When I watched TV in the 80’s and 90’s and saw characters like Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and Chris in the Morning on Northern Exposure, I thought that being a voice on the airwaves in between songs would be pretty cool. Then I worked as a DJ on college radio, commercial radio, and public radio and experienced stark differences from the job descriptions I saw on TV. Sooo to re-create my own reality and invite some of you to join me I’m starting:
AUDIO FLARE GUN
a fictional radio show where a DJ is curating tracks from obscure artists to broadcast in an effort to find kindred spirits who have an appreciation for experimental melodies couched in between song ID’s and retro pop culture promos.
Currently there are a handful of participants who have given their permission to be on the show. If you would like to join us please let me know!
chris in the morning is a true inspiration
can you talk more about the end result of this project? is it a collection of short clips, as shown?
sure thing @tehn ! The short clips I uploaded are samples of show segments. Ideally I want to produce a series of 30 minute shows that will be uploaded once or twice a month. I also thought it would be cool if each show ended in a different way (suggested in one of the clips) angry mob cuts the power, alien invasion, power outage, wake up from a dream, etc.
I love the concept! Can’t wait to see where this goes. Themed radio hours are a fun format for finding new music.
I like this so much that I wish there was a thread monitoring mode that would make a polite phone call to me when you send us updates.
@n9n9n9 that would be cool in a “They Might Be Giants Dial-a-Song” kinda way! Until I can figure that out, I’ll make little promos as each episode nears completion. Thanks for the mental image!
@Chino what do you have in mind for “being on the show”? Submitting music/sound or something else?
Love this concept and excited to see how far you choose to push it. Alternate reality worldbuilding plays a big part in my musical interests.
@JES right now ‘being on the show’ means that I’m welcoming audio submissions for airplay, as the show evolves it would be cool to have “call-in” guests, or even guest DJ’s. I’m open to creative ideas. Did you have something in mind?
This is really great!
In a perfect universe this could perhaps morph into an actual community web radio station with all the cool things that could involve, like interviews, news, music from members, live shows, etc.
You have a perfect voice for radio! Reminds me of being a kid in the Chicago area in the early 70s tuning my little bedside fm clock radio to hear the free form fm freaks playing the trippy tunes, what a great time to be alive 
I’m definitely down for sharing my music if it fits the vibe…
Your bumpers bring up really deep memories of daytime PBS. I as a sickly kid and would pretty often be left at home alone when quite young (6-8) with the TV on PBS… this would be 1977-1983 ish.
I remember a lot of shows about ethics and finance that were for kids and made in the early 70s. “Think about it,” “Two cents worth,” something like “either/or”. Lots of video synthesis a la The Electric Company and some deeply Boards of Canada synth and film warble soundtrack action.
I was on crazy meds back then, too, so that adds an element.
Archive.org and youtube are pretty thin on these shows but here are some good examples… a lot of episodes from this time:
this is a long list of similar programs
the intro music to this one! 1970s PBS Educational Children's Films : Generation X : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
And this user is a favorite. Lots of rabbit holes. https://archive.org/details/@generation_x?sort=-week
In a way this reminds me of Northwoods Baseball, a podcast that has a broadcaster calling a fictional baseball game along with the ambient sounds of the stadium. The goal being that you can use it to fall asleep (if you’re like me and listening to baseball on the radio hits you in a personal way) because the games aren’t real and you’re not worried about paying attention. There are consistent players and usually at least one disturbance to each game.
@eblomquist I listened to a few of your soundcloud tracks: Test Pilot Crow Crash, Gorgeous One, and Midi (something) Artist Packs-- I would LOVE to play your tunes on the show!!! I also love the fact that you mentioned Marc Ribot as a favorite in your bio!
@Nullsleep when you wrote ‘Alternate reality’ I instantly thought of the old Atari 800 game Alternate Reality The City Intro Atari 800 - YouTube
@n9n9n9 I love these educational film shorts!!! I can’t wait to go through them!
@hermbot thanks for the baseball link! I use stuff like this to fall asleep to as well!
I loved that damn game. So ambitious! The dungeon sequel was good too. Wish it had continued but then I probably wouldn’t have the patience to play it now. I used to watch the intro and sing along!
my brother-in-law played the intro for me when he still had an Atari 800 system and a telephone modem. I love the opening tune, it reminds me of ELO’s “Time” album. If we get real ambitious maybe we can record a version of Alternate Reality with other folks here the same way Lou Reed did with various artists on “Perfect Day” Various Artists | Feat. Heather Small | Perfect Day | Music Video - YouTube
The first episode of AUDIO FLARE GUN is close to completion, thanks to everyone for your support, tracks, likes, and good vibes! Here’s a sneak peek/listen:
Thanks for the support everyone, I hope to make more episodes throughout the year. Feel free to message me here if you’d like your work to be on the show. As long as there is gas in the tank, we’ll keep driving this thing to the next town. OH and for your optimal listening pleasure start the show at 11:27pm.
@Chino I listened to the first episode, loved it! Looking forward to hearing more.
I try to go through the Releases category and hear what people are working on, but I think there is a lot of value in having people’s work collected like this. Nicely done!
@hermbot thank you for your kind words, and thanks for contributing tracks to the first show! I enjoyed making it and look forward to doing more also!