College radio with more asssignments

Is it a second childhood if it starts in college?

The community station CHIRP Radio has a robust playlist, analyzed and reported to the North American College & Community Top 200 chart, and a robust DJ database of programming notes. While reviving my student radio experience as an unpaid DJ, I contribute album reviews to the studio database the Wisconsin campus station never had.

Aspiring media practitioners, who need work samples to get a job, should have an easier time of it now: They can blog or vlog their passions, and it might just lead to paid gigs. I'm happy with my day job, though, so these backlist album reviews are done for fun. Writing forces the critic to think more deeply about the performance they're evaluating. Some releases are old friends and others first impressions, but the listening always reveals surprises.

Odessa | The Handsome Family | Carrot Top | 1995

Guitarist Brett Sparks and lyricist Rennie Sparks were Chicago singer-songwriters searching for their style on their first album, with Rennie on bass and Mike Werner on drums. Named for Brett's Texas hometown, "Odessa" takes backroads from hillbilly Americana to punk and grunge. The Handsome Family website describes the album as "written by young kids trying to find a pathway inward to find the old, lost songs." One tradition they reclaim is the frontier murder ballad, updated in "Arlene" (2★) with a truckstop stalker as narrator—plan to lead in to this one, it’s a scary place. The Sparks are empathetic chroniclers of infantilism with “Pony" (3), depression in “One Way Up" (4★) and pseudoscience in "Everything That Rises Must Converge" (7). "Water Into Wine” (5) is a country drinking song with Steve Thomas on pedal steel guitar. The world is scary awesome in "Giant Ant" (6), "Gorilla" (8) and "Big Bad Wolf" (12), a theme the Handsome Family will revisit after their move to Albuquerque, New Mexico. "Moving Furniture Around" (11★) is a dose of Wicker Park apartment angst, "She Awoke With a Jerk" (13) a morning-after wake-up call and “Happy Harvest" (14) a children's folk lampoon. RIYL: Andrew Bird, Robbie Fulks, Violent Femmes. Chicago classic

Roland Kirk Quartet | Rip, Rig, and Panic | Limelight | 1965

Rahsaan Roland Kirk played everything, everywhere, all at once. The late multi-instrumentalist could do soul (with Quincy Jones) and 1920s hot jazz (sampled by Mocean Worker for "Right Now”); here he leans into post-bop and free jazz. Kirk introduced Charles Mingus’ raucous "Haitian Fight Song" to Ed Sullivan's TV audience and gave the Austin Powers movies their kitschy flute theme. Appearing onstage with multiple horns around his neck, he used two or more at once, a vaudeville show that gave him striking harmonies. The uptempo “No Tonic Press” (1) is Kirk’s avant flex of a Lester Young (Prez) tenor sax riff with no tonic note. After some self-accompanied sax foreplay, he launches into a sultry tenor stroll through “Once in a While” (2★), ending on a high note. “From Bechet, Byas, and Fats” (3) is a celebratory callout to his influences, with Kirk bringing big Don Byas energy to the woofing low tenor. On “Mystical Dream” (4★), Kirk opens with a soldiers’ march fit for “The Wizard of Oz"—tripling on oboe, tenor and alto with a whistle for good measure—before switching to flute. The title track (5★) freely combines feedback effects from Kirk and bassist Richard Davis, taped natural sound at different playback speeds, shattering glass and a wake-the-dead Elvin Jones percussion finale at 6:33. “Black Diamond” (6) is a bright soprano-sax dance in 6/8 time, pianist Jaki Byard playing it Dave Brubeck-cool. Tape samples return with electronics, sirens and Byard stride on “Slippery, Hippery, Flippery” (7). Recorded within weeks of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” this session mapped jazz’s path ahead. RIYL: 8 Bold Souls, Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble, Roscoe Mitchell.

Stills & Collins | Everybody Knows | Cleopatra | 2017

Stephen Stills and Judy Collins met in 1967; at Ravinia 50 years later, they opened their first tour as a duo. This crowdfunded studio album features nine songs from their set, plus Collins' wistful reprise of “Who Knows Where the Time Goes" (9★). Collins is in fine voice at age 78; Stills at 72 provides solid vocals and elegant electric guitar breaks. Russell Walden leads a propulsive backup band with bluesy piano and organ. Stills & Collins makes a fair case for the Traveling Wilburys pastiche "Handle With Care" (1), Collins leading. "So Begins the Task" (2) is a Stills standard from 1972’s Manassas” and his "Judy" (4) dates from when the two were an item in 1968. Collins solos on her nostalgic "River of Gold" (3★) and dreamy “Houses" (6). The title duet (5★) is more bittersweet than the Leonard Cohen original, considering the pair’s history of sex, drugs and rock and roll. (Collins has been in recovery since 1978 and Stills finds drugs "no longer fun.") Stills leads on Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe" (7) and Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" (8). The set ends with Buffalo Springfield's "Questions" (10), which Stills recycled as "Carry On" for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. RIYL: Neil Young's "A Letter Home." 

