Tag: wdcv

WDCV’s Hidden Celebrity

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Community Post: Interview with DJ Bob Zieff
Bob Zieff is the kind of person who actually has articles written about him in books, newspapers, and Google searches. There’s even a song written about him, called “Who the Hell is Bob Zieff?” He is a big star in the music world, and he DJ’s here at WDCV every week. He leads an intriguing life, guided by his love for music, specifically jazz and classical music, specifically of the 20th century, of which he has loved since the age of twelve. Outside of WDCV, Bob is a jazz composer. He studied music at Boston University and spent many years composing for jazz musicians of all kinds. Bob has connections to many famous jazz artists, including Chet Baker and Richard Twardzik, whom he mentored. Bob’s following reaches more than just neighboring states; people from Japan, Sweden, Germany, Norway, and many more know Bob Zieff as one of their favorite jazz composers. A CD of his was recently released, a compilation of musicians performing some of his best creations. Bob is very modest about his fame though, and when asked what he likes to do other than DJ, rather than focusing on his own musical creations, Bob laughed about the jazz book that he’s been writing for decades now.

It’s amazing that someone as profound and inspiring as Bob has been a member of WDCV for almost twelve years now. In Bob’s show, Jazz Pathways, he hopes that his music choices will help others learn more about jazz. During his two hours at WDCV each week, he does not care about what’s deemed as popular, because as Bob says, “if you want to know what’s bad, listen to what’s popular.” Rather, Bob is interested in the complex, colorful nature of the jazz that is great to listen to because of the skill of musician and composer alike, not just because of the aesthetic it creates. Bob enjoys playing music that represents something:a musical progression, a harmonic riff, a compositional puzzle. 

 

By doing this, he introduces a lot of jazz artists who are not very popular in the jazz world.He wants to paint jazz as approachable to all listeners, which is why he is so perfect for WDCV. Artists include Lester Young, CharlieParker, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman among others. By listening to Bob’s show, he wishes that all listeners can learn just a little bit about what he has dedicated much of his life to.

Listen to Bob’s show, Jazz Pathways, on Sundays from 12pm to 2pm for a lesson on jazz!   

Click here to listen to the Enrique Heredia Quartet play the music of Bob Zieff!

Click here to purchase Bob’s latest publication from Fresh Sound Records!

 

 

 

If you have any questions, email Julia Ormond at ormondj@dickinson.edu. Thanks for reading!

The Blues According to Danny

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    Community Post: Interview with Community DJ Danny Dicker

Danny may posses a quiet personality, but he speaks through the music he plays here at WDCV. Danny does his research on his music, knows the many covers of his most favorite songs, and could tell you the background story of most blues songs and their singers. His show name, The Crossroads, echoes a Robert Johnson song with the same name. The blues artist inspired not only Danny’s show name, but also his love for blues and rock. During his one hour show, Danny plays both old and new songs that have charmed him with their unique sound. He attempts to create a diverse collection for his listeners by connecting some jazz songs to his favorite blues artists and using music to talk about the                                                                                   unique time period in which we live today.

Danny has only been a DJ for two years, but has already found a home here at WDCV. He moved to Carlisle about seven years ago with his father, and works in the Dickinson catering business throughout the day. He enjoys seeing live music, though he admits it’s been hard to support that passion as he gets older and must work more. To make up for this, Danny plays his own favorite music with his guitar. During the past four years, his talent has grown by playing great blues and rock songs, most commonly by The Black Keys, one of his favorite bands. He could talk forever about this band, their differing sounds throughout their albums, their seemingly soon-to-be break up, and that one chance he almost had to see them live. It is his love for this band and others alike that bring out his true personality, one wrapped tightly around bluesy guitar riffs and a steady rhythm.

                             

His favorite artists range from Mac DeMarco to BB King, from The Beatles to Isaac Hayes. Danny’s favorite backstory of a blues song is the history of Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground.” A mixtape containing this song was shot into space for other life forms to find, as a representation of what our music sounds like, to convey human emotion.  Danny explained how this song was chosen to express the feeling of loneliness, and it only makes sense that it should be floating in space by itself until other life forms eventually find it. These backstories that Danny discovers bolster his love for music. They are unique, and present a special imagination to each song that he cannot find in any other genre. It only makes sense that Danny is so excited each week when he arrives at the WDCV station for his show, because it gives him chance to share this beautiful genre with all of his listeners.

