Transmission 5510

C'mon - let's go space truckin'.  Blast-off and tune-in to an astronautical mission through the solar system starting at the sun and working our way out - far out! Along the way we are powered by the sounds of Caribou, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, John Coltrane, Marc Ribot, King Crimson, Alan Vega, Wicked Minds, Jimi Hendrix and Adelbert Von Deyen.

T5510 is a 67.5mb128k mp3 1:13:43 in length made loud to be played loud!

"singing about getting ready for the new tide ...The Valleys of Neptune is arising"

RFW

Transmission 5410

He was the eggman, a Quarryman, the dreamweaver, a Beatle, a reborn husband and father and the reluctant hero of  generations. He was killed while starting over - but he never did fade away. He would have been 70 years old today. Our walrus set includes the interview that set the record straight. Put your arms in the air for John Lennon and say goo goo ga joob!

T5410 is a 63.2mb 128k mp3 1:09:06 in length made loud to be played loud!

"the sky is blue"

RFW

* For an earlier celebration of John's life and music - go back to  RFW Hal 4 - It's Johnny's Birthday which was first trasmitted on October 10, 2006.

** Although it featured John on lead vocal, "In Spite of All The Danger" by The Quarrymen is the only McCartney-Harrison composition known to have been released.

Transmission 5310

We find order in disorders with diagnostic ditties from King Goblin, Black Sabbath, City Boy, Caroline Loeb, Strange Parcels, Ohio Players, Glen Phillips, Brain Donor and Robert Fripp!

T5310 is a 54.4mb 128k mp3 59:31 in length made loud to be played loud!

"no man's an island"

RFW

Transmission 5210

Put your lips together and blow along to these whistling wonders by Ennio Morricone, Andrew Bird, The Fratellis, Earle Hagen, Louis Armstrong, Otis Redding, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Peter Gabriel & Massive Attack, Focus, Brother Bones & His Shadows, Jean Pierre Massiera & Bernard Torelli, Tom Waits, Bernard Herrman, John Lennon, Roxy Music and Monty Python!

T5210 is a 57mb 128k mp3 1:02:19 in length made loud to be played loud!

"whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle"

RFW

Transmission 5110

The RFW 2010 release pile was getting mighty high, so we sampled a few of the newer sounds from Grinderman, Alejandro Escovedo, Robert Plant, Yuka Honda, The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger, Fistful Of Mercy, James McCartney, Neil Young, The Hives, Danko Jones, Nice Nice, Tortoise, Maximum Balloon, Almamegretta and Trent Rezner & Artticus Ross!

T5110 is a 58.1mb 128k mp3 1:03:33 in length made loud to be played loud!

"I'm allot like you were"

RFW

Transmission 5010

Welcome to the Hotel RFW - where the rates are cheap, the elevator is broken and the bed bugs are free of charge! Check-in and enjoy the entertaiment in the lounge courtesy of Haruomi Hosono & Tadinori Yokoo, 10cc, Procol Harum, Wilco, The Black Crowes, Serge Gainsbourg, Art & Mestieri, The Kinks and White Stripes. Room Service - are you serious?

T501 is a 58.4mb 128k mp3 1:03:51 in length made loud to be played loud!

"all they got inside is vacancy"

RFW

RFW Speaks!

Behind The Lead Curtain Volume 3

It was 4 years ago this week that I finally started a journey that I had unconsciously planned for my entire adult life. Although I have thoroughly enjoyed each phase of my radio career, I always knew there was something bigger, better and more satisfying ahead - both for myself and my listeners. I use the word unconsciously because even in my wildest imagination, I could not have foreseen the shape of things to come.

To mark this auspicious occasion, I thought I would define for you what Radio Free Wohlman is by design and what purpose it serves to me as it's parent, the musicians it features and you the RFW Family.

During my years as a radio broadcaster, the shows I hosted were always a reflection of my personality and musical taste. But they were governed by the format of the station itself. In my mind's ear, I heard a show that had no formatic limitations. One that did not discriminate against genre, gender, color or age. I knew that there was an audience that would understand and enjoy the back-to-back placement of songs that were diametrically opposed to each other. A world where the most obscure one-hit-wonder bands were on a level playing field with the most popular acts in history and where a smooth segue could live harmoniously with a juxtaposition of sounds. My belief was that a theme, a string of continuity or utter randomness could be dictated by one common denominator - my love of the music. Thus the name Radio Free Wohlman - the transmissions of Dave Wohlman free from the confines of traditional radio!

