Frankie Knuckles Way (Photo credit: Like A Final Boss)
Wow.. its been an entire decade streaming music via the internet…amazing…
First off I would like to pass along my deepest condolences to the Family, Friends and Fans of Mr. Francis Nicholls
Known to the most of us as Frankie Knuckles one of the originators of a music that permeates what we hear to this day. His accomplishments are legend and he is respected throughout the music industry working with some of the brightest stars in the Galaxy of music. (See the video the real story of house music here.)
I would be remiss to also celebrate the life and times of Ms. Joyce Beachum.
Most of you don’t know her like you are familiar with Mr. Knuckles but to those who do, she’s right up there with those you know as one of the most positive caring humans to have ever walked this planet. So, much respect sister. I miss you.
All this comes wrapped up in the realization that WBPM NetRADIO is celebrating a decade of streaming music to the planet. It started with me getting tired of lugging a stack of CDs to work and ended up as this. Along the way I have been in contact with some amazing people and have been encouraged by people like Joyce while inspired by the likes of Frankie (Knuckles and Crocker to name a few).
I want to thank all of the indie artists who decided to allow me the honor of presenting their music. I want to thank those like Joyce Sims, Mic Murphy (The System) and Chris Jasper for especially reaching out to me and allowing me the opportunity to pass the goodness to you.
Imagine the shock of realizing that the stream set up to allow me to listen to what I wanted to hear at work was being listened to by someone somewhere else! Dag, now I have to do it “right”! Or, the day I received an email stating that the station was Voted the Best in R&B & Jazz about a year after it went live and also topping the Garage Music genre @ Live365.com last year! The nerves that frayed when a live show went dead because my feed to the internet temporarily failed..that was fugly. The joy when someone in Japan brought an official WBPM NetRADIO T-Shirt or seeing that there were people on the planet listening in places where I didn’t even realize they had internent access! Like island out in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
We talked about Jazz and Funk and Hip Hop and of course House and some of its “sonic temples“. We talked about R&B and the stars of Soul. We talked about how its all connected and gave examples.
Here you saw responses to world events from NY to Arizona the other side of the world. Even here in the “Sunshine State” (Let me go on record now: SCOTT HAS GOT TO GO. There I did it again.) Had some small fun with a wannabe and You’ve even been warned…
Seems like this site has almost become a chronicle of sorts as well, honoring those who’ve gone on the next stage in their journey. Never forget the George Dukes (see his last video), Vesta Williams, the Nick Ashfords (video) , Clarence Clemmons‘, Phoebe Snows , Gary Shider and of course the Whitneys of our worlds (to name a few). They are legion and their contributions to simply existing made the process that more bearable…
So, enough of that, I could go on and on and on…
In celebration there will be new mix sets streaming all this month featuring the cuts that have played and you’ve voted for as your favorites. Starting this afternoon (like about now!), you’ll hear cuts from the 70’s, 80’s, 90s right up to the latest cuts released these past few days.
Here’s a clue as to the diversity of artists that have been heard on this stream
Here’s another clue with pictures!
So, as this is also an invite, click the player on the right hand side of the page and see what you’ve been missing if you’ve never tuned in before and cruise the site to see what’s been bubbling through here too!
If you have listened but have not been here since a live broadcast, you too should stick an ear in!
And to those of you who’ve listened all along I say thanks so much for making this worth the while!
Peace,
DJ
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