I have cabin fever.
Been in the house since Sunday.
The garage door was acting up on Sunday so I decided till this weekend I’d be ok not opening it.
Keeping busy inside. You know the usual fighting with everyone.. But trying to keep cool. There is bonuses to staying in. yesterday I put my jammies back on after my shower. Today I am makeup less and in my jeans and a sweatshirt keeping warm doing housework.. Ok that last part sounds kinda boring. Keeping warm and not losing my cool is my new motto.
I did this week get a computer in the upstairs hall for the boys to fiddle with. And the coolest part there is that I can play Woody Radio on it when I shower or attempt to clean.
I get to hear the “Secret Weapon Bot” as others get to hear it.. Not sitting at my desk watching it.
A year ago I got a nice compliment on my botting at the station and my subsequent shows that would follow. I do a lot of the daytime botting . Botting is basically when I load up shows and don’t necessarily sit with them as I don’t need to chat or talk. Daytime woody radio does not need a talking DJ. It throws things off actually.. Some people are at work and just want the music.
That is just fine with me.
Amanda loads up at night when she is done and I take over in the day. Woody does the weekend days.
It works like clockwork most of the time.
I got an email that said my music was like listening to the sender’s iTunes.
As the time went on and I added stuff from the sender to my music and idea was born.
My friend the sender called “Boris” got the idea of Woody Radio! My little pea brain went to work and I started playing all the stuff he sent in a one time a week show called the “Secret Weapon bot”. This is where all the music and magic grows. All his music and stuff blending so well into each song that no talking was necessary.
As time grew so did the BOT. I started playing it more and more. Now with 2011 I run it three days a week 17 hours a week. With the other two days filled with my partnership with Val bird at Pollytone records and the other day being a bot of my indie artists.. I finally have the key to a successful daytime schedule.
What exactly is a bot? It’s not really a robot per say.
And it’s not an ignored show.
It’s still me and my magic. Just now I have a little help with it.
“Boris’s” folder has 50 hours of music and that grows all the time. We add to it all the time. I load just his folder in the player and I pick a magic number for the day. I ask my BOT god to take control and I shuffle a number for the day.. Usually ranges between 3 and 7 with some days as high as 18 then close my eyes and press play. Randomly through the day “Boris” will email me a new number to shuffle. But let me tell you that BOT has a mind of its own.
The other bots work the same way. Except that I usually make changes to them as they go. I accidently played a song that should not have been played in daytime hours. And although I love EJ and his artist Smokey dearly, “Piss Slave” is not really a good daytime song. And the same with the Rockabilly on Thursdays. I make sure I am having fun with them too.
People seem to be loving what I am doing.
Today was a good day to sit back and be a customer, a listener per say. I turned on the computer first in the kitchen.. Well my laptop. I did the dishes listening to Woody Radio. And for the first time I realized how important that email was a year and half ago. Listening to the “Secret Weapon” was like listening to my Zune. I had no desire to turn it off. Every song flowed into the next song. It was perfect radio for me.
I moved upstairs and turned the station on up there. I used to listen to my Zune in the shower. Now I stretch the speaker over the side of the desk and crank them up loud enough for me to hear in the bathroom. It was better than my random Zune player.
The only bummer to that is I had a standing shower set feature where I played what I heard in the shower that day. I might still need to find a home for that feature and bring it back.. I enjoyed doing that part of my show.
This is an instance where a listener and a fan turned into so much more to the station. You look at the DJ’s we have. We all started as fans. We all had the belief in indie radio. We all take what we see and make it grow.
Sometimes I wonder when I am gonna grow up. I still listen to cool music. I don’t act like a grown up. I play on a radio station all day.
No this is my grown up world. I fulfill dreams. A music angel of sorts. My Woody Radio is filled with Angels and two devils. ( a Guardian Demon and a Loki). We all see the dream. We all share the dream.
I dare you to take a day out and sit back and listen.. Tell me you don’t feel it? I triple dog dare you.
I will share my “Secret “with you.
And you already feel it in your heart if you’ve read this far.