Since my college days as a student radio host, I’ve been a sucker for good radio and it’s inherent portability, particularly public radio, like National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Here’s the recap of my favorite bits from the wireless over the past week. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
Here’s The Thing – Lorne Michaels
January 30, 2012 – Lorne Michaels is one of the most influential figures in American entertainment. Alec goes to Rockefeller Center to visit Michaels in his office – the same office he’s had since 1975, when he created Saturday Night Live.
Michaels went on to launch the careers of some of the biggest names in comedy: Belushi, Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, Chris Rock, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey … the list goes on and on and on.
“The only way you can manage creative people is with very loose reigns,” says Michaels. He says he works with “people at the point of their career where nothing matters but the work… people just completely devote themselves to the show.”
Lorne Michaels is the rare producer in that he’s truly involved in all aspects of production, yet he says when he does his job right, he leaves no fingerprints.
Listen below or download here.
41:35
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Studio 360
February 3, 2012 – Kurt Andersen talks with Gerardo Naranjo, the director of the new film Miss Bala, about a beauty pageant contestant caught in the middle of Mexico’s drug war. The composer Eve Beglarian travels the length the Mississippi River collecting songs and stories — she performs live in the studio. And one of jazz’s greatest drummers, Jack DeJohnette, looks back at the road not taken.
Listen below or download here.
52:59
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All Songs Considered: New Music From Andrew Bird, Julianna Barwick And More
January 31, 2012 – The latest mix from All Songs Considered includes a sneak preview of Andrew Bird‘s highly anticipated new album Break It Yourself, the hypnotic harmonies of Julianna Barwick, sweet pop from Hospitality and a couple of albums picked solely for their cover art, from the bands Thee American Revolution and Artificial Lover. Also on the show: the surprising and elusive music of Spoek Mathambo, and NPR Music’s Frannie Kelley joins hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton to share one of her favorite new hip-hop songs of the year from a group of Atlanta musicians, including DJ Burn One, recording as iNDEED.
Listen below or download here.
41:07
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NPR’s Fresh Air: Baratunde Thurston Explains ‘How To Be Black’
February 1, 2012 – How to Be Black by Baratunde Thurston, a stand-up comedian and the digital director at The Onion, is partially a practical guidebook for anyone looking to befriend or work with a black person, become the next black president or challenge anyone who says they speak for all black people. But the book isn’t just filled with comedic advice. Thurston weaves together his comedy with thoughtful missives about his own education at Sidwell Friends and Harvard University, and his childhood in one of the worst crack-addled neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. His father was killed in a drug deal when Thurston was six. His mother was what he describes as a “pan-African hippie type of woman who marched in the streets” and named him Baratunde as a way to “get back to Africa.”
Listen below or download here.
45:11
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Radio David Byrne
February 2012 – I’m an avid listener to David Byrne‘s monthly streaming radio station. Every month is an amazing playlist of hours of fantastic music curated by one of the most well-rounded and intelligent ears in the music business. For this month, DB whipped up five hours of “World Psychedelic Classics” from the likes of The Who, Syd Barrett, The Temptations, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, The Monkees (yes, those “Monkees”), Led Zeppelin, Charlotte Gainsbourg and tons of others I’d never heard before. It’s an earful.
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