Oh my god, you guys. WNYC FINALLY updated their weekend schedule. If you’re not a public radio nerd like me (sustaining member, yo!) you probably don’t care, at all, about this. Lemme explain. For as long as I’ve been listening, WNYC has filled the noon to 4pm slot on Saturday and Sunday with legendary DJ, Jonathan Schwartz. I have a serious soft spot for Schwartz–his show is a blend of the American song book, show tunes, Bob Dylan deep cuts and lots and lots of Sinatra. He’ll also just talk about stuff sometimes. Once, at the conclusion of a song he said, “That tune makes me think of being in the desert…yeah, the desert.” Seriously.
Anthony DeCurtis, a music writer and former Rolling Stone editor I used to work for, once told me that Schwartz was THE rock DJ everyone cool listened to when he was growing up in the city. Apparently, the day after a particularly epic Rolling Stones show at the Garden, Schwartz came on the radio, mentioned the concert and how unbelievable it was and then just said, in a dreamy voice, “The Stones.” He proceeded to play Stones songs for a significant portion of his set, repeating, “The Stones” between each track. Where did that kind of radio go? (Clear Channel, I know.) Anyhow.
As much as I love Schwartz’s stylings, I just don’t want to listen to him for eight prime radio hours on a weekend. I need a backdrop of Radiolab and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me while I tidy the house, pay my bills and sit down to catch up with all the editing I didn’t get to during the week. It has perpetually amazed me that WNYC aired This American Life on the AM channel (which doesn’t come in at my apartment) while Schwartz played for four solid hours on FM.
Now, you can still listen to Schwartz on Sunday afternoon, OR, from 8pm to midnight on Saturdays. And on Saturday afternoon? It’s Radiolab, This American Life, The Moth Story Hour and Ask Me Another, a quiz-brainteaser variety show. My house is going to be so fucking clean.
