How Many 'Best shows' have you heard? What's the first one you heard?

[Eric]

Is this a good idea for a topic? Has it already been done? It can be deleted, if so. I just thought it might be kinda interesting.

You can be approximate of course....I don't expect you to count them all up, just ballpark is fine. It's not meant to be a competition, really.

the first show I heard was July 25th, 2006 on a recommendation from a friend with great taste. I have to admit, I was so so close to putting it off because it seemed like I had just missed too much looking at the archives (ha, about 5 years?) but thank god I went for it cuz I was hooked from Philly Boy Roy's call. Since then, I've listened to probably 20-25 shows in all. Definitely no more than 30. It's been amazing...I can't imagine my life without it, really. I hope that doesn't sound creepy/sappy.

Is this lame?

[Omar]

Is this a good idea for a topic? Has it already been done? It can be deleted, if so. I just thought it might be kinda interesting.

You can be approximate of course....I don't expect you to count them all up, just ballpark is fine. It's not meant to be a competition, really.

the first show I heard was July 25th, 2006 on a recommendation from a friend with great taste. I have to admit, I was so so close to putting it off because it seemed like I had just missed too much looking at the archives (ha, about 5 years?) but thank god I went for it cuz I was hooked from Philly Boy Roy's call. Since then, I've listened to probably 20-25 shows in all. Definitely no more than 30. It's been amazing...I can't imagine my life without it, really. I hope that doesn't sound creepy/sappy.

Is this lame?

I was familiar with the Ronald Thomas Clontle call, but my entry point into the glorious world of The Best Show was this:

http://www.fluxblog.org/2004/02/my-mommy-made-me-boots-timmy-von.html

I think I've listened to every show from 2004 to the present, and a good portion of the shows from 2000-2003 (since there was so much to explore in the archives, for a lot of older shows, I've scanned through them to catch the key bits with plans to fully absorb them in the future).   

"It's been amazing...I can't imagine my life without it, really." = Nice.  Welcome to the FOT Army.  Since you're new to the show, perhaps you have yet to take a gander at the recaps (started in November 2005).  Enjoy:

http://www.recidivism.org/tbsowfmu/

[Richard_From_CHI]

I *think* at this point I have listened to every archived show. I ffwded through the marathon shows though as there isn't a whole lot of funny there.

Actually my podcast and its related crew are artistd in residence in a local space we are having a series of events, roundtables etc. after the first one I was approached by a couple who were TBSoWFMU fans (and were excited by my bootleg Tom S. Intro a few weeks back) and I recounted what hooked me in.

I was in my studio in grad school listening to WFMU as I had just figured out how to stream it. I had listened to the station for day, half listening, suddenly TBS comes on and Tom is on the drums yelling about the Stanley Cup. I was hooked. I stopped working and listened to the whole show, it was some of the most entertaining radio I had ever heard. Great stuff. I will seriously weep bitter tears/if and when TBS ends.

[Tom Scharpling]

I will seriously weep bitter tears/if and when TBS ends.

Get ready to cry. Big announcement on Tuesday.

Tom.

[Dan B]

I will seriously weep bitter tears/if and when TBS ends.

Get ready to cry. Big announcement on Tuesday.

Tom.

Are you kidding me?


I've listened since the Zach Galifianakis show on the podcast.  I was hooked from then on and went back and listened to all of this year and a lot of the rest of the archives.

[Richard_From_CHI]

Satellite radio again?

[Tom Scharpling]

No, there's no big announcement. It was a bad joke. Sorry.

I'm not going anywhere! Wheee!

Tom!

[Laurie]

No, there's no big announcement. It was a bad joke. Sorry.

I'm not going anywhere! Wheee!

Tom!

That's probably in your best interest. You don't want to wind up in the role of Stephen King Simulacrum opposite Spike's Kathy Bates. Brrrrr.

[Dan B]

No, there's no big announcement. It was a bad joke. Sorry.

I'm not going anywhere! Wheee!

Tom!

  That was like saying someone died and then saying "just kidding" a day later.

[buffcoat]

Annie Wilkes SPIKE: Gohd came to me latht night and told me your purpothe for being here. I am going to help you HOTHT a new RAYYDIO THYOW.

[bobby.]

L'August 14th 2006. I was in France and read the Danielson interview on one brief interaction between my laptop and the internets. On the same interaction, I got that episode. I LAUGHED. I'd always wanted a podcast I'd like enough to listen to regularly. So I got the next one and listened to it on the train across France towards home. I LAUGHED SOME MORE! That was a lovely day.

[TheAce]

The first Best Show I heard and to this day my favorite one was January 31st with Bryce getting his hand bit off by a lion and predicting the Oscars (Jack Lemon). Mahky Ramone also had about an hour long call (in the jugglah) and we were visited by The One and the Ones Brother, not to mention Garrett (I'm gonna melt you.)

[Josh Fenderman]

I was introduced to TBS through the Sound of Young America podcast.  They had an interview with Tom and then played some clips from one of his CDs.  From there I found the WFMU archives and my productivity took a nose dive.  I'm laughing more at work though, which is probably good.

[Matt]

I believe the first show I heard was October 11, 2005. I was just flipping through the lower end of the radio dial one night. When I landed on 91.1, I heard Tom in ultra puberty chaperon mode. I loved the way he dealt with the callers right off the bat, HE MEANT BUSINESS. There was also smash or trash, battle raps, and crazy callers. I was hooked from then on, been enjoying the archives. No other show comes close!

[bookem_dan-o]

As uberlame as it sounds, I "discovered" TBSOWFMU from randomly stumbling upon this review of Rock, Rot & Rule on Pitchfork, back in Summer of 2003. I was so intrigued that I fired up SoulSeek, searched for "Scharpling", and in that instant, my whole life changed. Seriously.

What's sad is that I probably would have been a fan MUCH earlier before then, as I was a loyal listener of Irwin & Michelle's Incorrect Music show, which aired a few hours before Tom's every Wednesday. I'd always see "The Best Show on WFMU" listed on the schedule, and always found the name of the show to be funny, but sadly, I never stuck around to actually listen to it.

Who knew that of all people, Pitchfork would end up playing a significant role in greatly expanding my cultural horizons?

To directly answer the question though, I have indeed listened to every single archive of TBSOWFMU from the very beginning, with the exception of the "missing" shows which were taken offline because they included bits from the Stereolaffs CDs.