Greetings

Hi, my name is Eric and I will soon be running a radio show called The Void on KTRM 88.7 The Edge. The premiere episode will air Thursday at midnight and run until 2am. Remember, since days technically start at midnight, you may be thinking of this Thursday early morning as "Wednesday night". Don't miss it!

I've been interested in ambient music since the latter half of high school. It was then that I started breaking out my shell musically and began really exploring genres other than typical rock and pop. Eventually I stumbled upon a man named Brian Eno. Most people familiar with ambient music regard him as a living legend, and the founding father of the genre. He is credited with coining the term "ambient music" on his 1978 album Ambient I: Music for Airports. Eno's vision of ambient music was to create an atmosphere that is conducive to both background and foreground listening. That is, you can leave it on the background and forget about it and it sounds great as an atmosphere, but if you want you can always choose to zone in to the intricacies of the sound and listen to the subtle evolution of the piece.

Since the release of Eno's Music for Airports album, ambient music has grown to encompass many different styles and techniques. With the rise of new music technology from the late 1970s to today we've seen a revolution in how sound is created. In today's modern world, we commonly hear so-called "electronic" music, which is based on either analog or digital (software) synthesizers. From this, electronic genres such as trance, idm, house, glitch, and most recently dubsteb, have been born. Though these rhythmically intesne genres may not have the ethereal qualities of Eno, I find this music interesting and simply very fun to listen to.

I'm aiming to structure the show to encompass both kinds of "ambient" music. The first hour of the show will be more rhythmically-oriented and feature these new electronic styles. Then in the second hour we'll hear the more traditional sense of ambient and listen to much slower, contemplative, and largely beatless music.

The first episode will air very soon! Once it airs I'll post complete details about the all the music played on the show. Probably the best way to find out information on something you hear on the program would be to mark down the time that you heard the piece. Then once I post the playlist you'll easily be able to find out details on the music.

If there is anything in particular you'd like to hear on the program, or have suggestions, comments, hate mail, etc, please notify me and I'll be sure to listen to what you have to say.

Anyway, that about wraps up this first blog post. Again, the first show airs Thursday from 12:00am-2am on KTRM 88.7 The Edge. This first episode will be called "Into the Unknown". The station broadcasts to a 25-mile radius and streams online at ktrm.truman.edu. It is also non-profit and thus commercial free!

I hope you enjoy the show as much as I enjoy making it.

-Eric