Please Do Not Prank SHUT UP WEIRDO.

[tenspeed]

Damn you, Shut Up, Weirdo!  With your "no such thing as bad publicity."   

[Cynnkitty]

Oh and has no one metioned this Cohen blog entry from the 10th? If someone has and I passed over it inadvertently, I apolgize.
<<Oct 10
 
Dear Tom Scharpling

frangry:

I would have I called your show had I known you existed. Thanks for the looney callers, they made my night.

xo,
Frangry

Haha, it’s true. Frangry had never even heard of WFMU until I proposed we do a show together.>>

"...Frangry had never heard of WFMU until I proposed we do a show together" 

I think that just about sums it up. As a big fan, and as a supporter of the station-- in all seriousness- that really, really dissapoints me.

[stepheninchicago]

Just to set the record straight, this isn't Andy Cohen from Silkworm is it?

Andy is living in Chicago, and too busy with the fantastic Bottomless Pit (and his normal life) to be involved in this mess.

[Cynnkitty]

  that really, really dissapoints me.

I'm usually a really good speller, too!!!

[Steve of Bloomington]

Those people are dead to me either way.  I ain't got time for no prankin'.

[pinky]

I genuinely feel sorry for Frangry and Andy.  Must be hard when you are just doing your first official show and you have it coming at you from all directions, doesn't help the confidence.  They were just having a dig at SSD who they obviously are better acquainted with than Best Show.  I think if Tom knew this would be the result he wouldn't have said anything, seems people don't know when to take his influence as gospel and when to think for themselves and show a bit of feeling.  Best thing about WFMU is that it is made by real people who are allowed to be real and also supported by the people.  Where is the support now?  Shame.

Ps.  Jason, your show was very interesting, looking forward to the next installment.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Thanks, Pinky! 

I am pretty sure Tom is just teasing them.  But yes, trust me, it totally takes some time to get into a comfortable groove.

[Julie]

I genuinely feel sorry for Frangry and Andy.  Must be hard when you are just doing your first official show and you have it coming at you from all directions, doesn't help the confidence.  They were just having a dig at SSD who they obviously are better acquainted with than Best Show.  I think if Tom knew this would be the result he wouldn't have said anything, seems people don't know when to take his influence as gospel and when to think for themselves and show a bit of feeling.  Best thing about WFMU is that it is made by real people who are allowed to be real and also supported by the people.  Where is the support now?  Shame.

Ps.  Jason, your show was very interesting, looking forward to the next installment.

Oh, for fuck's sake! I am the best judge and I don't think either fo them are real. Besides, unless the point of their show was to be completely out of control, they did a horrible job. You sound like you think Sarah Palin is a fine choice for president.

[John Junk 2.0]

The subject of this thread would suggest he doesn't want people to be too hard on them.  I respected these wishes in so much as I did not prank the show, but I did find it pretty not-likeable independently of Tom's totally justified indignation.  I don't actually enjoy listening to, like, 80% of the shows on WFMU.  That's why God made horse races, I guess.

[erechoveraker]

The sort of implied idea that one should support all or nothing of WFMU is like saying because I give money to PBS for my love of Nova means I can't say an unkind word about the Car Talk cartoon. And that my friend, is crazy talk. There's been plenty enough valid criticism about BQ,J mixed in here with the harsh stuff to balance it all out too, so I can only feel so bad for Andy and Frandy over this.

Especially since they could have stopped all of this way before it ever began.

And in fairness to Julie what with her impending Tom lashing tonight (ooh I hope, sorry Julie - but that'd just be good Best Show!), her call wasn't so much a prank call other than  her using a fake name. Because lets face it, that show was getting calls just like that before any FOT decided to lay into it, and we all know a regular Julie call ain't that much less bizarre than any call from Marguerite. Plus, Julie originally was just calling to ask what the show was (or something directly to that effect), which seems a valid question since I've listened to 2.5 episodes of BQ,J now and still have no idea what the point of it is (she has a blog... and he has a daughter?). Unless it's awkwardness, in which case it deserves an award.

