How to listen
What: “Kaleidoscope” radio show
Where: WYSO-FM (91.3)
When: 8-11 p.m. Wednesdays
More info: www.wyso.org and
For his week’s Rock Insider, we take a field trip to WYSO-FM (91.3) to look behind the scenes of Juliet Fromholt’s radio show “Kaleidoscope,” a music show that airs on Wednesday nights.
I arrive at the public radio station in Yellow Springs just before 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Fromholt, who started at WYSO as a volunteer in 2006, is already in the performance studio handling pre-show setup with musical guests The Great Wide Open. The roots-music act from South Vienna, Ohio, is celebrating the release of its new album with an on-air performance.
“I’m usually already at WYSO all day on Wednesdays because of my other duties here at the station,” says Fromholt, who has been on staff as deputy operations director, webmaster and reporter since January 2009. “I generally start prepping for the show in my office at about 6:30 p.m., making sure any pre-recorded phone interviews are ready to go and listening to any last-minute new music submissions. My first guests of the evening usually arrive around 7:15 p.m. I try to be in the studio by 7, so as soon as they arrive, we can quickly get set up and have plenty of time to sound check before we go on the air.”
Fromholt, who also hosts the Sunday program “Alpha Excursions,” spends the next 25 minutes preparing for the live session while simultaneously giving a hands-on tutorial to the station’s Miller Fellowship recipient Wyatt Souers. Intern Tom Amrhein, a high school student from Yellow Springs, pulls CDs from the music library.
In-studio live
Live music was originally going to be an occasional feature but quickly became a weekly “Kaleidoscope” staple. Response from listeners and local acts remains so favorable there are often two or three performers on each program. Fromholt is tweaking levels until the show goes live at 8:01 p.m.
After spinning a set of music and an on-air break, Fromholt introduces the members of the band. The next 40 minutes are devoted to an interview, interspersed with live performances of four harmony-filled new songs from the bluegrass-inspired Americana act.
Organic playlist
With the live portion of the night behind her by 9 p.m., Fromholt turns her attention back to playing CDs, which includes new songs by Jenny Lewis, Caribou and Sylvan Esso and older material by the Afghan Whigs, Shrug and Arcade Fire. She takes a moment during the calm to go back through the stack of CDs played thus far and enters the information into the playlist software.
While WYSO has the ability to be digitally automated, Fromholt, like most of station’s on-air hosts, prefers using CDs. “Each playlist is done in the moment during the live show,” she said. “The arc of the music happens organically.”
The rest of the program is smooth sailing, with Fromholt and Amrhein splitting sets of music. In the second half of the 9 o’clock hour, she plays a pre-recorded interview with Charles Phoenix, who’s presenting his retro slideshow at Dayton Art Institute the following night. After that feature, the music continues with Fromholt hopping on the air occasionally for a station ID or to promo upcoming guests.
The aftermath
Kaleidoscope is over by 11:01. The station is on automation, taking a news feed from National Public Radio. Amrhein, who has school in the morning, says goodbye. Although she has an 8 a.m. meeting at WYSO the following morning, and worked late the previous evening helping with election results, Fromholt isn’t done. She enters the last of the songs into the playlist program, shelves the evening’s CDs and puts away the recording gear in the performance studio.
By the time Fromholt leaves for home, it’s after 11:30. “The Moth Radio Hour” is playing on WYSO, so she takes advantage of the half-hour drive to Dayton. Fromholt pops in a new CD and begins previewing potential material for next week’s program. It seems a dedicated radio host’s work is never truly over.
About the Author