Thelonious Monk | Monk’s Dream | Columbia | 1963

In 1963, when jazz was stirring the cocktail circuit, pianist Thelonious Monk was the hard stuff. Despite notice as a composer, Monk's percussive hard-bop style, surprising voicings and manic stage presence were an acquired taste. "Monk's Dream" gave mainstream label exposure to an accessible Monk setlist. The title tune (1) is a modal retooling of "I Got Rhythm" and "Bright Mississippi" (3) spins out from "Sweet Georgia Brown." Monk solos on "Body and Soul" (2★) and "Just a Gigolo" (6), abstracting two jazz standards with a harmonic and rhythmic complexity that would complement hip-hip or prog-rock tracks. Charlie Rouse is a soulful tenor sax complement on "Bolivar Blues" (5★) and the uptempo "Bye-Ya" (7★) could launch Outkast's "Hey Ya!" RIYL: Robert Glasper, Khruangbin, Radiohead, Tame Impalas, Vampire Weekend.

Sally Timms | Cowboy Sally | Bloodshot | 1997

When Chicago’s fabled Loop nightclub Bar Double-R Ranch introduced British art-rockers the Mekons to country and Western, vocalist Sally Timms developed a taste for the genre’s bittersweet notes. Cowboy Sally, a character Timms voiced in TNT’s mid-‘90s cartoon block, re-emerges on this solo EP and later alt-country outings as a roadhouse crooner. John Anderson’s Everglades lament “Seminole Wind” (1★) is firmly in folk territory, featuring fiddler Jessica Biley and Jon Langford’s Waco Brothers band. Brett and Rennie Sparks, aka the Handsome Family, join Timms in their ode to failure “Drunk By Noon” (2★) (“Sometimes I flap my arms like a hummingbird/Just to remind myself I'll never fly”). Harry Trumfio of the Pulsars gives “Tennessee Waltz” (4) a Caribbean steel-drum pulse. Brendan Croker, Steve Goulding and Langford, fellow Chicago transplants from the Mekons collective, back Timms on Merle Haggard’s “Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You” (3) and Lefty Frizzell’s “Long Black Veil” (5★). As in later projects, Timms is drawn to the relationship songs of wayward men. RIYL: Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, Lainey Wilson.Chicago classic

Sally Timms | Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos | Bloodshot | 1999

Timms and Mekons collaborator Jon Langford (Waco Brothers) throw a pity hoedown, recorded in three days in Chicago with an ace alt-country assemblage featuring Grievous Angels’ Jon Rauhouse on banjo and pedal steel and Hawaiian guitars. “Dreaming Cowboy” (2) sets the melancholy vibe: Timms’ sweet voice carries dark undertones in Guy Lawrence’s song about Texas freedom at the bottom of a glass. Andrew Bird is on violin here, Jessica Biley on most other tracks. “The Sad Milkman" (3★), with Harry Trumfio on steel drums, bemoans the fate of those who reach for the stars; “Snowbird” (7), with fiddler Steve Ropsen, is another Handsome Family cover but in Carter Family style. Timms and Langford’s “Dark Sun” (4★) suggests mutual assured destruction, from a night doing shots if not a nuclear blast. Other Timms-Langford originals are “Sweetheart Waltz” (6) and “Cancion Para Mi Padre" (10), the latter with Latin percussion from Fred Armisen, Timms’ husband at the time. Robbie Fulks accompanies Timms on guitar for his faux-17th century broadside "In Bristol Town” (5). More covers add to the sadness: Johnny Cash’s “Cry Cry Cry” (8★), Jeff Tweedy's "When the Roses Bloom Again" (9) and Jill Sobule’s “Rock Me to Sleep” (11★). The first and last tracks are spoken, casting the set as a sort of distant “National Barn Dance” broadcast. RIYL: Ryan Adams, Avett Brothers, Hoyle Brothers.Chicago classic

