It's been a shorter year for me blog-wise. There has been less research, less writing but so much going on elsewhere. However, when I have posted it's been longer, delved deeper and weirder unearthing some truly arcane deep dives. I'll keep it brief and focus on the highlights.
Best Posts:
It was only a few weeks ago but it felt very worthwhile to go deep on FCC's Operation Gangplank. Back in September I spent some time researching Radio Station Bombings and found out that KPFT was not alone in having been a terrorist target in the US, that WEDR, KMAK, KFWB and WKRL had also been bombed. My piece on Maximum Rock N' Roll took a lot of research, but not as much as the Golden Mike Awards which I wish was more complete. I also was very pleased to discover the first radio station build by a black radio engineer [LINK].
Most Popular Posts:
My most popular posts haven't changed in years. Since 2009 the most traffic has gone to a post about Peter Tripp. This is what I call the post that Reddit built. It remains an aberration in my web-traffic with 96k+ hits. I did eventually collate a list of all Radio Wake-a-thon records here. My 2007 post on the Career Academy of Famous Broadcasters continues to earn comments from it's legion of former students. It remains a top hit on Google. In third place a 2010 post on Barn Dance programs remains popular. My readers continue to debate if I was unfairly harsh to Kevin Metheny. I think not, but he died in 2014 so I have hopes that on the wane. I am pleased that Noise From Neville comes in 6th, as eventually finding him led to two more WRIU centric posts [LINK].
Best Radio Station:
I have been listening to more jazz than anything lately. I often head over to KJAZ.FM, a bebop focused online station that never dissapoints. Also on speed dial are WZUM, KSDS, KCSM, and WKCR
Best Record Store:
This year I visited the Original-ish Rough Trade record store on Talbot Road in Notting Hill, London. What could possibly be cooler than that? Rough Trade was my source for so many imports in the 1980s and 1990s, it was great to see the head waters of indie rock.
Best Radio Show:
I've been rocking episodes of Radio Found from KBOO. It's either crazy randomness or random craziness. It only airs every second and fourth Thursday from 10pm – 12am PST, which is a bit hard for me to catch so I just stream it off his blog. Also totally digging Noise Floor, a program on the online station Under Noise. I am also really big on the Irresponsableful channel on YouTube.
Best Zine:
Noise Widow, they're only up to issue three but they are all pure gold. The most recent one has interviews with Scald Hymn and Plagues, Noise Cribs and I don't even write for them.
Top 10 Records of 2018
- Ty Segall – Freedom’s Goblin
- Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want
- Pile - Odds and Ends
- Heads - Collider
- Sleep – The Sciences
- Idles – Joy as an Act of Resistance
- Barren Womb - Old Money / New Lows
- Vein - Error Zone
- Melvins - Pinkus Abortion Technician
- Anal Trump - The First 100 Songs
Also Notable... Jesus Price - Only Self, Miss World - Keeping up with Miss World, Mudhoney - Digital Garbage, Oh Sees - Smote Reverser, Wristmeetrazor - Insecurity Checkpoint, Melting Hand - Faces of Earth, Sumac - The Deal, Clutch - Book of Bad Decisions
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