Reade McCardell, radio host at G-Town Radio in Germantown, has hosted FEWSH since his start at G-Town Radio six years ago. McCardell had his start in radio back in Michigan where he worked at WXOU Radio for about a year.
FEWSH doesn’t stand for anything, McCardell said. “It’s just a word humans find themselves saying when they’ve avoided a disaster.”
“I was really missing radio; I was hungry to get back to it. A friend of mine knew this and heard of an interview with Jim Bear, the main wizard,” McCardell said.
Jim Bear is the founder and station manager of G-Town Radio and has resided in Germantown since 1997.
McCardell said one of the perks of working at G-Town radio is that employees are able to create their own shows. McCardell was interested in designing a show that showcased a little bit of everything in terms of musical genres; he described it as everything under the sun.
McCardell goes in once a week to host FEWSH, but he puts in a great deal of preparation time. It takes him about five hours to get ready for his program and another two hours of actual studio time as his show airs from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“I guess the best term to call it would be free form because it is truly every single genre included. Within one program, there can easily be free jazz, metal, folk and electronica,” McCardell said when asked to categorize the range of his show’s musical genres.
Three years ago, McCardell started a segment that aired at the halfway point in his show every Monday evening titled Dark Alley Knife Fight.
“I play two songs tandem that should really not be played back-to-back; two songs that are deliciously at odds with another. For instance, one time I played Ogden Nash, a sort of frivolous poet, delightful, eccentric poems,” McCardell said. “I played him reading one of his poems, next to Jerry Goldsmith’s music score for the movie, The Omen.”
McCardell’s interest in music began at the age of 12 and he has been extremely involved and passionate about music ever since. He even plays and composes music as well. Guitar and voice are his two main instruments, but he plays whatever is around.
Currently, McCardell is in the mist of producing an album titled Frets. There are many other musicians involved in the project; some he’s known for a long time, others he has helped out in the past, some he’s played in bands with and there are a few he’s met recently. He feels very lucky to know these people. The man who is producing and engineering the album, Ivan Funk, became a good friend of McCardell’s and the two of them later discovered that they were first cousins.
“There are so many artists I really, really love and that really inspire the hell out of me,” McCardell said. “One of my favorites right now is a band called Lambchop. The front man has one of the most shocking voices, strangely unusual lyrics, bathroom poetry.”
McCardell said his writing process can vary per song.
“Confessional writing is a term I’d use for how I often come up with lyrics. Lots of lyrics come from cyclical thinking, thoughts I’ve had for a long period of time that I want to share with the world,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll put a series of words together that are uncalled for.”
McCardell lives outside of Germantown but has enjoyed getting to know Germantown through his experience with G-Town Radio.
“[Germantown] seems to sort of be a nice cocktail of different things, a crossroads between some wealthy areas and less privileged areas; a cross section of humanity,” he said. “It’s been a treat for me.”
Groovy article! I love that Reade fellow. He’s a creative cat and he executes on his visions. Can’t wait to hear the album 🙂
The article is a good description of the show. It’s wonderfully eclectic and a joy to listen to.
Nice!
Eclectic radio is the besterest.
And I loved OMC v Frank. I would have guessed OMD v OMC (Joan of Arc?)simply for the poetry of it, but I would have been less right.
Listen to gtownradio all the time, please.