I never paid especially close attention to the producer credits on albums during my college radio days, but there were a few names that I definitely knew. One of those names was Mitch Easter. Easter has a certain venerated status in those circles because of his involvement with the earliest efforts by college radio standard bearers R.E.M. On the little labels that adorned the albums in our station, a wide array of Music Directors had often felt compelled to note Easter’s involvement with a record, and his own band was properly adored by those DJs in the know. There was … Continue reading One for Friday: The Hummingbirds, “Word Gets Around”

When I started working at the college radio station in my freshman year, the first regular shift I held was Monday night’s edition of “Soundstreams.” This was the all request program that 90FM aired (and still airs!) every weeknight from 10:00 p.m. until it was time to conclude our broadcast day at 2:00 a.m. While “all request” was a misnomer (as it is for just about any radio program that uses it, frankly), there were nights when the phone was especially active and huge chunks of my playlist were given over to listener suggestions. It made me dig into music … Continue reading Two for Friday: “Sex With You”