📝 Blog of the Day: Radio Kismet and Long-Lost Connections

Some days on the radio, the playlist just falls into place naturally.

Today’s theme on Dr Dave’s Travelling Medicine Show was a look at the follow-up tracks or lesser-known singles from famous One-Hit Wonders. But the highlight of the afternoon came from a bit of pre-show digging into a group called Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band—a name I obviously had to look into.

It turns out their lead singer back in the 60s was Norman Greenbaum, who later went on to write "Spirit in the Sky."

That bit of trivia allowed me to build a fun three-way link heading into the 4 o'clock news. We started with Greenbaum's early junk band track "Canned Ham," transitioned into the 1986 cover of "Spirit in the Sky" by Doctor & The Medics, and used that to slide right into Mike + The Mechanics to close out the block. It’s exactly the kind of quirky contextual sequencing that makes community radio enjoyable to put together.

The drive home was a relief, with the mists clearing and the local floodwaters receding enough to keep the roads clear. To cap the day off, I had a lengthy catch-up call from an old high school friend. He’d just spotted a missed call on one of his old handsets from nearly a year ago when I’d tried to ring him for his last birthday. With his next one coming up soon, the timing for a catch-up was perfect.

A good playlist, an easy drive home, and a long-overdue chat with an old mate—not a bad way to wrap up a Thursday.

– Dr Dave