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Floydian Slip’s Bizarre Collection of Antiques & Curios #13: Champ 101.3 montage

Posted April 14, 2015 by Floydian Slip

As we lead up to “Floydian Slip” Show #1,000 the week of June 8, we’re digging into the archives to share relics from the show’s past.

By summer 1995, I no longer worked in radio full-time. WEXP 105.1 FM in Burlington, Vt., where I’d spent the previous year, had gone belly-up, and I’d become convinced there was a better career for me outside broadcasting.

But then there was “Floydian Slip.”

After starting the show as a college student in ’89, and then producing it at WEXP, I was convinced the show was viable and ought to be able to find a home on another station.

That summer I wrote a fairly formal proposal for the show, and mailed it to the two rock stations in the Burlington area: WIZN 106.7 FM “The Wizard” and WCPV 101.3 FM “Champ 103.1.”

Champ’s Rich Haskell immediately got in touch, expressing an interest in reviving the show. After waiting a few months for the station to find a sponsor, I started hosting “Floydian Slip” on Champ.

I was happy to have the show back up and running, but bringing it to Champ felt funny. The station was only a year old, and I’d spent the previous year at WEXP, another new station that launched just ahead of Champ, so regarded Champ as “those other new guys.” It felt a little like I’d flipped to work for the other side.

Our first Champ show — Show #8 — probably aired Wednesday, Oct. 18 or 25, 1995.

The show remained a weekly offering on Champ nearly 14 years, surviving a number of ownership changes and shuffling timeslots. (The artwork shown here was Champ’s second logo, used only in the last couple years of Champ’s time as a music station.)

Over the years we might have revised the opening montage that started each Champ show. But the audio posted here is the only montage we have archived, and it’s likely the opening that played most often during our time on Champ.

It’s pulled from Show #246, broadcast Sunday, Aug. 6, 2000.

 


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Floydian Slip’s Bizarre Collection of Antiques & Curios #12: Last WEXP talkset

Posted April 6, 2015 by Floydian Slip

As we lead up to “Floydian Slip” Show #1,000 the week of June 8, we’re digging into the archives to share relics from the show’s past.

By May 1995, we were about to produce Show #7 for WEXP in Burlington, Vt. — the first commercial station to carry the show.

Leading up to the fledgeling station’s sign off June 15, 1995, staffers, including myself, had been informed some type of change was about to take place. At first we were told ownership was searching for investors to keep the station on the air. A little later, we learned the station would be bought outright by another broadcasting group.

Twenty years later, I’m uncertain how much I knew when. But from listening to this final “Floydian Slip” talkset from Show #7, it appears I didn’t realize this would be my last show for WEXP, since I make no mention of it.

The final WEXP “Floydian Slip,” Show #7, aired 11 p.m. to midnight on Monday May 29, 1995.

 


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Floydian Slip’s Bizarre Collection of Antiques & Curios #11: WEXP goodbye

Posted April 2, 2015 by Floydian Slip

As we lead up to “Floydian Slip” Show #1,000 the week of June 8, we’re digging into the archives to share relics from the show’s past.

This one’s admittedly somewhat tangential to “Floydian Slip,” but noteworthy nonetheless.

By June 1995, WEXP 105.1 FM in Burlington, Vt., the first commercial station to carry “Floydian Slip,” was signing off. After only a year on the air, the start-up station had burned through its capital, and, unable to find an investor, was in the process of being bought by another local radio group.

I was working the evening shift, where we’d broadcast “Floydian Slip” about once a month, during the new moon, from 11 to midnight.

It looks like we did seven shows — or “phases,” as I occasionally called them — during our time at WEXP, though, oddly, Show #4 didn’t seem to get archived. The last “Floydian Slip” aired on the station May 29, 1995.

The audio below is my final talkset on the station, recorded just before midnight, Wednesday June 14, 1995.

If memory serves, I have station engineer Joe Tymecki to thank for the memories: I didn’t bother rolling tape on my final shift, but Joe was taping it on his home stereo that night.

The strangest thing about this piece of tape is hearing myself backsell something that’s not Pink Floyd. It’s been 20 years since I’ve done that.

The station signed off at noon the next day, June 15, 1995, and “Floydian Slip” went on hiatus for a little more than a year.

 


Posted in Audio, Show #1,000 | 2 comments

Floydian Slip’s Bizarre Collection of Antiques & Curios #10: First WEXP show

Posted March 30, 2015 by Floydian Slip

As we lead up to “Floydian Slip” Show #1,000 the week of June 8, we’re digging into the archives to share relics from the show’s past.

By summer 1994, I was on my second job out of college. In June of that year, I started as overnight announcer at a brand new Adult Album Alternative (Triple- A) station in Burlington, Vt. — WEXP “Experience 105.1.”

By December, I’d resurrected “Floydian Slip” as a once-a-month offering on the station, whenever there was a new moon.

Here’s a skim of that first WEXP show, which aired 11 p.m. EST Friday, Dec. 2, 1994.

While I started the show six years earlier at Ithaca College’s 106-VIC, this show is actually show “number one,” because this is when I started counting.

