Back in mid-March I received an email from Matt Rainnie, personable host of CBC Mainstreet: would I be interested, he asked, in being the “Spin Time DJ” for the show on an upcoming Friday.
Would I be interested? Of course I’d be interested. Had I not been dreaming of this very moment for years!
“Spin Time DJ,” for those from away, is a regular Friday feature on the afternoon radio show where a guest is invited, in 22 short minutes, to relate their life story, punctuated by three meaningful songs. Here’s Ashley Belanger-Birt doing it. And Bill Schurman. And John Connolly.
As a non-Islander of no particular note, I’d long ago given up hope that I’d one day be called up to the bigs. But dreams do come true.
So plans were made to record this morning.
And then the hard part.
Summarize my life in three songs. Not easy, as it turns out.
For a while there I had a strong plan to go completely Kobayashi Maru, and set aside popular music in favour of sounds of Japanese coffee shops and walks in the woods behind my childhood home. Is there not music in nature?
But I pulled myself back from the edge, dug in deep, and came up with three songs I’m very happy with.
Matt and I had a nice chat this morning, backed by the audio engineering prowess of David Rashed, and the segment will air Friday, April 9, 2021 after the 5:30 p.m. news. You can listen live on the radio if you’re near, on the web stream if you’re not, and the episode will be posted to the Mainstreet website on Monday.
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Postscript: Here are the three songs I choose:
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Jane Siberry and David Ramsden, The Love I Have for You (3:51), from the 1990 cassette “Quiet Please, There’s A Lady On Stage,” recorded live at the Cameron House in Toronto.
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Shawn Colvin, This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) (4:01), from the album 1994 album “Cover Girl,” recorded live at the Bottom Line in NYC, August 1993.
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Karine Polwart, Labouring and Resting (3:14), from the 2017 album “A Pocket of Wind Resistance.”
Back in mid-March I received an email from Matt Rainnie, personable host of CBC Mainstreet: would I be interested, he asked, in being the “Spin Time DJ” for the show on an upcoming Friday.
Would I be interested? Of course I’d be interested. Had I not been dreaming of this very moment for years!
“Spin Time DJ,” for those from away, is a regular Friday feature on the afternoon radio show where a guest is invited, in 22 short minutes, to relate their life story, punctuated by three meaningful songs. Here’s Ashley Belanger-Birt doing it. And Bill Schurman. And John Connolly.
As a non-Islander of no particular note, I’d long ago given up hope that I’d one day be called up to the bigs. But dreams do come true.
So plans were made to record this morning.
And then the hard part.
Summarize my life in three songs. Not easy, as it turns out.
For a while there I had a strong plan to go completely Kobayashi Maru, and set aside popular music in favour of sounds of Japanese coffee shops and walks in the woods behind my childhood home. Is there not music in nature?
But I pulled myself back from the edge, dug in deep, and came up with three songs I’m very happy with.
Matt and I had a nice chat this morning, backed by the audio engineering prowess of David Rashed, and the segment will air Friday, April 9, 2021 after the 5:30 p.m. news. You can listen live on the radio if you’re near, on the web stream if you’re not, and the episode will be posted to the Mainstreet website on Monday.
–-
Postscript: Here are the three songs I choose:
-
Jane Siberry and David Ramsden, The Love I Have for You (3:51), from the 1990 cassette “Quiet Please, There’s A Lady On Stage,” recorded live at the Cameron House in Toronto.
-
Shawn Colvin, This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) (4:01), from the album 1994 album “Cover Girl,” recorded live at the Bottom Line in NYC, August 1993.
-
Karine Polwart, Labouring and Resting (3:14), from the 2017 album “A Pocket of Wind Resistance.”
It’s tricky to get my Google Home to play CBC Radio One: depending on the way I ask, it’s as likely, for reasons unknown, to play the private radio station CFCY instead.
Here’s a transcript of my attempts:
Me: OK Google, play CBC Radio One.
Google Home: Streaming 95.1 FM CFCY from Tunein.
Me: OK Google, stop. OK Google, play CBC Radio.
Google Home: Streaming 95.1 FM CFCY from Tunein.
Me: OK Google, stop. OK Google, play CBC Charlottetown.
Google Home: Streaming CBC Radio One from Tunein.
I’ve almost trained my brain to do this the right way every time, but I still get it wrong about 20% of the time.
FWIW, I had a very similar issue with Alexa. The remedy in that case was a very short and clean "Alexa, play 96.1". From that command it seemed to sort out that I meant the 96.1 corresponding with my geographical location.
I just tried it with Alexa
Me: "Alexa, play CBC radio."
Alexa: "CBC radio from Toronto on Tunein."
So covenience gained through the device roughly equals the convenience taken away by the device. At least you get the added bonus of constant surveillance by unknown third parties.
Thanks for this post. There are similar issues with playing CBC Radio using Siri on HomePod. With Siri you have to state the station name with city, e.g. CBC Radio One Halifax, and it has to exist with that exact name in TuneIn.
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It’s tricky to get my Google Home to play CBC Radio One: depending on the way I ask, it’s as likely, for reasons unknown, to play the private radio station CFCY instead.
Here’s a transcript of my attempts:
Me: OK Google, play CBC Radio One.
Google Home: Streaming 95.1 FM CFCY from Tunein.
Me: OK Google, stop. OK Google, play CBC Radio.
Google Home: Streaming 95.1 FM CFCY from Tunein.
Me: OK Google, stop. OK Google, play CBC Charlottetown.
Google Home: Streaming CBC Radio One from Tunein.
I’ve almost trained my brain to do this the right way every time, but I still get it wrong about 20% of the time.
Welcome to the Prince Edward
Welcome to the Prince Edward Island cultural elite!
What they ask: Can you pick a few songs you like and tell us why?
What we hear: Can you define yourself, the sum of your human experience, and your aspirations as a human with three songs?
And here is Steven’s blog
And here is Steven’s blog post about his own experience.
Guessing one might be a
Guessing one might be a Karine Polwart song...
Peter - looking forward to
Peter - looking forward to hearing your segment --
I was going to guess Karine Polwart as well !
Pomplamoose’s cover of
Pomplamoose’s cover of “Unwritten” for the finale is my guess.
... a beautiful May Erlewine
... a beautiful May Erlewine tune too, perhaps?
This is going to be good!
This is going to be good!
Looking forward to it.
Looking forward to it.
Nice job on Spin Time, Peter.
Nice job on Spin Time, Peter. I just downloaded Karine Polwart. Looking forward to listening to her.
Jane, Shawn and Karine, you
Jane, Shawn and Karine, you are my kind of DJ! I want to know more about the Texas nannying gig.
That was a wonderful show
That was a wonderful show Peter!
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