Lists are like music to my ears

Lists are like music to my ears was Originally Posted on October 30, 2005 by lavarock

Lists are like music to my ear

I guess it is my analytical side that makes me write lists and rank things. Here are a few reasons I say that.

When I was a disc jockey, I used to write down what I wanted to say. Part of the reason was because I was afraid that I would forget exactly what I wanted to say. Another reason is that I was afraid I might say the wrong thing and get myself or the station taken off the air (this was before shock jocks become the vogue). Finally, I used to write down my patter to ensure that it would fit in the time allotted. Although we were a middle of the road station and played just about anything, we also tried to use various ways to make the competition sound bad.

None of these ideas were ours, but that did not stop us from using them. It was a time of “Air Personalities” rather than Disc Jockeys. A DJ might spin records but an Air Personality might spin tales and magic! We also adopted the idea that you NEVER have dead air. If there were a few seconds of dead air, listeners might tune away, thinking their radio had drifted. Many of the radios (and I’m dating myself) had twist dials rather than digital tuning.

As one song ended we would start the next and fade them together. As the songs stopped and started, we could fill the remaining time with talk. We tried NEVER to stop a song, talk and then start a new song. Because we were segueing songs together we could use jingles such as “Less talk, More music”. Many of the jingles became a driving force in radio. Pepper Tanner had a set that was quite popular and one might sound like “Muuuuusic, that’s our middle name, 77 Muuuusic, W A B C” or a jingle might be “Less talk, more music, more music, less talk”. The listener THOUGHT you were playing more music because you kept telling him you were!

There were actually ways to ensure that you played more music. One way was as mentioned, cram the songs closer together. Another way was to only play the shorter songs. Shorter songs allowed you to play more music per hour.

At the time, most stations played either 45’s or albums. Big stations recorded their music on tape cartridges very similar to the old 8 track tapes. Often DJ’s (or Air Personalities) also had the ability of playing records on a turntable. Those turntables were driven by a little rubber wheel rubbing against a metal surface. As that wheel got used, bits of rubber wore off and slowly, the wheel became smaller and the record sped up slightly. Stations took advantage of that and started making those wheels a bit smaller and sped up the music. When listeners heard your songs they were exciting and fast paced and surprise, the competition sounded like they were dragging (which they were because their music was actually, measurably slower)!

Oh we were devious, weren’t we? Faster songs, shorter pauses and up-tempo stingers and jingles made it an exciting time.

Another thing I write down is a list of things to do. I have lots of unfinished projects and lists SOMETIMES help me prioritize tasks.

As I write this, I’m listening to the top 100 singles from each year 1970 to 1989. In Winamp you have the ability to rate a song and I’m randomly going song by song and ranking them 1 to 5. My rankings are 5 for songs I really like and could listen to often, 4 are songs that I enjoy but might tire of after a while, 3’s are songs I could take or leave, 2’s are those that I can listen to occasionally but would never purposely listen to and 1’s are songs that could disappear off the earth and I would not care. It will be interesting to sort the list when I’m done and see which artists I really like. Don’t assume that because a group or artist has hundreds of songs that if I like some then I like them all.

I also have no idea why I like certain songs. I’m sure some just bring back good memories, but others are just up-tempo and I like up-tempo music. Perhaps when I’m done with this ranking it will turn out that most of the songs have something in common. Perhaps they all have good drum solos or a harmonica in them. Perhaps they all have the same beat.

This just in, Belinda Carlise (Heaven is a Place on Earth… 1). Sorry!

One year I decided to see how many Trick or Treaters I had and how often they came to the door. This way I would know whether I needed to make up little bags in advance. I ended up charting this in a spreadsheet! I had 125 kids that year and the largest group was 8 at a time. Most times it was 2 kids.

Carpenters (Close to You… 3). Paul McCartney (Jet…4). Raspberries (Go All the Way… 5). Survivor (Eye of the Tiger… 5).

In a previous Blog I mentioned tracking the temperature inside a mini refrigerator. I can’t stop this! J

Some songs are just embarrassing to say I like, although on second thought, perhaps not. I seem to remember a friends son saying he likes some music from the 50’s and this guy was just recently out of High School. Perhaps some of these songs really are timeless.

My musical tastes are probably considerably wider than most people. For hours on end I could listen to Jazz, Rock (Classic not acid rock), Easy Listening, New Age Jazz, Classical, Folk, Country (except Bluegrass).

Harry Chapin (Cats in the Cradle… 3). Carole King (One Fine Day… 4 [would have been 5 if done by Lighthouse]) J

By the way, if you want to win a radio station contest that asks “Which album did this song come from”, if you don’t know, say “The Best of…” J

Although Mike Posts’ The Rockford Files Theme gets a 4, Hawaii-50 would get a 5+ J

I liked a lot of the Drifters songs, the Beatles, certainly the Beach Boys and so on. I met a few of the Original Drifters, almost interviewed the Beach Boys, interviewed a group calling themselves Dawn, yet was not any way the real group. One of the Stadler Brothers stopped by the station once and my college dorm resident manager once cut a record called “Too Many Women on the Jury”.

I wish this blog made more sense. I’ll make a note of that J