Digging Through the Collection
One of the things I’ve been realizing lately is that Off the Beaten Track really does live up to its name.
A lot of the time, I don’t sit down with some giant master plan for the show.
I start with the music.
I open up part of my collection, start looking through songs and artists, and eventually I find something that makes me stop and think, I haven’t played that in a while.
Then that song reminds me of another one.
Then another.
And before I know it, I’m building a whole show out of songs I genuinely love.
That has been the rhythm of Tuesday nights lately.
Not necessarily a theme.
Not necessarily one decade.
Not necessarily one genre.
Just favorites.
Songs that still hit me. Songs that bring back memories. Songs I think deserve another listen. Songs I may have forgotten about for a little while until I stumble across them again.
That process is one of my favorite parts of doing radio.
There is something really satisfying about digging through your own music collection and rediscovering things that once meant enough to you that you added them in the first place.
Music collections are funny that way.
They become a kind of accidental autobiography.
You can look through them and suddenly remember where you were when you first heard something, who you were hanging around with, what period of your life you were in, or simply what kind of mood you were chasing at the time.
Then years later, that same song is sitting there waiting for you.
That’s a big part of what Behind the Frequency is going to be about.
Not just the shows themselves, but what happens around them.
The digging.
The remembering.
The decisions that happen before the microphone ever turns on.
The moments where one song changes the direction of an entire playlist.
And sometimes there really isn’t some profound reason behind a choice either.
Sometimes the answer is simply:
I love this song.
And that is enough.
More Than Tuesday Nights
Another thing I want this blog to reflect is that my radio life has grown beyond just Off the Beaten Track.
Tuesday at 6 PM Eastern is still my main weekly show, and I love having that regular place where I can jump into the music and see where the night goes.
But Jedi Council Radio runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The station keeps going whether I’m live or not.
And when I do DJ live inside my game, I often broadcast those sets over the station too.
That has created this weird little bridge between virtual spaces and real-world radio that I never really planned when I first started doing all this.
People inside the game hear the same music as anyone listening outside the game.
Sometimes I’m talking a lot.
Sometimes I’m laughing, reacting to things going on around me, taking requests, and generally being very animated.
Other times I barely say anything and let the music carry the set.
Both versions are still me.
Some days I feel like hosting.
Some days I feel like mixing music and getting out of its way.
That’s another thing I’ve come to appreciate about doing this independently.
I don’t have to force every broadcast into the exact same mold.
Fridays Have Become Their Own Thing
Fridays have also become a much bigger part of the schedule.
I’ve been opening my in-game nightclub on Fridays and broadcasting the music live, usually starting around 3 PM Eastern and going for five or six hours depending on the night.
Those Friday shows are starting to develop their own personality because I’ve been giving them themes.
One week might be grunge.
Another might be rock spanning decades.
Another could head somewhere completely different.
That format gives me a chance to really settle into a sound for several hours instead of jumping all over the place the way I often do on Tuesdays.
And I like having both.
Tuesday can be the musical wandering trail.
Friday can be the deep dive.
Different energy.
Same DJ.
And Then There’s Staticworks
Behind all of this, I’m still continuing to build Staticworks.
Staticworks is the creative company I’ve been developing to bring together a lot of the things I already do — radio production, audio, visual work, design, creative projects, and whatever else grows out of all of this.
The idea behind it is summed up pretty well by:
Record. Create. Transmit.
It’s still being built.
There are still pieces to finish.
There are still ideas being worked out.
But that’s exactly the sort of thing I want Behind the Frequency to document.
Not just the polished final product.
The building of it.
The figuring-it-out stage.
The experiments.
The things that work.
The things that change.
The ideas that suddenly become much bigger than I expected them to be.
Because honestly, that is where most creative work actually happens.
Before anyone sees the finished result, there are dozens of little decisions nobody ever knows about.
And sometimes those decisions are the most interesting part.
Requests Are Still Part of the Adventure
One thing that hasn’t changed is that I always want listeners involved.
Requests are welcome during my shows because they can completely change the path of a set.
Someone can throw me a song I hadn’t considered, and suddenly my brain starts connecting it to three other songs.
That is when radio becomes interactive instead of just being somebody playing a playlist.
If you want to request something, send it to me however you normally contact me.
And if you don’t have another way to reach me, you can always email:
I never promise every request is going to fit every show, but I absolutely want to know what you want to hear.
Because music is better when people are sharing it with each other.
Somewhere Between the Songs
I think that is really what this blog is turning into.
A place somewhere between the songs.
Between the broadcasts.
Between the creative projects.
A place to talk about what I’m building, what I’m listening to, what I’m rediscovering, and where this strange little music-and-creativity journey is heading next.
There will be posts about Off the Beaten Track.
There will be posts about Jedi Council Radio.
There will be posts about Staticworks.
There will be posts about Friday nights, playlists, creativity, radio, music, and whatever else is happening on the other side of the speakers.
Because the frequency is always there.
Sometimes you just have to tune in.
May the Music Be with You!
—DJ Jedi
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