This series of posts covers my long, beloved history interacting with the medium of radio, including the music that flowed through the airwaves.

When my pal was looking for substitutes to step in on his Sunday night radio show for two different weeks in February, I eyed the ol’ sports calendar and knew I was the person for the job last night. I have zero interest in the annual spectacle of needy capitalism and traumatic brain injury that is the last national ritual standing. So I once again trekked across America’s Dairyland to sit in the air chair at WWSP-90FM, the student run radio station at my undergraduate alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The first chunk of the show was a hat tip to the gridiron tomfoolery that I know everyone was watching instead of listening to a left-of-the-dial broadcast. Although it’s surely not that original of an idea, I’m also pretty pleased with the grouping of boygeniuses at the close of the first hour.

For posterity’s sake, and my own record-keeping, this is my playlist from Then and Now on February 12, 2023:

Garfunkel and Oates, “Sports Go Sports”
Ben Folds Five, “Sports and Wine”
Kitten, “American Football”
XTC, “That’s Really Super, Supergirl”
Belly, “Super-Connected”
Magic Kids, “Superball”
My Morning Jacket, “Aluminum Park”
The Submarines, “You Me and the Bourgeoise”
Wolf Alice, “Beautifully Unconventional”
Johnny Boy, “You Are the Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve”
They Might Be Giants, “I’ve Got a Match”
Wood Chickens, “We Skate in Boots”
Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians, “Driving Aloud (Radio Storm)”
MUNA, “What I Want”
Phoebe Bridgers, “Garden Song”
Lucy Dacus, “I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore”
Julie Baker, “Rejoice”

The Cult, “Edie (Ciao Baby)”
That Petrol Emotion, “Big Decision”
Violent Femmes, “Breakin’ Hearts”
The Replacements, “Hold My Life”
Tanya Winley, “Vicious Rap”
The Cure, “Speak My Language”
The Julie Ruin, “I Decide”
M, “That’s the Way the Money Goes”
Matthew Sweet, “The Ugly Truth”
Blue Rodeo, “Trust Yourself”
The Archies, “Jingle Jangle”
Weezer, “In the Garage”
Tacocat, “Hologram”
Say Hi to Your Mom, “Blah Blah Blah”

Dinosaur Jr, “Start Choppin”
The BellRays, “Pinball City”
Fetchin Bones, “Stray”
Interpol, “C’Mere”
Ian McCulloch, “Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”
The House of Love, “Never”
Miya Folick, “Dracula’s Rib”
Veronica Falls, “Found Love in a Graveyard”
Amy Rigby, “I Don’t Want to Talk About Love”
The Frogs, “Funhouse”
Thompson Twins, “My Funky Valentine”
Magic Dirt, “Ice”
Beach Slang, “I Break Guitars”
Jane’s Addiction, “Had a Dad”
Yo La Tengo, “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind”

Previous entries in this series can be found by clicking on the “Radio Days” tag.