The Meaning of Live

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.

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, )

Digital Production Director: Aaron Scholz – aaron@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!

Karin Van Es

WORT 89.9FM Madison · The Meaning Of Live

A growing number of WORT listeners access our audio programming at times of their own choosing, either through the audio archives, or through our online blogs and podcasts. “Media on demand” has dramatically changed the global media landscape. Many of you, though, listening to this program are still hearing my voice live – either over 89.9 megahertz of frequency modulated radio waves, or through a digital internet audio stream over wortfm.org. “Coming to you live” now has a certain cache in broadcast media, but what does “live” really mean? Even those of you listening on radio or livestream, aren’t really hearing my voice at the exact same time I’m speaking. The station has a five-second delay that allows us to cut expletives that violate the FCC “George Carlin” standard. And even at the speed of light, there’s a noticeable lag for those electrons to travel through all those miles of circuitboards to produce sound over the internet. Karin Van Es is a media and cultural studies professor at the Utrecht Data School in the Netherlands, and author of “The Future of Live.” Karin Van Es joined Monday Buzz Host Brian Standing on July 11, 2022.