Matt Ulery's Loom/Large | Festival | Woolgathering | 2016

Chicago jazz bassist Matt Ulery stretches out in two pieces with a 27-piece Large orchestra featuring Snarky Puppy violinist Zach Brock. Jimmy Rowles' iridescent "The Peacocks" (1) and Ulery's time-shifting "Hubble" (2★) recall the 1970 big-band rhythm experiments of Chicago Symphony Orchestra percussionist Dick Schory. Ulery pushes forward in the next half-dozen arrangements for his smaller Loom ensemble. "Canopy" (6★) gives his ideas their best airing, with Rob Clearfield laying down a minimalist piano foundation for byplay with Geof Bradfield's clarinet, Russ Johnson's trumpet and Jon Deitemyer's drums. Clearfield switches to pump organ with Ulery on tuba for the last five Festival songs. Ulery's spooky daybreak lyrics for "The Silence Is Holding" (9) and eldritch harmonies on "Depth of Winter" (10★) make this Festival section closer to a New Orleans funeral parade without the second line dancing. RIYL: Derek Hodge, Liberation Music Orchestra, Miles Mosley, Maria Schneider Orchestra, Esperanza Spalding. Chicago classic

Caution: CHIRP Radio DJ in training

I'm a disc jockey in training at CHIRP Radio, an independent music station streaming at chirpradio.org and broadcasting on Chicago's North Side at 107.1 FM. So music is taking up more space in my brain.

On Your Sunday Sonic Sundowner Aug. 11 and 18, I am grasshopper to Craig Reptile's kung fu master. Time is carving me, and I must shape my playlists according to my true nature. What would you select in my place? Something familiar? Something unusual? Or is it the balance you seek, the tai chi? Choose wisely, dear listener, and request a song, via voice or text, at 773-DJ-SONGS, or e-mail dj@chirpradio.org.

While taking in Breezy Rodio's solo blues set (and a Mango Dreamcoat draught) Aug. 11 at the Rockwell Blues & Jazz Street Stroll, I was working on playlists to deploy across the street at the CHIRP studio, a walk-up in a former custom photo-album bindery.

At the Rockwell street fest I stumbled on Delmark's recordings of the Fat Babies, a 1920s swing ensemble led by Andy Schumm, seen here on cornet taking the Bix Beiderbecke vehicle "San" out for a spin. Schumm's Cellar Boys band plays Sundays at the Tonk in Pilsen and Tuesdays at the Green Mill in Uptown. At a block party, a neighbor couple, much younger than your DJ grasshopper, told me they visit the Green Mill Tuesday nights to dance, which is the thing behind that swing. The Chicago Cellar Boys have a record on the traditional jazz label Rivermont, "Busy 'Til Eleven."

CHIRP is a volunteer-run station that regularly brings on music-curious listeners as DJs. Forgive the trainees if the audio stream has occasional miscues or tardy song-title posts; there's a lot to do, and we're doing it live. For those who would like to learn what's involved in DJ work, fill out the new volunteer form at volunteers.chirpradio.org

Here I'll post the set list for my training run, a mix of new releases and a few odd covers, including the Blasters' 1981 take on Little Willie John's "I'm Shakin'". The Slash Records album cover suggests vocalist Phil Alvin's contortions at the mic. In this training, I hope I can tap some well of inner peace.

8-11-2024 Set List

• Elvis Costello and The Roots, Walk Us Uptown, Wise Up Ghost (Blue Note)
• Why?, Brand New, The Well I Fell Into (Waterlines)
• Willie Dixon, Pain in My Heart, Willie Dixon: The Chess Box (MCA / Chess)
• The Drin, Lease on Life, Elude the Torch (Feel It)
• Parannoul, Ï£ºÎßàÎì± (A Lot Can Happen), Sky Hundred (Self-Released)
• Keefe Jackson & Jason Adasiewicz, "Putting it On, Taking it Off," Rows and Rows (Delmark)
• The Drin, Lease on Life, Elude the Torch (Feel It)
• Nathan Bowles Trio, Are Possible, Are Possible (Drag City)
• Lucy Dacus, Addictions, Historian (Matador)
• XTC, Radios In Motion, White Music (Virgin)
• Snowcuffs. Ivy, single (self-released)
• James Brown, Think, Star Time (Polydor)