 

 

Tune in to Danny’s show, The Crossroads, Thursdays from 10pm to 11pm, to hear a taste of the blues!

 

 

 

If you have any questions, email Julia Ormond at ormondj@dickinson.edu. Thanks for reading!

If All Music Is Sound, Is All Sound Music?

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Community Post: Interview with Tom Wilkins

Tom Wilkins has been a WDCV DJ for the past 5 years. He moved to Carlisle when he married his wife, about 28 years now. He has spent the past 15 years teaching high school with a focus on special needs education, though Tom seems adamant about retiring soon. Tom sought interest in WDCV when his daughter went off to college and joined her college’s radio station, which inspired him to follow in her footsteps. He reached out to WDCV and has been spinning albums ever since.

Initially, he chose a specific theme for each week, picking from all different styles of music. After a couple years, Tom found this extremely restrictive and felt the limits of his weekly themes when, one day, a listener called him during his radio show. The caller asked why he chose to play such mainstream music when WDCV’s mission is to play underrepresented artists. Although this caller possessed a rude attitude, his question shook Tom in multiple ways. Why did he feel the need to play music he knew people could easily listen to, when what he really wanted to play was music that intrigued and challenged him?

From that moment on, Tom began playing untraditional music. “Experimental, weird music,” as Tom put it. Some names are more recognizable, like Brian Eno, one of Tom’s favorite artists, but others are more strange to the common listener. The songs and artists he plays are typically more recent, though this genre of music has been around for a very long time. Tom describes his taste in music as “familiar enough to engage you, but unfamiliar enough to challenge you.” He wants to share the music that makes him think, the music that requires active focus rather than passive listening. He questions, “if all music is sound, is all sound music?” To Tom, all sound can be music if you open your mind to it. He spends a lot of time searching for more music to share with his listeners each week, either by reading magazines or listening to shows similar to his own, which allows him to connect with others who share his taste in music. This show is important to Tom musically, and he hopes that through listening in on his radio show, others too can learn to appreciate music that is abnormal and untraditional, yet challenging and intriguing.

                  

Listen in on Tom’s show, String Theory, on Tuesdays from 8pm to 10pm to hear Tom’s favorites! 

 

If you have any questions, email Julia Ormond at ormondj@dickinson.edu. Thanks for reading!

“The Teacher Creature”

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Community Post: Interview with Community DJ Mike Conrad

Mike Conrad is the host for Jazz on The Rocks, which airs Saturdays from noon to one. His relationship with WDCV began many years ago when he was a student at Dickinson College. Back in 1964, the station was in a different location and streamed an AM signal. During his time at Dickinson, Mike was a DJ and engineer. Once he graduated, he began teaching at Cumberland Valley High, and left his WDCV days behind for different dreams.  

Because he loved radio so much, Mike searched for more opportunities to get on air, and finally found a gig at WHYL FM, another local yet larger Cumberland Valley radio station, in which he had a four hour show every night. Eventually, Mike moved on and continued his search for a way to get on air. He worked for WIOO, an AM Carlisle station, WSBA in York, and later WKBO in Harrisburg. As Mike stated,  “these were the golden days of “top 40” radio and I was right in there rocking and rolling.” During his time as a rock jock on KBO, the station capitalized on Mike’s primary occupation and he became known as “the teacher creature,” complete with his own set of custom jingles. It was great fun for Mike, and filled his desire for radio.

      

Eventually, Mike got married and had a family.  His duties as a father and teacher necessitated leaving his on air job, but he continued to do voice-over work during this time, of which he continues today.  Because of Mike’s passion for radio, he still searched for a radio station that could fit into his schedule. Three years ago, Mike got a show on WDCV, and began producing Jazz on the Rocks from his own production studio.  Each show was and is recorded by himself, then sent into the station, where it is automatically played every Saturday. This process is very easy and flexible for Mike, and allows for him to live outside of the Carlisle area while simultaneously DJing for his very first radio station.  Although the “teacher creature” no longer rocks the airwaves, listeners to Jazz on The Rocks hear relics of those bygone days in the form of various jingles and other production elements.  Radio has always been one of Mike’s favorite passions, and he thoroughly enjoys the opportunity to DJ his hour on WDCV each week.

