Friday, April 1, 2016

KFOG, RIP:  If you grew up in the Bay Area, around 1984, KFOG changed over from an all Musak/Elevator format to slowly become the heart of Bay Area rock n' roll radio.  It had a few years, here and there, where a program director took it on an odd turn, but it hosted any number of Bay Area radio institutions: 10 at 10 ("Ten Great Songs from One Great Year!"), Acoustic Sunrise, KFOG's Live from the Archives and one of the more intelligent morning shows.

Yesterday, Cumulus Broadcasting sacked everyone, near enough, and have gone to a no-host format. The same sort of music, nominally, but cheaper.  I don't listen to much music radio anymore, but over the 19 years since I've been back from law school and here in the Bay Area, KFOG was the only place I ever picked up on new bands or new songs, many of which became very dear to me.  And since our love of KFOG was one of those things over which Mrs. Earthling and I first bonded, many of those songs are the soundtrack of us.

And it's gone.

And, worst of all, today they ended a tradition that had lasted for the entirety of its modern format. At 5 pm, they played The Toyes "Smoke Two Joints" -- a thing that, at 14 or 15, seemed subversive and as I grew older was, in turn, silly, ironic, nostalgic, an anthem of the Bay Area and my love of home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfduFy26EE0

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

THE PENIS MIGHTIER:  No traditional Celebrity Jeopardy! this season, but a Power Players tournament will tape in DC in a couple of weeks with players including Louis C.K., Anderson Cooper, Al Franken, Jonathan Franzen, and Matthew Weiner.
LOOK, THE SITUATION IS LOT MORE NUANCED THAN THAT:  One of the delights of Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been his unabashed musical theater nerdery--following up on his discussion with Anna Kendrick about whether or not the Pitch Perfect movies are musicals, last night, he and Rachel Bloom explain (with singing, naturally) how "Anything Can Be A Musical."