8-18-2024 Set List

• Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings,"100 Days, 100 Nights, 100 Days, 100 Nights (Daptone)
• Sam Cooke, Meet Me At Mary's Place, The Man and His Music (RCA)
• The Pretenders, Back On The Chain Gang, Learning To Crawl (Sire)
• Lava La Rue, Poison Cookie, STARFACE (Dirty Hit)
• 100 gecs, Doritos & Fritos, 10,000 gecs (Dog Show/Atlantic)
• The Gaslight Anthem, Ain't That a Shame, Get Hurt (Island)
• Cassandra Jenkins, Aurora, IL, My Light, My Destroyer (Dead Oceans)
• Sakkaris, A Real Thing, Quiet Light (Birthdiy)
• Wilco, Art of Almost, The Whole Love (dBpm)
• David Bowie, Jump They Say, Black Tie White Noise (Savage)
• The Monkees, The Girl I Knew Somewhere, Then and Now (Arista)
• The Jam, David Watts, All Mod Cons (Polydor)
• Parlor Greens, Irish Goodbye, In Green We Dream (Colemine)
• Oneida, Reason to Hide, Expensive Air (Joyful Noise)
• This House is Creaking, If You Want Me to Be, This House is Creaking (THiC)
• The Blasters, I'm Shakin', The Blasters (Slash)
• Nigel Mack, Strut Your Stuff, Devil's Secrets (Blues Attack)
• Elvin Bishop, Struttin' My Stuff, Struttin' My Stuff (Polydor)
• Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday (Sub Pop)
• Osees, Also the Gorilla ..., SORCS 80 (Castle Face)
• Rufus Wainwright, Poses, Poses (Dreamworks)
• John Hiatt, You May Already Be a Winner, Riding With the King (Geffen)
• badsoma, burn out, kicking and screaming (Dead Comet)
• Crack Cloud, The Medium, Red Mile (Jagjaguwar)
• The Fat Babies, San, Chicago Hot (Delmark)
• Flamingos In The Tree, Make U Smile, as it falls into place (Self-Released)
• The Kentucky Headhunters, Skip a Rope, Pickin' on Nashville (Mercury)
• Pharez Whitted, Watusi Boogaloo, For the People (Origin)
• Randy & the Rainbows, Denise, Doo Wop Heaven (The Right Stuff)

Long live Lisagor

Presidential aide Tom Johnson (from left), Peter Lisagor and Lyndon Johnson.

Peter Lisaor's breezy Chicago Daiily News writing helped establish Chicago’s mid-century reputation for muscular, no-nonsense journalism.

Peter Lisagor died in 1976, just before I graduated from j-school at Wisconsin. As the Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Daily News, his political reporting was syndicated in large and midsize newspapers nationwide, which its how I would have read them (when Erin Gessert, a journalism graduate student at DePaul University, asked about Lisagor, I suggested checking archives such as NewsBank).

Lisagor was a lively writer; a collection of Daily News reporting, Done in a Day, reprints a 1959 dispatch on a trip to the U.S. by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in which he writes, “Traveling with Khrushchev is like holding a stick of dynamite with a sputtering fuse.”

One sign of Lisagor’s reputation was his frequent TV appearances on “Meet the Press” and “Face the Nation.” The format of the Sunday talk shows at that time was a panel of reporters would be assembled to ask a newsmaker questions for 30 minutes straight. Lisagor was also the long-running, early host of “Washington Week in Review,” essentially first with the now common political news format in which reporters analyze recent events. I remember his reporting of both parties as closely observed and nonpartisan.

The Chicago Headline Club started its annual local journalism awards in 1977 in Lisagor’s name, The idea of establishing a memorial to Lisagor was likely the driving force in getting the awards program started. The early format is essentially unchanged, from the judging by Society of Professional Journalists chapters to the sketch of Lisagor oy Daily News editorial cartoonist John Fischetti engraved on award plaques. As a new member, I attended the first Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism presentation at Marina City. Howard Dubin would have been a club officer about that time; he was president in 1977-78.

For the first 10 years of the Lisagor Awards, a “Washington Week” retrospective was part of the awards program; when I chaired the Lisagor Awards in the 1990s, I found wire-service photos of Lisagor with LBJ and “Face the Nation” clips in which Lisagor would respectfully but persistently press for direct answers. Lisagor’s reporting has faded from memory but the awards do justice to his drive to look for the revealing moment and tell it without pandering to his audience.

Conversational AI in Marketing: A Calculated Guess at PR’s Future

Joost Crop / Unsplash photo

AI chatbots like ChatGPT won’t replace content strategists but will make marketers’ work more efficient and distinctive.

A few of us recall when calculators were not allowed in school and we had to learn how to use a slide rule. Keeping track of decimal points in our head wasn’t as simple as reading from a Radio Shack dot-matrix display, which made chemistry class a slog. Now, we see old ways continue in communications despite the availability of ChatGPT, a calculator for words that many public relations agencies are still reluctant to embrace.

