About 6forty

 

In the fall of 1986, my freshman year at the University of Pittsburgh, there was an “open house” at their radio station (WPTS 98.5FM) for students who were interested in working at the station. I knew that their format was considered “alternative,” so I attended the event, hoping that I would be able to sign up for a shift. After a few interviews with the program director, I was assigned, in my opinion, the best time slot of the week > Monday – Thursday 11pm – 1am. Prime time for students to be hanging out listening to music. My show, known as “The Holy Hours,” focused heavily on my musical interests at the time – gothic, industrial, experimental, shoegaze – and continued in the same timeslot for two years. After I gave up the weekday show, I moved to Sunday afternoons from noon to 3pm. This went on for several years, long after I graduated in 1990. The program directors never forced me to follow any specific format. They knew that my show was unique, so they let me play whatever I wanted. What more could a “mix tape” geek ask for? Three hours a week to spin whatever songs I wanted to play. I was exposed to a lot of really great music, and I found myself spending much of my meager college dollars on records. Unfortunately, once my show ended at WPTS, I never had the opportunity to get back on the air. And I miss it…

I haven’t stopped collecting music, although I don’t buy as much as I used to – mortgage and car payments tend to be more important these days. Throughout the years, I loved to create the perfect mix tape to turn people on to new music. That trend continued with the introduction of CDR, and now, with the launch of 6forty.com.

Each file that you’ll find on this website is a compilation of songs from my collection. I’ll try to keep it under 200MB in size. Most people have broadband these days, so the file should download in a few minutes. I’ll create and upload as much as I can.  I’m really excited to do this project, so I’ll do my best to make time to maintain a fairly regular release schedule. Playlists will be published along with each podcast and will include as much detail as possible. My goal is simple – fill this site with a lot of really great music. And hopefully you’ll be motivated to visit your local independent record store (bricks or online) to support these artists by purchasing their music.

A few important details:

> Each collection will focus loosely on a specific style. One may be heavy postrock, while the next one might be mellow 4AD. I’ll also being doing label-specific podcasts, such as Constellation, IPR, and Durto. So don’t worry – if one is too quiet, or too loud, or too bizarre for your taste, hang in there for the next upload. Archived podcasts will be maintained as long as possible.

> All of the songs included in these podcasts have been legitimately purchased by me over the years.

> I’m not spending a lot of time mixing songs together or doing fancy transitions, so don’t be surprised if you hear a few rough edges. If I’m ripping from vinyl and the song bleeds directly into the next on the record, I’ll stop the recording as cleanly as possible. I’m too busy with work and home to be playing with fancy editing tools. Also, many of these songs are being taken from my vinyl collection, so you may hear a pop or two, depending on the condition of the record. I clean the vinyl before I start recording, but there are noises that sometimes can’t be removed.

> Feel free to send questions or comments to me at mike@6forty.com

Cheers.

 Posted by at 4:19 pm