By the time I’d started doing “Floydian Slip” for WEXP, I’d moved from overnights to evenings, arriving at the station mid-afternoon, and working on-air from 7 to midnight.

I have fond memories of being in my mid-20s, living in downtown Burlington, and taking the short walk from my efficiency apartment over to the station, where every jock enjoyed creative freedom regarding what we played and what we said.

It was working in radio like I’d imagined it would be growing up listening to my FM Walkman: Something akin to Donald Fagen’s “The Nightfly.”

WEXP was something special. It had the vibe of underground FM radio from the ’70s … or so I was told. Unconventional, eclectic, very democratic and down-to-earth — one potential sponsor complained all us air people sounded stoned — I’m glad I had the experience, as short-lived as it was.

WEXP went dark within a year, and I was out of a job by Summer ’95. More on that later.

A couple of notes: Yes, I mispronounced “Astronomy Domine,” which I continued to do for years later. And we hadn’t yet registered the floydianslip.com domain, but were using the show’s original email address: floydshow@aol.com.

AOL also gave WEXP a complimentary account, in exchange for on-air mentions. The account remained active for years after the station went off the air. Apparently no one from the station ever told AOL, and the company didn’t require proof of performance for its on-air plugs. No good deed …

 


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Floydian Slip’s Bizarre Collection of Antiques & Curios #7: WEXP promo

Posted March 18, 2015 by Floydian Slip

As we lead up to “Floydian Slip” Show #1,000 the week of June 8, we’re digging into the archives to share relics from the show’s past.

By 1994, I was on my second job out of college at a start-up stand-alone FM station in Burlington, Vt., called WEXP “Experience 105.1.”

The station launched in summer ’94, and by December I’d convinced station management to let me revive “Floydian Slip” as a late-night offering.

Station program director Joel Bolton suggested we air the show on the new moon — when the moon was dark. It was a clever tie-in to “The Dark Side of the Moon,” but it probably made it difficult for the show to build any sort of fan base, since new moons don’t appear on the same day of the month every month.

That and the station went dark by summer 1995.

Here’s a promo for that first WEXP show, which aired Friday, Dec. 2, 1994, at 11 p.m. EST.

While WEXP’s studios were state-of-the-art all-digital facilities — rare for that time — this promo was archived on a 120-minute cassette, which, like many 2-hour cassettes, didn’t employ the highest quality tape.

Interestingly, though I started the show at Ithaca College’s 106-VIC in 1989, this WEXP show is actually Show #1, since this is when I began numbering shows.

 


Posted in Audio, Promos, Show #1,000 | 1 comment

Floydian Slip’s Bizarre Collection of Antiques & Curios #4: Episode #1

Posted March 5, 2015 by Floydian Slip

As we lead up to “Floydian Slip” Show #1,000 the week of June 8, we’re digging into the archives to share relics from the show’s past.

The first episode of “Floydian Slip” was carried on Ithaca College’s 106-VIC (now called VIC Radio) in January 1989. The exact date is lost, but we know it was a Sunday night, from 10-11 EST.

Posting really old audio is, for a radio guy, something like posting photos of yourself taken during those awkward teenage years. The best thing we can say about “Floydian Slip” Show #1 is the music holds up well 26 years later. Not so much can be said about the show’s host. 😉

Ironically, this “skim” of the show offers only the talk segments. Give it a listen, but don’t say we didn’t warn you:

 


Posted in Audio, Show #1,000 | 5 comments

Aubrey Powell interview available online

Posted February 23, 2015 by Floydian Slip

We’ve placed our interview with Pink Floyd sleeve designer Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell online.

You can listen to the entire 30-minute interview or read the transcript.

Powell is co-founder of Hipgnosis, which designed nearly every Floyd sleeve starting with 1968’s “A Saucerful of Secrets,” as well as iconic sleeves for other bands such as Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Paul McCartney, 10cc, Al Stewart, Black Sabbath, Alan Parsons Project and many others.

Powell knew members of Floyd before the band formed, and shared a flat for a period of time with band co-founder Syd Barrett.

Powell’s new book is “Hipgnosis: Portraits” from Thames & Hudson.


Posted in Aubrey Powell, Audio, Interviews, Personnel | 4 comments

Audio: WFXF guest appearance

Posted December 19, 2014 by Floydian Slip

Audio from our weekly guest appearance on Chicago’s 103.9 The Fox (WFXF), chatting with morning guy and Floyd fan Sherman, wherein we sample some Pink Floyd lullabies.

Listen to the segment:


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Audio: WFXF guest appearance

Posted December 12, 2014 by Floydian Slip

Audio from our weekly guest appearance on Chicago’s 103.9 The Fox (WFXF), chatting with morning guy and Floyd fan Sherman, wherein we consider a charity marathon to benefit Roger Waters.

Listen to the segment:


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Audio: WFXF guest appearance

Posted November 21, 2014 by Floydian Slip

Audio from our weekly guest appearance on Chicago’s 103.9 The Fox (WFXF), chatting with morning guy and Floyd fan Sherman, wherein Sherman reveals his fondness for Will Smith’s kid’s “art.”

Listen to the segment:

 

 


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