Collecting music has been a lifelong obsession of mine that started in 1964 when my grandparents gave me my first Beatles record. Ever since, I’ve been steadily adding to my collection of LPs, 45s, CDs and now, digital music files. If you’ve been to my house, you can see that my living room is filled with LPs and my back room wall is lined with CD racks. Really, it’s a kind of sickness. Once, years ago, the farm house I was living in caught fire, and with the firemen distracted by a wall of flame, I crawled into the smoke-filled house on my hands and knees, and choking on smoke, pulled out all my crates of records. That’s a true story. It’s probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, but it also tells you what my music collection means to me.
I made my first mix tape back in 1976 and never really stopped. For four years in the mid 80’s I had a weekly radio show on the now defunct WQAX. Those Sunday afternoons spent spinning records was one of the happiest times of my life. In the intervening 23 years, I’ve continued to put together mixes that I’d send to friends. I even put together a yearly mix of the best tunes of the past year.
Right now my wife is living in India for nine months and I decided to use music as a way for us to stay connected. The thought occurred to me to use the the Internet as a mechanism to send her music, which was the genesis for creating the Broadcasting From Home podcast.
Really, it’s a brilliant and selfish idea this podcast. See, by creating a podcast, I now have a reason to keep adding music to my collection. The new music isn’t for me, it’s for the podcast – at least that’s what I keep telling myself. Putting together an hour worth of music each week allows me to flip through the music collection, both physical and digital. I find myself pulling out and listening to things I’ve not heard in years. AND, I get to share it with my friends. What can be better than that?
So, that’s why the podcast. Aren’t you glad you asked?