The Methodologies Of THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO and 10 SONGS

A long, long time ago--I mean, I'm talking way, way back, like really early 2020, in the days before quarantine--a listener asked me about the methodology of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. He was curious about how Dana and I pick which songs to play, how we sequence them, what genres we favor and what stuff we avoid. 

I don't know whether or not others can discern a method to what we do, nor am I 100% certain there even is a method in play. When the shows were live, in those quaint old pre-pandemic years, I played a song, then Dana reacted by played a song, I responded, Dana responded, and a three-hour show was gone before we knew it. It's all pop music. We each usually had some ideas of songs we wanted to get to that week, and occasionally there were specific sequences, segues, or themes to execute, but we would often just wing it.

Now, of course, we pre-record the show from home each week, and it's a very different process from how we've done things in the past. As I write this on Wednesday night, Dana and I have already settled the playlist for our next show, the songs chosen in a telephone conversation earlier on Wednesday, the tracks assembled, my back-announcements recorded, and the digital file already sent to Dana for tinkerin' and tweakin'. 

We did the same thing last week. Below you'll see the notes I made when we were planning last week's show. On the left page, I scribbled ideas of songs and/or artists to try to include in the mix; the right page shows the playlist we compiled: seven six-song sets, one eight-song set, and six bonus tracks to squeeze in if we had room. 



We didn't have time for the Heinz and Shoes tracks, so we reconfigured a six-song set to insert earlier in the show, using the four remaining bonus tracks and two tracks previously intended for the final set. The songs listed in the lower right corner are the tracks that Dana needed to send me, 'cuz I didn't have 'em. The result of all this finaglin' was This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1033.

Picking the subjects for 10 Songs is even easier. I look at the week's playlist, and type into a Blogger file any tracks that I think I might be interested in writing about. This week's 10 Songs started with a fairly long list of possibilities; sometimes I start with just 12 to 15, but this week I considered 21:



And then it's just a matter of writing, saying something about whichever ten tracks grab my fancy in the moment. I wound up adding The Jangle Band's "So Long" to the list, and I chose Badfinger, The Carpenters, Heart, Honey Cone, Kid Gulliver, The Monkees, Sly and the Family Stone, The Smithereens with Andy White, and Ringo Starr to complete it: 10 Songs 7/15/2020.

Now, I still have to type up the playlist for our Sunday, July 19th show, write commentary for it, and also grab some choices for next week's 10 Songs. Is this a methodology? I guess it is.



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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:

Volume 1: download

Volume 2: CD or download

Volume 3: download

Volume 4: CD or download

Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:  CD or download

Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 155 essays about 155 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).