire”","author":"Thomas","date":"June 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many of you know that I'm a huge fan of 99% Invisible--a podcast and radio show about \"design, architecture & the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world.\" This past week, 99% Invisible's episode,\u00a0Voices on the Wire,\u00a0featured\u00a0Tony Schwartz, a recording pioneer, and Frank Conrad, a broadcasting pioneer. 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This is a post many a shortwave listener will relate to, since most of us have had to deal with spectrum noise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/amazonia-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}