 

Listen to Mike’s Jazz on the Rocks, Saturday from noon to 1pm, for a special hour of Mike doing what he loves most!

 

 

 

 

 

 

These photos were given to WDCV as a gift from Mike Conrad, who captured them when he was still a student. 

 

If you have any questions, email Julia Ormond at ormondj@dickinson.edu. Thanks for reading!

ADDs of the Week for 10/22-10/23

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I know I haven’t been exactly on top of my ADDs game for a while. A lot of senior thesis work and staring out the window has been occupying my time. Not to mention my attempts to break this caffeine addiction. It’s a little disturbing. Anyway, we have a lot of really great ADDs this week which you will be hearing over the air for a while, especially the ones I’m about to tell you allllll about. Because they are awesome. Didn’t I already say that? Anyway, here are this weeks top ADDs:

Titus Andronicus — Local Business: The long anticipated and accidentally recently leaked new album from punk rock Americana superband Titus Andronicus is here! This album differs from their other two albums because it doesn’t follow a set concept or narrative, but it is just as violent and rawly awesome as their other work. The subjects covered in the album’s themes range from an eating disorder to quitting smoking to lots of other things so nihilistic I can’t even begin to describe them all. Listen and punch a wall simultaneously to get the full effect.

Recommended Tracks: Upon Viewing Oregon’s Landscape With The Flood Of Detritus, My Eating Disorder, In A Big City, (I Am The) Electric Man

RIYD: Andrew Jackson Jihad, Bomb the Music Industry!, Japandroids

Paul Banks — Banks: This is the front man of Interpol’s solo album, and let’s just say he works even better alone. A more simplified sound, Banks’s voice still adds a lot of the allure that has fans drawn to his band Interpol as well. There’s something a little 1970s about this album as well.

Recommended Tracks: The Base, Over My Shoulder, Young Again

RIYD: Turtle Giants, Interpol, Blonds

Chelsea Wolfe — Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs: Okay, this girl is like Lykke Li and Cat Power had a baby after listening to a lot of Grimes. Though the album is primarily acoustic, her voice and layering of harmonies make this album a lot richer. There is a lot of raw emotion juxtaposed with clean cut structure. This album is perfect for studying or pretending to be studying but actually just stressing out while staring up at the ceiling. Highly recommended.

Recommended Tracks: Sunstorm, Flatlands, Boyfriend

RIYD: Cat Power, Lykke Li, Tegan and Sara, EMA

New Single from TEGAN AND SARA

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I don’t know about you, radioland, but I have been waiting for a new Tegan and Sara single since I was in, like, high school. Like. They’ve probably had new music before then but I haven’t had any new Tegan and Sara in my personal universe in a long time.

Anyway, you should definitely check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dSGbOmW4AjI

And you can check out their first single “Closer” right here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7MNGPmrlWo

Their new album Heartthrob is set to be released in January 2013.

THIS WEEKS ADDS (9/11/12-9/12/12): Cat Power, Animal Collective and The XX

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We have a lot of new adds this week for WDCV, and a lot from last week as well. While we sort through the piles of CDs currently overflowing from the rickety bookshelves in the exec office, here is a little sample of the bigger names we’ve racked in for adds this week.

All of the music we have gotten is of course, awesomeee, but these three deserve a post all their own.

The xx — Coexist: This album is everything you’d expect from The xx, sensual slow beats and the pleasant harmonies of sultry male and female voices winding in and around each other. Their second studio produced album, Coexist is the product of the band’s endless touring for the past two years and the loss of their fourth member Baria Qureshi. The themes common to the xx’s previous album remain the same with Coexist, loneliness, love and lust dominant the lyrics of the album. Though their music is inspired by pop and dance music, their sound is simple enough to stand on its own whether the band is playing live or you just have Romy Madley Croft’s voice sighing in your ear through inexpensive headphones.

Recommended Tracks: Angels, Chained, Fiction, Sunset, Swept Away

RIYD: Purity Ring, Lykke Li

Animal Collective — Centipede Hz: The tenth studio album from Animal Collective, Centipede Hz is the first in a while to actually include collaborative efforts of all four original members Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin. More experimental and less clean cut than Merriweather Post Pavillion, one is reminded of the raw quality of albums like Sung Tongs and Strawberry Jam. Fans of the old Animal Collective will warm to this album, with its trance elements and unique collaged quality.

