Q & A

How did you become involved with the station and your program?
To put it bluntly, I’m friends with the presenters, which has made the whole process that much easier. As they’re all hip to my constant acquiring of old vinyl, they figured it would be a mighty fine idea to play some on the show (this was after I displayed an LP of Anton Karas’ Theme From The Third Man). I figured I’d be making sporadic appearances on the show with me just playing one track at the end but Ray hinted that I may as well just do the music for the whole show from then on.

How long have you been with RTRFM?
My first appearance, albeit non-speaking, was on 29th June, 2009 and again on 20th July where I brought in one track for each show. From then on I’ve been arranging the entire musical portion of the show while the other hosts do the real work. I use the term “real work” because what I do comes pretty naturally and easy to me whereas these guys put in a lot of effort for a show that lasts just the one hour. For now, I’m merely providing a little respite but I want to take some of the load from their shoulders.

What do you enjoy most about presenting?
In short, carte blanche. Indymedia doesn’t really have a specialist musical angle so the upside is I can play pretty much anything I please. The downside being it’s a short show so I can only choose three or four tracks and they all need to be fairly brief, depending on how much content the show has for the week. Other than that, I relish the challenge of having to come up with something different to present every week whether it’s a feature album, artist, label or any other theme I think might work. Also, I do like to keep the listeners guessing what I’m going to come up with week after week. With any luck I won’t burn out too soon. Aside from playing my vinyl, I really enjoy being able to talk a little about the tracks I’m playing and give the listeners a little background to what’s being played. What I hope I’m doing with the musical side of the program more than anything else is to try and make it somewhat educational for those who may not be familiar with what I’m playing and to make the music as accessible as possible for those that are curious to delve a little deeper. People who try to take ownership of certain types of music and push away the curious in favour of their own little cliques drive me nuts. That being said I do try my hardest not to come off sounding like a pompous snob myself.

Strangest experience at RTRFM?
None so far but give it time. I’m bound to invent something if it doesn’t happen to me first.

Favourite RTRFM program/s?
Soulsides (boy, do I want to host that show!!!), Spoonful of Blues (that too), Woodstock Rock (and that too!), Rock Rattle and Roll, El Ritmo, Saturday Jazz, Giant Steps, Global Rhythm Pot, Nostalgia, and I must not fail to mention Indymedia.

What do you do in real life?
I read whenever I get a spare moment, I’m either reading, eating, watching a film, playing a record or doing all of the above at once, I hoard vinyl (seriously, I’m the kind of person who will get up at 4am just to outbid some other nerd on eBay for records I feel I should have more than they should), I harbour ambitions of hosting Soulsides and doing a 2 hour Frank Zappa special on Woodstock Rock, I spoil my cats, m’lady spoils me, I ransack the deeper recesses of my brain to conjure up a good playlist for Indymedia, I photograph, I try to think of a way to bring the Dodgers back to Brooklyn, I make a mean carbonara, I go to work at one of those places where you think to yourself ok, just how am I going to put my Arts degree to good use? I try to encourage my friends not to become too career-orientated for fear that they will become insular and conservative. Above all, I’m only trying to help.