Conversational artificial intelligence tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its bot rivals—Google Bard and Microsoft Sydney among them—will not replacde PR professionals but will make copywriting faster and focus content strategists on exploring unique brand values. That’s a win-win for us and our clients. The handy Tandy calculator eventually earned a place in the classroom and paved the way for laptops and tablets. The same is in store for AI, so it’s worth sharing some of what we’ve learned.

AI in PR: The First Rough Draft of Story

If the slide-rule analogy seems ancient, think of the new chatbots as autofill for an entire document. Their large language models simply predict the next word in a sequence, on and on for hundreds or thousands of words. The result is far from unique, though, and more helpful in structuring a document or checking grammar than saying anything that will attract a journalist or search engine’s notice. On the production side, AI chat also corrects coding syntax, generates images and produces working code snippets, shortening the “staring and swearing” stage of development.

Some communications teams have been happy to turn over their thought leadership to a conversational AI tool and cut out the content writer entirely. However, they’re more likely to produce thought followership—the quick takes of those who just did a Google search and proclaimed themselves experts. 

Chatbot copy will not top search engine results pages; it can’t even qualify for copyright under current law. At worst, it simulates expertise with fact-free copy that is more BS than PR, or plagiarizes its source material and puts its users in legal jeopardy.

To avoid falling into a galaxy-mind trap, AI should be in the hands of marketing professionals who can bring out the unique characteristics of their brands. For content strategists who already know their way around search queries, AI is search and spell check on steroids—a time-saver in researching a nuanced presentation. Its copycat content calls for rewrite from a communications pro with subject matter expertise and human perspective. Marketing AI cannot innovate. AI chat is not the end of storytelling but the start.

Social Media Conversations: AI Sentiment Analysis

For social media marketers, chatbots can identify the sentiment of posts, comments and messages and identify social media influencers. In ChatGPT, the Google chatbot Bard or a multisource AI tool such as Quora’s Poe, sentiment analysis might start by entering text with this prompt: “What is the sentiment conveyed in this text? Is it positive or negative?” In a social media tool such as Hootsuite Insights, AI can help trace the causes of a change in sentiment. Coca-Cola saw a 42% engagement boost using AI in analyzing metrics and conversations.

A simple way to learn about AI is just to ask the chatbot. For instance, you might ask, “How can I prompt ChatGPT to extract the aspect and direction of sentiment in a text?” ChatGPT will respond with a choice of detailed suggestions, such as “Prompt: What are the different sentiments expressed in this text, and in which direction are they leaning? Please provide specific examples of positive and negative directions."

ChatGPT shared a detailed cheat sheet that reminds us of the instructions a new hire might need to perform a task. Spending more time on prompts may seem time-consuming, but the process is a reminder of how many factors go into well-crafted content. Conversational AI works much like search: The way a question is phrased makes all the difference in the results.

Conversational AI will help marketers personalize a customer service response (the bot is always polite), such as a follow-up message or survey after a purchase or interaction to gather feedback and address any concerns. Neurodiverse users have even used chatbots to rehearse social conversations. There are good reasons to be cautious about getting personal with a program that collects and shares information. But who knows where this kind of code-switching might lead?

Martech Meets AI: Software Startups

Dozens of new AI products go to market every week, including marketing technology aimed at marketers. A Marketing AI Institute webinar presented 20 AI writing tools, and the daily AI newsletter Ben’s Bites often debuts new content production products. Among recent marketing AI software startups are Charlie and Copymatic, which write ad, blog and social media content;  Copy.ai, Lavender and Rasa.io , geared to newsletters; SEO tools Demandwell, Frase and MarketMuse, and image and video generators GlossAI and Visla.

AI upgrades are in the works too for familiar research and writing essentials. Word, Excel and other Microsoft 365 tools are due for AI updates; GPT-juiced Bing search has made the Edge web browser a complement to the Purpose Brand content team’s favorite Chrome alternative, Opera. (Apple users also can try Quora’s multichannel AI platform Poe.) 

Google has made more tentative AI moves, warning that Bard “may give inaccurate responses” or “offensive information that doesn’t represent Google’s views.” But Google’s adoption of snippets, maps and local results has set the pattern for AI integration—and a note of caution for businesses that rely on SEO. AI chat results eventually will make search engines even more of a self-contained tool and give fewer users a reason to click through to source material.

Rapid improvements are likely for conversational AI, but it won’t replace humans. Like Kazuo Ishiguro’s artificial friends in “Klara and the Sun,” future AI chatbots will run into trouble once they try to mimic empathy. When our research robots seem smarter than us, then we’ve forgotten how to tell a distinctive story and left our hearts out of our work.

First in a series by the author published on the Purpose Brand blog and the whitepaper AI in PR: A Guide to Marketing Innovation.