[Cynnkitty]

I genuinely feel sorry for Frangry and Andy.  Must be hard when you are just doing your first official show and you have it coming at you from all directions, doesn't help the confidence.  They were just having a dig at SSD who they obviously are better acquainted with than Best Show.  I think if Tom knew this would be the result he wouldn't have said anything, seems people don't know when to take his influence as gospel and when to think for themselves and show a bit of feeling.  Best thing about WFMU is that it is made by real people who are allowed to be real and also supported by the people.  Where is the support now?  Shame.

Ps.  Jason, your show was very interesting, looking forward to the next installment.

Teasing or not teasing, schtick or no schtick: It is, thus far, simply not a good show in my opinion. There is a difference between 'not my thing' and 'terrible'. Though I am sure there are people who like it. (Lots of people like 'Friends' right!)
There are many MANY very talented, dedicated, unique people who would love to do a show on WFMU- or return to its airwaves. Many of them give a lot of their time supporting the station, simply because they love it and understand it. THAT'S the real shame- that someone who has to little to offer on air -and has seemingly little concept of the station at all -is even in this position. If there was much by way of any redeeming quality I'd feel bad too perhaps. But so far I just get snarky, immature egotism with a sense of entitlement smeared on for good measure.  Indeed WFMU takes chances, is as close to true free form as there's ever gonna be, and this is indeed a wonderful, sometimes magical thing. But no one is infallible. Taking a chance doesn't mean throwing any idiot off the street on the air and crossing your fingers. ... that's what this amounts too. Or at least sounds like.  It was just one poor decision. I guess what I am getting at is yes WFMU embodies realness, indeed- but not mediocrity. It gives very talented people a place to stretch with few boundaries. It's not so much for the people, by the people . It's for the most part by the amazing few, for the  amazed few who actually appreciate it. This show, by my standards as a life long listener, is just bad. Am I ashamed to be critical and not a cheerleader just because it is on FMU? Hell no.

[Stan]

 Is it time to bash Bob Brainen again?





 I kid.

[CurtBlair]

I cannot join the SU,W! pile-on, as I have not listened to it. However, I have listened to the inaugural episode of The Acousmatic Theater Hour and I would like to initiate a pile-on for that ... No, no no.

Cool show, Mr. Grote. It was especially great to hear those Beckett pieces. I listened to his BBC radio plays in college, and it delights me now as it did then to imagine families in '50s/'60s Britain spinning their radio dials and stumbling onto something so bizarre and challenging. It also makes me doubly grateful that there are still outlets like WFMU for broadcasts weird, wonderful, and unexpected.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Thanks, Curt.  We have two specific target audiences: the first one is a lonely trucker driving over the Pulaski Skyway who comes upon the show by accident and has his life changed forever, and the second one is some aliens thousands of light-years away in the Andromeda Galaxy who decide to invade earth upon first hearing the show.

[Mark in Helsinki]

While I agree that we should "support" WFMU and its diverse output, that doesn't mean we have to like everything that comes on air.

At least Tom and Jon make an effort, have a clue about what they're going to do -- they must prepare scripts, storylines and all that... It requires PLANNING and THOUGHT and genuine intellect. It's not like Tom gets in front of the microphone and thinks to himself "golly it's neato to be on the radio! and with my natural wit and humor I don't need to prepare anything!"

He and Jon make a real effort and it shows. That, I think, is what makes us all come back week after week... Not to mention spend time here. ;-)

Even SSD, the purported home of utter unpreparedness, they put in some sort of effort -- like chewing gum, ordering Caesars salad and coconut chicken on the air... At least that's funny. Being snooty isn't.

Now that I saw a picture of that Frangry, I think I can tell why she is might be "popular" on the blogowhatzit... She has a perfect face for the internet, but her voice is not made for radio, if you get my drift.

I gotta get off this topic. I can't let myself be known as a rabble rouser. I guess I'll just not listen to that Shut up show and let that speak