Radio Analysis

According to my records, during my junior and senior years at Carleton, I played 836 different songs on the radio. I know this is a slight undercount because, for example, I played all of Plastikman's Artifakts [bc] one night during a sub shift but it's not on here. However, this probably includes all shows for which I was notified more than five minutes before I had to show up.

Looking back over this list, I'm reminded of why I chose songs in the studio: timbre, emotional content, rhythm, and length, though for my last term most of the songs, pre-planned, were chosen for style or novelty.

What do we find within this list? Well, it's pretty obvious that My Morning Jacket is my favorite band with seven of these top 38 songs. I'm a little stunned at how often I played Do Make Say Think, but I remember getting several requests for them, which I think was a result of buying that record in Iowa City when basically nobody else was playing them on KRLX, thus convincing me that I ought to take advantage of that uniqueness. I'm surprised that I played "In My Hour of Darkness" five times, but I do enjoy it quite a bit. Songs in this list that I would not have ever considered a favorite are "By Your Side" and "Pairin' Off." Beyond these songs, several other Beechwood Sparks tracks were played multiple times, and I probably haven't listened to them for at least six months. Why on earth did I play three Jeff Beck tracks? I don't even like him.

Tracks that have an extrinsic advantage are those that I purchased early in my junior year. Stuff from Dear Catastrophe Waitress got played for four terms after the initial push in Fall 2003, but Antony and the Johnsons only got a term before I started playing techno and freak-folk. Similarly, had I discovered Nebraska a year earlier some of those Bruce Springsteen tracks might be closer to eight or nine plays rather than the three they got.

There's basically a ton of stuff missing from my sophomore year here. For example, were that year included, "NYC" might have more like 20 plays, and Trail of Dead would be a lot closer to a most-played artist. There would be several songs from Mermaid Avenue, especially "California Stars." Oh, and shockingly enough, I never once played "Hounds of Love," one of the best songs I've ever heard. "Next Exit" was junior year's "Everything in It's Right Place": a great organ or organ-sounding intro which I couldn't get enough of. Overrepresented in the first list, perhaps, is Wire: since many of the songs on Pink Flag are under 90 seconds long, I'd often play two or three at a time just to give myelf some time to transition. They should probably be more towards the middle.

Here, then, are the relevant lists, first the most-played artists:

75 My Morning Jacket (60 w/o Bandemonium)
34 Wire
27 Joy Division
25 Velvet Underground
22 Dismemberment Plan
22 Do Make Say Think
20 The Clash
18 Belle & Sebastian
18 Drive-By Truckers
18 Modest Mouse
17 Galaxie 500
16 Interpol
16 M. Ward
15 Death Cab for Cutie
15 Junior Boys
15 Neil Young
15 The Thermals
14 Fog
14 Pedro the Lion
13 Buzzcocks
12 Iron & Wine
12 M83
12 Mooney Suzuki
12 Mountain Goats
11 Bruce Springsteen
11 Keith Fullerton Whitman
10 Bob Dylan
10 Explosions in the Sky
10 Radiohead
10 Sigur Ros
10 Sonic Youth
10 DJ Shadow
10 Decemberists
10 Danger Mouse

And now, the most-played songs

Eight

My Morning Jacket "One Big Holiday"

Seven

Do Make Say Think "Auberge le Mouton Noir"
Joy Division "Atmosphere"
My Morning Jacket "Mahgeetah"
Wire "12xU"

Six

Belle & Sebastian "Piazza, NY Catcher"
Galaxie 500 "Tugboat"
Modest Mouse "Polar Opposites"

Five

Drive-By Truckers "My Sweet Annette"
Explosions in the Sky "Memorial"
Glenn Branca "Lesson No. 1 for Electric Guitar"
Gram Parsons "In My Hour Of Darkness"
Interpol "NYC"
Joy Division "Digital"
My Morning Jacket "Lowdown"
Sigur Ros "Olsen Olsen"

Four

Beachwood Sparks "By Your Side"
Belle & Sebastian "Stay Loose"
Brian Eno "The Big Ship"
Buzzcocks "Orgasm Addict"
The Clash "Career Opportunities"
The Clash "I'm So Bored With The USA"
Death Cab for Cutie "We Looked Like Giants"
Dismemberment Plan "The City"
Do Make Say Think "Frederica"
Do Make Say Think "Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!"
Drive-By Truckers "Sink Hole"
Galaxie 500 "Listen The Snow Is Falling"
Interpol "Next Exit"
Kid Dakota "Pairin' Off"
M. Ward "Helicopter"
My Morning Jacket "At Dawn"
My Morning Jacket "Golden"
My Morning Jacket "The Bear"
My Morning Jacket "The Way That He Sings"
New Order "Age of Consent"
Richard Thompson "1952 Vincent Black Lightning"
Wire "Three Girl Rhumba"