When - How - Why (did you start listening to the Best Show)

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I'm from NJ and always wanted to be able to get in WFMU - that, This American Life, and Democracy Now, but either I could never find them on the dial or I could never have the right schedule.  The closest I ever got was when I worked at the Montclair Book Center in 1990, and they would play FMU all the time - I mostly remember JM in the AM.  I also don't listen to the radio much because I hardly ever drive a car, even though I teach at Rutgers (hi to all the Rutgers FOTs out there - take my screenwriting class if you're still undergrads).

Anyway, podcasting changed everything - I subscribed to a raft of WFMU shows, mostly not knowing what they were.  Some of them were unlistenable, of course, and others I totally fell in love with.  Based on the enthusiasm of the iTunes reviewers, I downloaded TBS, but didn't quite get it - it seemed too long and I just didn't get it.  Then I read "Ronald Thomas Clontle's" hilarious article on eMusic and decided to take a chance on Rock, Rot & Rule - just a single download - and I was hooked.  Jon Wuster's calls are still the highlight of the show for me, but I love it all - Tom's rants, the call-in community, even most of the trolls.  I kinda like Spike. 

When I listen to FMU, I feel like i'm coming home - it's all the things I love about NJ with none of the things I hate.  Even when I went to Slovenia, I would listen to it on streaming audio whenever I checked email from internet cafes.  I don't call in to TBS or any of the other shows I listen to because I'm always listening to the podcasts, but this semester I'll have Tuesday nights off while my wife is in grad school, so I might become a full-fledged FOT.  I'm looking forward to actually hearing the music...

[mike a]

OT: Rutgers FOT here!  Livingston College '89, and former DJ on the maligned-on-TBS* station WRSU.  I discovered WFMU in college (my high school years were occupied by WRSU and WPRB), and have been listening ever since, wherever life has taken me.


*  I have not listened to WRSU in years, but the schedule always had a few truly excellent DJs at any given time.  I'm sure that's true today.  WRSU is not and never has been in WFMU's league, but you could say that about any other station.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

OT: Rutgers FOT here!  Livingston College '89, and former DJ on the maligned-on-TBS* station WRSU.  I discovered WFMU in college (my high school years were occupied by WRSU and WPRB), and have been listening ever since, wherever life has taken me.

Cool!  I actually went to Montclair undergrad, but got an MFA from NYU, after which I started teaching there...  I like it.  Any other Rutgers FOTs out there?  If any current students want to form some sort of organization and need a faculty advisor, I'm your man.  Maybe we can take over that humor magazine The Medium and make it funnier (though in all fairness it has gotten a lot better in the last year or two - I just wish they would leave out the porn so I could read it on the shuttle bus without looking like Professor Creepy).

[mike a]

It is interesting to me that many FOTs were not already converted WFMU listeners, or even necessarily fans of the rest of WFMU's programming.  Rather, they became aware of Scharpling & Wurster through other channels - usually the CDs - and started listening to the Best Show as a result.

[Dan B]

I'm a Rutgers FOT.  Class of 2011.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I'm a Rutgers FOT.  Class of 2011.

Right on.  I teach screenwriting through the English department if you ever want to take my class.

[KickTheBobo]

I'm a Rutgers FOT.  Class of 2011.

Right on.  I teach screenwriting through the English department if you ever want to take my class.

I think that jasongrotes credentials speak for themselves, just check out the resume:

[Richard_From_CHI]

I'd hire someone on the power of their FOT membership.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I'm a Rutgers FOT.  Class of 2011.

Right on.  I teach screenwriting through the English department if you ever want to take my class.

I think that jasongrotes credentials speak for themselves, just check out the resume:

Hey, thanks KTB.  Though that made me feel a little strange.  I'm not going to get any monkfish sent to me, am I?  I probably also have an entry on RateYourProfessor.com but I can't bear to read it - I went once and it was a disgruntled Expository Writing student who missed a third of the semester and was angry that he failed.

I think I might actually add FOT to my resume, though.

[KickTheBobo]

I'm a Rutgers FOT.  Class of 2011.

Right on.  I teach screenwriting through the English department if you ever want to take my class.

I think that jasongrotes credentials speak for themselves, just check out the resume:

Hey, thanks KTB.  Though that made me feel a little strange.  I'm not going to get any monkfish sent to me, am I?  I probably also have an entry on RateYourProfessor.com but I can't bear to read it - I went once and it was a disgruntled Expository Writing student who missed a third of the semester and was angry that he failed.

I think I might actually add FOT to my resume, though.

naw, I'm relatively harmless. a quiet day at the office and rudimentary html skills are the Devil's Playground, though.

[Matt]

RU FOT here too! Dan B and jasongrotes, if both of you are attending the New Brunswick campus, we should start up our own FOT chapter. Tuesday nights anyone!?

Also, what's the course number for that screenwriting class? I wonder if my department would let me take the class as a humanities elective.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

OK, I feel safe.  Even though you are the brilliant mad scientist creator of the Lovelump.  Heavens to Murgatroyd!

http://www.kickthebobo.com/erotech/Products.html

I'm not savvy enough to insert the photo.

Matt, it's English 358 something, I think, through the creative writing program.  There's only one section.  I think it's full but I'm pretty liberal with the special permission numbers.  You have to write a lot (everyone brings work in on a schedule) but it's just the first act of a screenplay and I'm a pretty easy grader (for that and my playwriting class, anyway - I also teach expos 2 and technical writing, and I have to be tougher for those). 

I'd probably attend a New Brunswick listening party, like the Iron Monkey shindig, but Tuesdays are usually my days off.  Plus I need my weekly TBSOWFMU podcast to endure my commute.  I will be on campus on Tuesday October the 16th, though, to talk to my friend's playwriting class.

[ughwhy]

Jason Grote! I'm a former P73 Intern. But I don't think we met, I was out of commission during your fellowship. Still, I feel like we're family.

[breadharrity]

Well it took me awhile to get in to The Best Show, because I started listening to WFMU because of a single bump on Adult Swim (of course after Tom's appearance on ATHF) in either late 04 or early 05, so I looked at the site and saw it was in Jersey City, NJ. So I instantly ran in to my room and turned to the station and it came in crystal clear. (since I live in central, NJ) I periodically tuned in for a while (and discovered They Might Be Giants through Greasy Kid Stuff) until the 2005 marathon when I listened to most shows online and The Best Show was definitely my favorite one, besides 7 second delay. Since then I've been on and off, but since this years marathon I've only missed a couple shows. So cheers to Adult Swim which without I probably would of never found this brilliant show without.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Jason Grote! I'm a former P73 Intern. But I don't think we met, I was out of commission during your fellowship. Still, I feel like we're family.

Aw, no way!  The world shrinks yet again.  See, that's why I use my real name everywhere, cause ya never know.  Although I feel like I'm crusing for a GOMPing or some online equivalent thereof - this is the FOT board, not the FOGrote board.  But I guess you were there during Quiara's fellowship?  Anyway, they're producing 1001 Off-Broadway and I'm going to try and see if I can get some sort of FOT discount when the time comes.  We're trying to pull in people who don't go to theater much, and I would imagine that would describe this bunch (believe me, FOTS, I don't mean it as an insult).

But anyway, ughwhy, did we meet?  Feel free to email me if the boards are inappropriate for this sort of thing.