Radio Free Charleston International puts the randomizer back in action at 3 PM Thursday on The AIR. Tune in at the website, or on this handy embedded radio player…
After another morning and afternoon filled with special encores of Curtain Call, Radio Coolsville, Sydney’s Big Electric Cat and Ska Madness, we make the world safe for eclecticism on Radio Free Charleston International at 3 PM with a show that revisits a ton of great music that we originally presented one year ago. This show was bumped off the server last summer, but it was so good we decided to bring it back for your listening pleasure.
Listeners will be treated to then-brand-new music by Steve Vai, The Monkees, Ultravox, Anderson/Stoldt, The storkes, ABC, The Avett Brothers and more.
You can hear Radio Free Charleston International on The AIR Thursday at 3 PM, with replays Friday at 9 AM and 10 PM, Saturday at 11 AM and Sunday at 1 AM and 10 PM.
Following RFC International on Thursday,you can listen to this week’s new Radio Free Charleston, with Fabulous Head and more at 5 PM, and The New Music Show at 6 PM , The Crazy Show at 6:30 PM. In prime-time, it’s this week’s episodes of The Swing Shift and Curtain Call, followed at 10 PM by Live From The Empty Glass (this week with Travis Stephens and Matt McGuire). All night long after that, it’s a marathon of The Swing Shift.
One other note about our programming on The AIR: A few days ago on Facebook, some folks messaged me with a simple question that I have never really addressed here. “Why isn’t Radio Free Charleston on Status Quo radio, 88.1?”
The simple answer is, “I don’t know.” I have never been approached by Status Quo. I have no heat with them, but at no time has anyone there ever asked me to bring Radio Free Charleston to their station. It could be that, when they launched, I was busy doing my program for Voices of Appalachia, but they invited several other VOA shows to join their line-up, so I don’t think that’s the reason. Maybe they already had a local music show lined up. It’s possible that they never heard of me, or the nearly thirty years I’ve spent promoting the local music scene. For whatever reason, they never asked, even when I was in their offices for a few hours preparing a PopCult post to promote their launch.
To be honest, I’m sort of glad they didn’t ask. At the time of their launch I was busy doing my show for VOA, and when VOA went silent due to technical issues, I took a few months off to work on the 200th episode of the video version of RFC. We re-launched VOA as On The AIRadio last year, and when management decided they wanted to move on to other things, I wound up basically buying the station. My two partners also become occupied with other projects, so basically The AIR became a one-man-show. And we did become The AIR at that point. It’s all on my shoulders now.
And I love it that way. Being internet-based, I’m free to program whatever I want without any censorship, FCC rules or any policial maneuvering. I don’t need to do fundraisers. I understand that they’re a necessary evil for broadcasting, but that’s just one more burden I don’t have to deal with running an internet radio station. I’ve been able to hook up with great people who are dedicated to producing quality programs, and we have a fiercely loyal international audience that can run from three to several-hundred listeners. So I guess the real answer to the question of why I’m not on Status Quo is that…I’m on The AIR, and I’m happy here.
And I’m happy to see that Status Quo is apparently thriving too. We need more diverse voices to support our local scene, and I think it actually helps the whole environment if multiple successful ventures can stand on their own instead of having to band together. It’s great that they don’t need me, and I can get along fine without them, and we both do what we can to help foster creativity in Charleston. It’s a win-win.
Now check out the playlist for this week’s Radio Free Charleston International below:
RFCI 036
Steve Vai (featuring Mohini Dey) “Bop!”
Ultravox “Some of Them”
Jerry Lee Lewis “Lewis Boogie”
The Incorruptibles “Lowdown and Dirty”
Laura Mvula “Show Me Love”
Anderson Stoldt “Chase and Harmony”
Emily Kinney “Molly”
Paul McCartney “Jenny Wren”
The Shelters “The Ghost is Gone”
Roger Daltry and Wilco Johnson “Ice on the Motorway”
Paul Weller “Instant Karma”
Product of Piracy “In The Land of the Dead, the Living Man is King”
The Last Shadow Puppets “Sweet Dreams TN”
Sky Technology “Crazy Machines”
The Strokes “Drag Queen”
Leland Sundries “Apocalypse Love Song”
Tim Nielson “Dark Age Dancin'”
Link Wray and the Raymen “Jack The Ripper”
The Avett Brothers “Satan Pulls The Strings”
ABC “I Believe In Love”
The Shift “Moon Boots”
Volbeat “Marie Laveau”
The Monkees “You Bring Me Summer”
Paul Simon “Cool Papa Bell”
Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals “Pink Balloon”
Viv Stanshall “The Young Ones”
Jo-Ann Campbell “Let Me Do My Twist”
Oingo Boingo “Goodbye, Goodbye”
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