Links
to friends and family of Music For Listeners
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History
of the show with odd little tidbits
Michael Thomas started "Music For Listeners" in August of
1999 after eight years of regular and fill-in work at the station.
Michael has been a fan of John Peel radio show since the early 90’s,
and it was always a goal of Michael’s to have a show where he could
break format barriers and play whatever sounded good. Music
For Listeners is not a rip-off of Peel’s show, but more of a companion.
John Peel was always the place to hear new music, and MFL carries
on the tradition of anything goes. From Brian Eno to Beethoven, to
the Buena Vista Social Club, you’ll never know what your ears will
hear.
When Michael Thomas joined KRTU
in 1991, it had the format of classical and jazz, but in order to
best serve a missing radio format in San Antonio, it was decided in
the summer of 1999 to change the format of KRTU to jazz during the
day, and college freeform overnight. "Music For Listeners"
started during this transition, and
it became the first show of its kind on KRTU.
In the summer of 2000, Michael started playing the most popular segment
of the show, "The Mid-Morning Recording". Every week a show
is produced, "the listener" can hear a full album presented in
a complete, unedited form. In essence, you will hear a collection
of songs from a different band every week a show is produced.
In 2004, after a several stints as a co-host, Orlando Torres joined
Music For Listeners as a permanent and welcome co-pilot. Orlando and
Michael met in the early 90’s while Orlando was producing a public
access music video show entitled "Indievision". Orlando’s original
vision for his program was to spotlight a different band each week
through interviews and complete collections of video work. Ride, Sugar,
My Bloody Valentine, Lush, The Verve, James, Frank Black, The Breeders,
The Wedding Present, Luna, and many others all made appearances on
"Indievision". Clearly through the editing, interviewing and filming
experiences Michael had working on "Indievision", Orlando’s influence
slowly made its way into the fabric of Music For Listeners. Now with
Orlando as a permanent co-host, Music For Listeners has essentially
become a radio version of that video program.
Every week Michael and Orly bring nothing but the best.
New music that no one has heard, and older music that everyone should
hear.
Music that can only be heard if you're listening...
Some staples on the show-
In the year 2000 "The
Mid-Morning Recording"
is launched. Since then, an entire album has been played on the show
each week. This way a different band can be showcased each time a
show is produced. See what albums we’ve played here.
In 2004 we began using "Country Mike’s Theme" by the Beastie Boys
as our theme song. Before Orlando became a permanent co-host on the
show in 2004, "Country Mike’s Theme" was only played when he was a
guest host.
We also usually play a country/folk song for the first song of the
show.
In 2005 the website musicforlisteners.com was erected, and now people
from around the world can not only hear an encore webcast of the FM
broadcast, but also hear exclusive recordings and interviews through
our podcast feed.
In
2005 we began using "Sayonara" by the band James for our closing music.
In
2005, we tried to play a Talking Heads song every week.
In
2006, we tried to make each show a special occasion.
In
2007, we are playing a Poster Children song every week. -
In honor of their 20th anniversary
Music
For Listeners
Friday Nights - Saturday Mornings - Midnight to 3 A.M.
KRTU 91.7 FM San Antonio, Texas
Streaming live on www.krtu.org
and
all week on www.musicforlisteners.com
