Solution Euphoria

I missed Valentine’s Day last week so I used some “Love Songs on the Radio” that I had planned on playing prior to the holiday.

While I don’t think I’ve ever done a full-on “Valentine’s Day Special” in my career, I have bookended the day with Billy Bragg’s “Must I Paint You A Picture,” and “Valentine’s Day Is Over.”

It’s overwhelming, the thought of a Valentine’s Day show, because I reckon pretty much all songs are love songs, the ones I tend to listen to, anyway. “In fact,” as the man says, “that’s where music comes from.”

I did produce a little feature, (11 Valentine’s Days ago!) where I spoke with folks in local media, a couple guys at the record store, an editor at Pitchfork, and Kelly Freaking Hogan. I asked them what song they thought best represented the holiday. It’s dorky, but I actually love it. You can find it here. Kelly Hogan is the one who made me hip to Billy Bragg’s “Must I Paint You A Picture?”

One day Valentine’s Day will join Halloween and Christmas, and Earth Day (I live in Eugene), and Daylight Saving Time (25 hour days are WILD in the broadcast world) in that I’ll bless it with a show dedicated to it. Once my heart’s in it.

Oh! This week I played that new Beyoncé, that country music song that evidently had some difficulty getting played on country music radio, as detailed by NPR here.

I feel bad for KYKC, that station in Oklahoma that initially denied the request. Likely the person at the station just didn’t know the song. Likely the station is a sibling to many stations, as they’re all owned by like 3 companies now, and one of those siblings no doubt plays more Beyoncé than anyone does. I doubt that station meant any arm or offense; the music industry just doesn’t break songs on the radio much anymore. They do it on TikTok, YouTube, and evidently the Super Bowl.

I guess it makes me sad for my profession, but it makes me glad to be in non-commercial radio and to be granted the freedom to play pretty much whatever I think people ought to hear. So tune in and listen to some Beyoncé with me.