Recommended Tracks: Moonjock, Today’s Supernatural, Applesauce, New Town Burnout, Amanita

RIYD: Gang Gang Dance, Deerhunter

Cat Power — Sun: Layered musically as well as lyrically, SUN is Cat Power aka Chan Marshall’s first album of solely personal and self written material in six years. Marshall wrote all of the material herself, and the music reflects her independence as an artist as well as her ability to mold and manipulate multiple musical styles. The haunting guitar and throaty vocals classic to Cat Power’s previous style remain as well as the influence of a more upbeat electronic sound that makes her work more competitive with current synth pop.

Recommended Tracks: Cherokee, Sun, 3 6 9, Manhattan

RIYD: Bat For Lashes, Sharon Van Etten, Neko Case, Grimes

 

That’s all for this week, keep checking in for more featured artist updates!

Meow.

Heavy Rotation Update: ADDs for the week of 4/23-4/24

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Hello hello hello, is there anybody listening out there? I wasn’t sure.

Anyway, the weather here in Carlisle has taken yet another drastic turn for the cold and depressing, with some apocalyptic rain for good measure. For those of you suddenly depressed by copious amounts of last minute papers to write plus the lack of sunshine, here’s a breaded cat to cheer you up:

Anyway, here are some of the adds for this week:

Anathema — Weather Systems: This band is pretty doom and gloom, but not so much so that you need to curl up in to a ball afterward. A little more 90s alternative than I usually go for, at least in public, they definitely work as a pleasant mind meld when you’re tired of pretending that OFWGKTA is the only thing you ever listen to outside of working out at the gym. RIYD: 30 Seconds to Mars (lol), Porcupine Tree, Muse

Joel Plaskett Emergency — Scrappy Happiness: Who doesn’t like a guy with a dreamy voice singing about nostalgia and stuff? I would describe this album’s genre as being a creature of “wistful rock music.” Let’s get weepy. RIYD: Paul Baribeau, Ted Leo, Elvis Costello

The Guiltracket — Thuds and Grunts: Still not sure if that’s all supposed to be one word or two words. Oh well. This band is probably my favorite add for the week, just saying. They’re a lot punkier than we usually have in our binder, and they balance it out by having plenty of folk edge to them as well. RIYD: This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Ghost Mice

Anyway, keep your nose wet and your tail dry. Er…

Love,

Tori

 

Heavy Rotation Update: ADDs for the Week of 4/16-4/17

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Hello hello, radio followers and fleers…and sheep…ers,

Apparently Carlisle weather decided to switch from almost freezing to SWELTERING summer weather overnight. I’m as shocked as the rest of you. Truly.

A little heat can’t stop ME from giving YOU the latest updates to the station’s heavy rotation binder this week though. In fact, I like the excuse to hide from the sun. No vampire jokes allowed.

Delish.

Anyway, here are the ADDs for this week:

Sarah Donner — Fossil of Girl: This album is truly lovely. Sarah Donner’s sound reminds me of a young Alannis Morisette, though slightly less angry and probably best friends with Tegan and Sara. RIYD: Bjork?

Live Animals — Live Animals: This band is a rag tag group from SoCal and they fair from a skate punk surf snob scene indeed. RIYD: Sublime, 311, people in animal masks.

Toro Y Moi — June 2009: A revival of some of Toro Y Moi’s older and unreleased tracks, reminding us all why we luv him so much in the first place. RIYD: Best Coast, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Flaming Lips

Part Time — What Would You Say?: Synthetic pop is making a come back…who knew it ever left? RIYD: M83, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti

Horse Feathers — Cynic’s New Year: Weird album title, great album. Horse Feathers is back with an even more folky Americana album. RIYD: Iron & Wine, Damien Rice

the breakups — running jumping falling shouting: This band isn’t nearly as obnoxious as their band name and album title. RIYD: The Shins, Elliot Smith

Alabama Shakes — Boys & Girls: This band has some serious Southern soul power. RIYD: The Black Keys, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

CHYEAHHHH BOIIIIII

Anyway, anyone else remember Sailor Moon? So magical.

Have a great rest of the week, try not to break anything, and eat lots of pizza.

Love,

Tori