Next week marks two years since the debut of “OnTheAIRadio,” which evolved (or devolved) into the internet radio station we now know as The AIR. The station has changed quite a bit since then. Originally I was simply one of three or five contributing programmers, supplying shows to the station that grew out of the ashes of Voice of Appalachia radio.
However, as the original owner became tied up on other projects, ownership was transferred to a trio of us programmers, and as the other two members of the trio became tied up with other projects, The AIR became a solo act, and I quickly jettisoned “On” and “adio” and reverted back to my original suggestion for the station’s name.
We beefed up our musical offerings and added cool talk shows like Life Speaks To Michele Zirkle, The Third Shift, and The Real with Mark Wolfe. Last year we welcomed The (BS) Crazy Show and the all-night marathons of The Swing Shift (very popular in Europe!) to the station, and our international listenership soared to new heights, just shy of what we’d need to ever monetize it.
Tuesday, to mark the anniversary of our humble beginnings (and not because your PopCulteer had to spend a big chunk of Monday at the DMV), The AIR will re-present the first episode of Radio Free Charleston volume 4, which kicked off this new destined-for-obscurity internet radio powerhouse. Trust me, we have a really good reason for doing this a week early.
You can tune in at the website, or right here on this embedded radio player:
You can hear the rebroadcast of the debut episode of RFCv4 Tuesday at 10 AM and 11 PM on The AIR, and you can read the production notes and playlist HERE.
At 3 PM you can hear the first two episodes of The Swing Shift. My Swing Music program is not celebrating an anniversary any time soon, but I was stuck at the DMV when I should have been recording a new show, so I figured let’s just go back to those humble beginnings too.
Wednesday you can definitely expect a new episode of Life Speaks to Michele Zirkle at 1:30 PM, with a replay at 7 PM. At 3 PM there is a remote possibility of a new episode of Curtain Call, hosted by Mel Larch, but Mel has a lot going on this week too, so we may go with reruns for that as well.
The project that Mel is working is the “With A Little Help From Our Friends” Beatles Marathon Concert that Rubber Soul will put on a week from Friday.
Next week PopCult and The AIR will bombard you with information and plugs for this concert, and that’s why we’re marking our anniversary a week early. Next week expect Beatle-centric episodes of Radio Free Charleston, Curtain Call, Beatles Blast (of course) and maybe even The Swing Shift, if I can pull it off. All that Beatle-ing is why we’re marking our second anniversary a week early. Well, that and the whole DMV thing.
You can find out more about the Rubber Soul Beatles concert in THIS POST and buy tickets in advance HERE.
Thursday expect a new RFC International, and I believe we have new episodes of Radio Coolsville and Big Electric Cat lined up for Friday. Meanwhile, you can keep track of our schedule with this handy embedded schedule…
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