Chapter 2: Radio as Resonance Chamber

Studio Sessions

Live Music Series

“The WFHB studios” is necessarily a plural construct. Most live WFHB music and interview sessions take place in the WFHB building itself, with artists performing either in the air room with the programmer (typically reserved for solo artists with a single acoustic instrument, such as a guitar) or in the bigger of two production rooms that are connected to each other and to the air room through sound inputs and outputs so that performances can take place in the large production room with a volunteer host, volunteer engineers can mix and record the performances while waiting in the small production room, and the volunteer programmer can air the sessions live. Other WFHB live sessions have taken place at recording studios and performance venues in the listening area, where they can be broadcast live using whatever configuration of spaces and technologies makes sense given the material circumstances. Figure 2.13 shows the path of a signal from a remote location to listeners.

Figure 2.13: A diagram of signal transmission from a remote performance space to listeners. Public domain icons designed by Pixabay users mcmurryjulie and Mk_al.

Most live sessions are mixed (by volunteers) after their initial airing for posting on the WFHB website, where they are grouped into one of four categories:

• Firehouse Sessions: A catch-all category for artists from outside of South-Central Indiana coming through Bloomington, typically for a performance at an outside venue, who perform at the WFHB downtown headquarters (located in Monroe County’s historic first firehouse).

• Local Live: Performances by artists identified as local that take place during the weekly Local Music Show, usually recorded at the WFHB downtown headquarters but sometimes recorded remotely at venues open to the public.

• Lotus Live: Performances by artists performing during Bloomington's annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, typically held in September, usually recorded at the WFHB downtown headquarters but not infrequently recorded elsewhere.

• Saturday’s Child: Performances by artists performing as part of a monthly live music series that has been part of WFHB since its beginning. These artists are usually identified as local and, in these sessions, perform in front of a live audience at a public venue such as the Monroe County History Center.

These categories do not necessarily encompass all live music programming on WFHB. Air room sessions are often conducted more informally, with programmers personally inviting artists (with permission from staff) and taking responsibility for any promotion or recording after the fact.

The typical structure of any given session alternates between musical segments and interview segments. Interview hosts do not receive extensive formal training but are given key points to follow and encouraged to listen to existing interviews in preparation for the beginning of their time as an interview host. Most are already WFHB programmers, though they do not act in that capacity while they conduct interviews (except in rare cases when the performance takes place in the on-air room). Once in the room with the artists, the hosts have free rein and are responsible for keeping track of time while interweaving music and conversation. Most Firehouse, Local Live, and Lotus Live sessions last 20-30 minutes, while most events open to the in-person public, such as Saturday’s Child and some Local Live sessions, tend to last 1-2 hours to draw a more substantial crowd.