Thursday, June 15, 2000

The Tall Guy was supposed to leave Tuesday, but instead he ended up playing at The Fields. He's now planning on leaving Saturday. This is, of course, unless further unforeseen circumstances force him to push his departure back yet again.

He was supposed to play Monday, but the coffeehouse changed the hours that he was to play - from 7:00PM to 5:00PM - without informing him. He showed up at 7:00, thinking he'd be setting up, and the shop was closing down. So, they rescheduled him for the next day.

He performed on Tuesday from 5:00-7:00PM, to an audience about as large as mine. He made a comparable amount in tips as well. The main disadvantage to the time/day change though was that his friends who showed up on Monday couldn't show for Tuesday.

Speaking of the Fields, I went for open mic tonight. Since it was raining outside and I had to walk, I decided to use the piano on the shop, rather than lug my keyboard all the way down there. Once there, I'd wished I had brought my keyboard.

There was quite a crowd for a Thursday night. In a rare event, when my name was announced, people applauded before I started playing. Had I my keyboard, I could have really blown them away with "Fractal Heart," and my cover of "Hurt." As it stood though, I still got a really nice round of applause for "Little Song," "The Satellite" and my cover of "Something Fast."

After I'd finished, I slipped into a chair towards the back of the room to take in the other performers. I was approached by someone who had just heard me, and complimented on my performance. I was then asked if I went to Crane. I said that I didn't, and was told that I sounded like I was a voice major - that my singing had an operatic quality to it. I sort of laughed inwardly and said that I was just trying to sound like Andrew Eldritch or Peter Murphy.

I didn't stay at The Fields very long tonight. While there were talented performers, none of my friends were there and I can't stomach crowds with personal isolation for too long. I quietly departed after about an hour and a half. If I were more social, I probably could have stayed and just spoken with acquaintances. I'm not much of a social creature though - at least not with people I don't know well.

Since WAIH is simulcasting with WTSC, their staff has the option of doing a show from our air studio, if they so choose. I got a call this morning from a person wanting to do just that. I told him to come over to the station in the afternoon, so I could give him the crash course in the workings of WAIH. He came over, I showed him around, he was assigned a show time and everything seemed just fine.

Things are never what they seem. His show time was tonight, starting at 8:00. This wouldn't have been a problem, except he couldn't get into WAIH. Only executive board members have access to the station (and four people have keys to the building that WAIH is located in - I'm one of them). This poor DJ called every summer staff member for WAIH, including me, only to find none of them home to let him into the station.

I feel a little sorry for the guy. He's willing to do a show, getting the station off of automation for that many hours, and he can't even get into the air studio. I know how he feels - way back when I was only a mere DJ who was without my own set of station keys, I had to call executive staff members to let me into the station if no one's show preceded mine. It was a particular pain in the ass when I had a weekend show, because nobody wanted to get up to let me in.

So, something has to be done to make sure this guy doesn't get locked out again. If I have to, I'll let him in myself every Thursday at 8:00PM. I could play open mic sometime around 7:00, walk to the station (in Potsdam you can walk anywhere in a reasonable amount of time), let him in and then return to The Fields for the rest of open mic.

That's really not too much of an inconvenience. I'll do it if I have to.

Speaking of WAIH...

I've been working my ass of on playlists, both format and non-format. Currently our reporting for the CMJ 200 and Loud Rock playlists is going quite smoothly. The playlists that need work are RPM, Beat Box and Ñ Alternative.

I've already gotten a couple of major label contacts for Ñ Alternative, so that playlist should come together quite nicely. The same thing goes for RPM. Originally I wasn't even going to bother with Beat Box until a few weeks before the semester began since no one was playing it over the summer. However today's Clarkson DJ wanted to do a Beat Box show, so I figured he deserved a playlist to work with.

I made a few calls today, and hopefully the Beat Box will start flowing into WAIH again. Hopefully someone besides me will review it.

Once the semester starts I'll have to deal with even more specialty show playlists. One person does a Jazz show. That shouldn't be a problem since CMJ charts Jazz and I know where to get the contacts. Another person, however, wants to do a country show. I've quickly learned that country and college radio does not mix well.

Firstly, CMJ does not chart country. Secondly, record companies do not like to send country CDs to college radio stations. They get more airplay on commercial radio and that's the market they prefer to concentrate on. Thirdly, whenever a country song has gone out over the airwaves of WAIH, someone always calls up and says, "Stop playing this crap!"

So, I have a challenge. Then again, maybe this DJ will see the light and stop listening to country.

Speaking of listening, I want more listeners! Dear journal readers, lend me your ears. The summer simulcast presents me with the unique opportunity of having it so my voice can be heard worldwide. Hop on over to WTSC's website and click on "Live Broadcast" to listen to me weekdays from 7:00-10:00AM (EST). You can request songs by sending an instant message via AOL Instant Messenger to the screen name, "WAIHrequests." This would be much less expensive than calling long-distance (315) 267-2511, although I always appreciate off-campus calls. I'm really hoping to hear from some of you!