I’ve been listening to Radio Valencia of late. It operates out of the Mission District in San Francisco, broadcasts on an unlicensed basis at 87.9FM, and streams off the web or via your mobile device of choice.
“We’re open to all kinds of experimentation and community building, and our doors are open to anyone who can enter the studio without letting our cat out,” the About page explains.
The music is excellent; very good deejays. I’ve also been enjoying the blogs. I’m convinced that a community based music radio station is hugely strengthened by good blogs written by programmers with lots of commentary, pictures, links, podcasts, audio, video, and such. Here are my Radio Valencia favorites.
1. Radio Unpronounceable
Not sure who exactly Radio Unpronounceable is, but I suspect that the name is a reference to legendary WBAI free form guy Bob Fass and his legendary show Radio Unnameable. Anyway, the show gets a little defensive sometimes.
“Some people seem to think that we make stuff up,” RU explains. “That the stories we read on the air aren’t actually real news , that we get ideas from the old Enquirers rotting away in bathroom magazine racks. Well, we don’t . We use reputable news sources. We research. We corroborate. We check Snopes. And you know what? You don’t care, because they’re just funny news stories to you. But they’re true. Maybe even funny because they’re true, huh?”
Clearly the documentation is carefully vetted. I’m particularly impressed with the “Meanwhile In . . . ” series, which accompanies Radio Unpronounceable’s Guess the Country series.
2. Gramophoney Baloney
Aside from the fact that the Gramophoney Baloney blog includes pictures like this . . .
. . . it is also is a wonderfully eclectic show. Here is part of a playlist:
- “( Couperain ‘s) Les Baricades Mystérieuses (excerpt)” by Wanda Landowska from “Treasury of Harpsichord/Dances of Ancient Poland -1946-1951”
- “I Haven’t The Faintest Idea” by George Robey from “The Old Bull & Bush”
- “In A Monastery Garden” by Ronnie Ronalde from “EMI Presents the Magic of…”
- “( Bretón ‘s) Escenas andaluzas, for orchestra: Polo Gitano” by Madrid Symphony Orchestra conducted by Enrique Arbós from “Enrique Fernández Arbós Conducts Arbós and Other Spanish Composers”
- “Ghanna Rabi’bi-lisan at-Tayr” by Oum Kalsoum from “The Legend … The Arab World’s Greatest Singer”
- “The Wind Blow East” by Unidentified Group, Nassau from “Deep River Of Song: Bahamas 1935 – Ring Games And Round Dances”
- “Tomi Tomi” by Sol K. Bright from “It’s Hotter in Hawaii”
- “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket/ I’d Rather Lead a Band/ Let Yourself Go” by Larry Adler with Jay Wilbur & His Band from “Maestro of the Mouth Organ”
- “Kalymniki sousta” by S. Zebillas & I. Maillis from “The Ace & Deuce of Pipering – 1906-1947”
- “Do-Do-Do” by George Gershwin from “Gershwin plays Gershwin”
3. Mindtrain
Since I am a cryptography fan, I enjoy Mindtrain, which offered an 80s pop show with the whole playlist printed backwards. I like the idea that “Voodoo” backwards is “Oodoov.” Not to mention that “Luftballons” is “snollabtfuL.”
- derdnuH enO tucriaH – )lriG steeM yoB( strihS etiruovaF – tseW nacileP
- hcivoL eneL – rebmuN ykcuL – sseletatS
- tnarG yddE – eunevA cirtcelE – egapmaR ehT nO relliK
- srelgnartS – peeD nikS – erutplucS laruA
- xovartlU – seyE yM nI sraeT htiW gnicnaD – tnemaL
- gnuhC gnaW – syaD llaH ecnaD – evruC ehT nO stnioP
- oodooV fO llaW – oidaR nacixeM – tseW ehT fO llaC
- aneN – snoollaB deR 99 – snollabtfuL 99
4. Can Haz DJ
I like Can Haz DJ because I am a huge cat lover and Can Haz has lots of pictures of cats in front and around CDs and stuff. This is my favorite:
5. Malderor & Dr. Junk
What’s not to love about Malderor & Dr. Junk, who podcast their shows on a regular basis, which include martini drinking sessions, interviews with “Sid Lucious and the Pants,” and surprise visits from “The Sneaky Ferret.”
M&J is a family show, it seems. “In what might have been a spectacular error in judgment, Malderor invited his mother to be on the radio programme this week,” a May 14 entry notes. “Dr. Junk was relatively well behaved, but we violated the no pre-show-martinis rule. And played a bunch of songs with ‘mother’ in the title.”
And in a post titled The Two Greatest Hours in Radio History: “Dr. Junk was kind of grumpy this week. We also featured new tracks from Grouplove, Lesbian Bed Death, A Place To Bury Strangers, and the Revilers. And some listener requests. And some ranting about Malderor’s niece, who made some questionable life choices. We might have run over time, too. Maybe.”
Anyway, sorry if there’s another cool blog I missed; good work, Radio Valencians!
