The Last Radio Station:
Our Programming
Philosophy Explained
Many
people are encountering The Last Radio Station for the first time and
they naturally have a few questions. This is understandable,
seeing how the LRS is, as we say, the end of radio as you've known it
and the beginning of a whole new thing. In this section we
will attempt to address these questions and provide some answers and
explanations about whatever the hell it was that just came out of your
speakers.
Q: What is your format?
A: We don't have one. The stuff you hear is 100%
random. Even we don't know what's going to come up next.
This is done intentionally to create unpredictability for people who
like surprises in their listening. If you have ironclad
preconcieved notions about what music should be and you require
everything to conform to those notions, then the LRS probably isn't for
you. We can go from Black Sabbath to Buck Owens to Blink 182 to
who knows what and back again. These huge leaps between genres
are our way of protesting the ridiculous over-segregation of playlists
and
musical styles that exist today. Listening to the
exact same genre of music day in and day out gets awfully tiresome, we
think. The Last Radio Station is all about creating those moments
when you say
"whoa, what's THIS?" and turn up the volume. When was the last
time such a moment occurred when you were listening to a regular
terrestrial commercial station? Think about that one for a bit.
Q: When are you going to play
something I like?
A: Stick around. If the current tune is not
your cup of tea, the next one likely will be. In the meantime,
you might hear something you've never heard before. Or you might
hear something you haven't heard in years.
Q: Who are those people and what
are they talking about? Where's the music?
A: In an effort to broaden our listener base, we've
recently added podcasts from independent producers along with
some live syndicated talk shows. It's all about bringing as many
voices as possible into the tent and giving them a chance at the
mike. We may not have untold billions of listeners just
yet, but the ones we have are very dedicated to the cause, as it
were. Commercial radio, contrary to their "research", has
totally lost sight of its audience and the listeners are looking for
something new. The Last Radio Station will be one of the the
sources.
Q: Oh my gawd, what did that
person just say? You can't say that on the radio, can you?
A: Yes, you can. We operate completely outside
of the jurisdiction of the FCC here. I could play George Carlin's
"Seven Dirty Words" or a Richard Pryor comedy cut if the notion struck
me. We're not going out of our way to offend people just
for the sake of offending them, though. If The Last Radio
Station were a movie, it would be rated PG-13. It's nothing
that any sane adult couldn't handle, but if you're sensitive about such
things, consider yourself warned. The content of the podcasts
featured on The Last Radio Station are the sole responsibility of the
producers. In other words, if you have a beef with them over
something they said, take it up with them directly, please. I
just play the damn things.
Q: I have some music that your
listeners might enjoy. Will you play it if I send it in?
A: Definitely. If it doesn't absolutely suck
out loud, it will be added to the playlist rotation with all due
speed. Email Mr. Lake
for more details. We have quite a few
independent and/or unsigned bands already on the list and we are always
looking for more. Since we are located in North Carolina, we also
feature a large number of NC bands. We'll listen to anything, and
if it's good, it will go on the playlist regardless of its genre.
Simple as that. Show me any other station, broadcast or internet
or otherwise, that will do that.
Q: Your website says you're also
available on 87.9 FM.
A: Yes, and if you are within 100 feet of my residence you
can listen there too. And it's entirely legal, so you
can forget about ratting me out to the FCC. It's one of those
little Ipod FM soundfeeder things.
Q: What is your take on pirate
broadcasting?
A: I can see how some folks would get a kick out running
an unauthorized pirate station, sticking it to The Man,
power to the people, and all that. If I lived inside the city
limits of a town I would be hugely tempted to run 10
watts into an antenna up a tree of something. But the Last Radio
Station is located in the boonies, so any audience I might reach with a
pirate FM would be small to nonexistent. The risk outweighs the
reward. The webcast is globaI. I did, however, get an email from
someone in Leeds, England who said a pirate broadcaster in their city
was using the LRS to fill in the time during overnights. I
thought that was so cool. If anyone over there could verify this
for me, I would very much appreciate it.
This page is a
work in progress and more stuff will be added as I think of it.
We now return you to your webcast, already in progress.