Music Specials Week of Jan. 16-22

WORT Music Playlists

What was that song I heard? Who was the artist, what is the album title, where can I get it? Where can I find the entire playlist for a show?

Click on the Playlists button to bring up a calendar where you can choose any date to find the playlists for that day. If you can’t find the right playlist or the song you’re looking for, your best bet is to call the station the next time that program’s on and ask the host yourself. If that’s not possible we may be able to help you, but please have as much information as possible at hand when you contact us, such as: approximate day and time the music was played, what type or genre of music it was, who hosted the show and any other information you remember about the selection and we’ll do our best to track it down.

Once you figure it out, there’s a “Buy It!” link next to each track in online playlists that leads you to a place where you can buy songs and albums, and by doing it that way a small portion of each purchase goes to support WORT.

Contact Information

Music Director: Sybil Augustine – musicdirector@wortfm.org (for music submissions, charts and tracking, promotional exchanges for music events and following up on volunteer applications or other requests. Please include specifics in your subject line, such as “Hiphop Music Submission” etc, )

Music Assistant: Aaron Scholz – musicass@wortfm.org (for record donations and sales, promos recording volunteers, etc.)

Music Calendars: Submit your events online here or send by email to calendar@wortfm.org

How do I get my music played on WORT?

We accept submissions in most genres and styles of music, focusing on noncommercial, out-of-the-mainstream, independent releases (check out our playlists and music charts for more information.) It may take up to a few weeks for us to review and process your submission so we appreciate your patience, and feel free to contact us to follow up. Please send your music, indicating any tracks with language that needs to be aired after 10 pm and including a one-sheet description and any biographical and tour information, to WORT Music Director, 118 S. Bedford St, Madison, WI 53703 and/or to musicdirector@wortfm.org.

We do accept digital files on .wav or mp3, but currently we still prefer CDs to digital submissions because it’s the quickest way to get it into the hands of our programmers and onto the airwaves, though we have a growing digital library. Digital submissions should be .wav or other lossless files, or high quality mp3s [128-320 kbps.]

You can follow up or “track” your submissions by email, or call 608-256-2001 on Wednesdays between 1-4 pm CST to ask if we received it, has it been reviewed, has it been added to our library, and what kind of airplay it’s getting—e.g. light, medium, heavy or charting. Thanks and we look forward to hearing your music!

Wow! Thanks for your great response to our shows this week, like the Dan Dieterich tribute with D.J. el Serpentine on Friday On My Mind as The Rattlesnake Shake. Check out our archives page to hear him profile Dan, a local rock figure, frantic frontman and vocalist with bands like Mad Trucker Gone Mad, TED, Clip The Daisies, Fuzzdolly, Brainerd, Butthole Surfers tribute band Pee Pee The Sailor and more. As el puts it, “We lost our good friend and local musical powerhouse Dan Dieterich on New Year’s Day and I want to pay tribute to my longtime pal. The Dan Tribute portion of the show will start a little past the halfway mark, so sometime a bit after 9:30 pm. I definitely need to play some of those songs after 10:00 pm when the FCC regulations are more cooperative! Expect a handful of songs each from TED, Clip The Daisies, Fuzzdolly, Mad Trucker Gone Mad, Brainerd, and maybe more… we’ll see how it goes. Tune in and turn it up! R.I.P D.D.”

– Love, D.J. el Serpentine

(Dan Dieterich selfie by Dan)

Elsewhere in our archives on Back to the Country,
Art Stevenson explores The Battle Of New Orleans, remembers Tony Rice & 2020

A message from Art, one of our newest morning hosts: “Howdy Folks! Stream this month’s episode of Back To The Country with Art Stevenson, originally heard on Wednesday, Jan. 20 from 9:00 to 11:00 am! (The show ended an hour early this time as we were honored to be “opening” for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ inauguration ceremonies.) Listener requests, new music from 2020, a tribute to the late, great bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice, and an exploration of the music and lyrics of listener favorite Johnny Horton‘s hit song “The Battle of New Orleans” are all on this week’s program. Get yourself a biscuit and a mug of hot coffee and let’s go Back To The Country!”

Note: This program file is only two hours long – special thanks to Art for allowing this week’s show to be cut short for Pacifica Radio’s inauguration livestream.

(Photo of New Orleans monument by Morgan Petroski on Unsplash)

And Sattaday Jan 16 Tropical Riddims shared new mixes by several Marleys, tributes to Johnny Jonson & Warren Wallace

Brand new, for you, music by Damian Marley, Julian Marley, Stephen Marley, Salaam Remi, The Far East, Cosmic Shuffle, Raging Fyah, MICAH SHEMAIAH MUSIC, Tippa Lee, Danakil, RSNY Music and Phoenix City All-stars; a tribute to Rocksteady tenor vocalist Rupert Alexander Johnson aka Johnny Johnson (Rest In Power;)  a set of Ska and Boss Reggae songs to celebrate the 40th anniversary of 2Tone records and classics from The Abyssinians, Pablo Moses, Black Slate and The Techniques, reggae from 1967-2021. This show is livicated to the founder of the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Warren Wallace William Walter Smith III (August 26, 1945 – January 11, 2021.) Through his works, I was able to meet and hear part of the global Reggae family. — F.R.P., host of Tropical Riddims on WORT