I have said many times that if I did not have the ability to do the show and present it in a physical form, I would be doing it in my head anyway. Music is in my DNA, my heart and my soul. It gives me unmeasurable pleasure to create a show from idea to finished product. I have already posted over 675 hours and currently have over 100 transmissions planned and waiting in the wings to be recorded. The concepts come faster than my ability to produce them. But that is part of the satisfaction of Radio Free Wohlman - I have fun - it keeps me sane - it makes me happy - it is an extension of who I am.

I am an avid collector of music, a dedicated lover of music and the people who make this music are my heroes, my friends and my inspiration. I dedicate RFW to them and hope to turn you on to artists you might not have heard before or have forgotten with the passing of time.

Finally, my terrestrial radio programs were always limited by the strength of the station's signal and heard only by the listeners in it's range. I always dreamed of having a world-wide system of distribution. It is now a reality. Minutes after finishing a transmission, I see it being listened to in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, across the USA and around the world. The fact that you, the RFW Family, give me your ears, your attention and that you "get it" - is the icing on the cake!

I thank you for your loyalty, the musicians for their talent and my family (Pam, Curtis & Derek) for their support and patience (I spend many hours every day in The Wohlman Archives doing my thing and they are my biggest fans).

I love you all!

Dave RFW

Transmission 4910

Behind The Lead Curtain Volume 2

The next 4th Anniversary special answers another frequently asked qustion - "what is the background music/audio collage that is heard behind all the breaks on RFW?". The answer is Psychedelia - A Musical Light Show by The Mesmerizing Eye. This 1967 release on Smash Records was produced by Larry Goldberg and Hank Levine and is more a one-shot acid-exploitation effort than a legitimate band release. After experimenting with many different sounds and styles, this hit the nail on the proverbial head and has been a RFW mainstay for several years. I thought it would be extra-groovy to play it for you without me talking over it for once!

In between the sides of our feature presentation, we take a Journey To The Centre of The Eye - a classic slab of early 70s prog from Nektar. They were an English band based in Germany who created some of the era's most memorable sounds. I was lucky enough to catch them live in Septemebr of 1974 at the Academy Of Music in New York during their first US tour.

Eye hope you enjoy the show!

T4910 is a 62.6mb 128k mp3 1:08:26 in length made loud to be played loud!

"although my eyes are gently weeping, I know my world is coming to an end"

RFW

Transmission 4810

Behind The Lead Curtain Volume 1

To celebrate our 4th Anniversary, I formally answer the most frequently asked question received here at RFW and give a well deserved dose of recognition to the act that has been featured on every show in the past four years.

The question in question is "Who created the Radio Free Wohlman intro and outro?". The answer is Yin and Yan. The artists responsible are Chris Sandford - a very funny comedian, actor and former Radio Caroline dj and the late voice-over star Bill Mitchell who together in 1975 scored a top-30 hit in the UK with their parody of Telly Savalis performing the Bread classic "If" which also featured musical direction and arrangements by Barry Booth*.

The intro is formally titled "Walkie-Talkie Sunrise" and the outro "Walkie-Talkie Sunset" and they all come from the extremely hard-to-find album Tales For Heads. The sound of the vault opening and closing has been a part of the "Wohlman Archives" radio experience for 35 years and I always knew that someday both pieces in their entirety would become regular parts of the show that I aspired to create. That show became a reality in September, 2006 with the debut of Radio Free Wohlman which is currently listened to in 174 countries around the world by my extended musical family - of which you are now an unwitting member!

The message, credited to Bashwood Snells, on the back cover is very apropos:

"Today will be yesterday tomorrow......our tales are in our heads!".

The Yin and Yanisms are joined by sounds from Russian Circles, Hans Koller & Wolfgang Dauner, Et Cetera and Method Of Defiance.

T4810 is a 56.1mb 128k mp3 1:01:19 in length made loud to be played loud!

"next"

RFW

* Seek out the also very elusive 1969 Barry Booth lp Diversions.

Transmission 4710

The Cult of RFW grows with musical gang-warfare from Barry de Vorzon The Shangri-Las, Gang Of Four, The Byrds, Roxy Music, Grace Jones, Puffy AmiUmi, Os Mutantes, Funkadelic, Robert Plant and Sufjan Stevens.

T4710 is a 57.8mb 128k mp3 1:03:08 in length made loud to be played loud!

"he don't hang around with the gang no more"

RFW