The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit/Nighttime Maneuvers presents:

Hey Listeners,

Tonight join me for a musical celebration of my 10 years (10+ as The Haberdasher) hosting The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit Show. The show first aired from 1 AM to 3 AM in October of 2008. After 6 months I moved to the 11 to 1 spot and spent 6 years there and have been on in the current time slot from 9 to 11 for about 3 1/2 years.

A lot has happened in those 10 years. Not long after the show first aired, Barack Obama was elected President. Fast forward 10 years and we are on the eve of what may be the most important mid-term elections in our country’s history as we near the end of the second year of the Trump Presidency. On a personal note all three of my kids graduated from high school and two from college during the past 10 years. We lost some family members – including my brother-in-law but have had many great times as well.

WRIR has been on the air almost 14 years. I first got interested in the station before it ever broadcast. I had lunch with one of the founders of the station and even pitched a show. I had done some radio in HS and even had a show at WDCE after I graduated from UVA. Unfortunately the timing wasn’t right to get involved at WRIR due to my work schedule, but I was a faithful listener. Three years went by before I reached out to WRIR again with a show proposal for a show with my son called Generation Gap. We didn’t get the show, but I began volunteering and served as AAA Music Director and started subbing for other shows. I did that for about 4 months before getting the coveted 1 AM to 3 AM time slot.

The early days of the Haberdasher

WVHP FM – 1978

WDCE – 1985

Now 10 years later I’ve done over 500 shows – that’s 1000 hours of radio.  Conservatively I spend twice as much time preparing for my show as I do on the air – so that’s another 2000 hours of “radio” or a total of 3000 hours of of radio work in the 10 years.
 
I typically fit in about 30 tracks each week – which means in the last 10 years I have played @ 15,000 songs.  I try to play artists that are “new to me” every week.  Usually I feature @ 10 artists each week that I’ve never played on my show before.  That’s about 5000 new artists. I’ll introduce two new artists to my show tonight as well.
 
I often have a theme for my show and those themes have ranged from music from Native American artists – inspired by the documentary Rumble to tracks from fake bands to music inspired by Mad Men and every and anything in between. 

I burn CDs for my show. Here are the spindles with the DCS from past shows. You can find all my shows beginning in February 2010 at Radio4all.net.


 
But I haven’t done it alone.  It’s a community station and I’ve tried to include the community by inviting friends to co-host with me.  Helen has done 6 or more shows featuring her brother Stuart’s music as tribute to him.  I’ve had my kids and their friends up in the studio.  I’ve been joined by Trusty Sidekick Lando, Dr. Straz, Pop, Uncle Rich, Mike Norvell, Will Bigelow, Bryan Appel, Bo Bowden and many others.  Last week I was joined by Matt Creegan and he shared some gems from his 78 collection. 
 
Some weeks I have the chance to give away tickets to my listeners.  I’ve given away tickets to see Dave Mallett, Broken Social Scene, Anders Osborne, Rhett Miller, The Wood Brothers, Cracker, Carbon Leaf, Shooter Jennings, Patterson Hood, Keller Williams, Bedouine, Marco Benevento, and Blitzen Trapper (and a few others too). If you’re not tuning in – you’re missing out. Thanks to volunteer Mike Rutz, host of Activate!, for maintaining relationships with area clubs and making these ticket give-aways possible. And I’m giving a pair of tickets away tonight to see Chris Robinson and the Brotherhood at The Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville this Thursday night.
 
I’ve had many bands play live on my show. Paulo Franco has made 4 visits to the studio.  Twice with an assortment of singer-songwriter guests for a songwriter in the round event (modeled after Vince Scelsa’s In Their Own Words series from the Bottomline) that included – Paul Pearce, Elana Lisa, Russell Lacy, Preston Duncan and others.  Rob Williams has played live twice as has Tin Can Fish Band.  I’ve also had Mama Tried, L’il Ronnie, Tide Rose, Dubbest, Wylder, L’il Jimmy and the RobNSons, and tRiO wHat. 
 
There are so many great programs on WRIR and I’ve had the pleasure of helping out my fellow DJs and subbing for a number of them including – Edge of Americana, Lost Music Saloon, Louisiana Dancehall, Global A-Go-Go, Pop Goes the World, 12 Fluid Ounces, Time Again Radio, Mother’s Milk, Over the Edge of the Pop Narcotic, Wide Ear Folk, The New Music Machine and a handful of others.  I’ve also had a fun time hosting a couple of our revolving host shows –  Cause and Effect and End of the Century.

It’s been a great 10 years and I’m looking forward to many more. As always thanks for listening. Enjoy.

The Haberdasher

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    The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit/Nighttime Maneuvers    November 5th, 2018

Posted In: Music Shows