Phil Maq

In Philbyland, Wednesday morning is the Super Bowl!

Yes, it’s a little late for a year end list, but the scope of the yearly Philby list is wider than just one year. Not that I wouldn’t be interested in doing a year specific list. But at the moment, everyone that knows me knows that I am not into time.

I’m more interested that my choices are “good” rather than timely. And, in general, the time factor takes care of itself.

I work on my list every day of the year. But I don’t ever think of it as work.

I have tried to gather info at the end of a year to compile a list. Man, that’s really difficult! Working on it on a daily basis keeps it as a bite size project. I keep a continuous master list. Anytime I hear something that catches my ear, it goes on that list.

The next step is to get the album onto my player. I currently have 305 albums on it. I then eliminate the songs that I think I won’t play. There are several reasons why a song may be eliminated. It may have a lot of swearing. Cussing doesn’t automatically cause a song to be jettisoned. I don’t mind doing some editing, but that also means that I have to do extra work, and just like everyone else, it’s hard to find the time to do it.

The next step is to play a song from the album on one of my shows. This usually happens as an opener or a finale, but I try really hard to work the songs into my themes.

I won’t put an album on my list unless I have played at least one song from it on a show. Also, a song can’t be placed on one of my “faves” lists unless I have already played it on air. As silly as it seems, I feel that I need to hear a song on the radio to see what it really sounds like. That also gives the listeners the opportunity to give me feedback on a song or artist. That’s really important to me, too. I like to get a little echo chamber going on my selections.

Around Thanksgiving, I typically compile a smaller master list. Then comes the painstaking task of making sure I haven’t forgotten something I wanted to be considered. But every year, I make some mistake that puts me on the spot. That means I have to take something off the list to make room for the error.

Last year, I removed Nick Waterhouse for another album. This year, I forgot to make sure that Nick Waterhouse was included to make up for last year until a couple of days ago. So, I had to remove an album that I really wanted on this year’s list. Hopefully, I’ll remember it for next year’s list.

Also, the list is always fluid until I play it. In fact, I just did some tweaking a few hours ago. I hope I have provided some insight into how I do this. I will occasionally try to explain  some of my process.

Alright! Kickoff is at 10 AM! I hope you can join me!

Here’s my Facebook post:

OK. Let me start off by saying that the albums in the photo are in the Top 20, but they are not the Top 6. I don’t want to cause any confusion. Other than that little point, the big show is tomorrow!

“Theme Attic” with Phil Maq, Wednesday morning from 10A-12Noon ET, will have the Philby Top 20 Albums of 2017 Countdown!!!

Songs by artists will include Michael on Fire, The Accidentals, Edwardsongs (album pictured, bottom row, far right), Luke Winslow-King, The Hangabouts, Mark Jewett Music (album pictured, bottom row, far left), Alison Krauss album picture, top, far left), Greg Kihn, Nick Waterhouse, Wendy Webb (album pictured, top right), DownTown Mystic, American Housewife (album pictured on bottom, second from left), Olivia Millerschin, The Whiskey Charmers, Seth Bernard, Samantha Fish, Muriel Anderson, Joanie Leeds & The Nightlights, Windborne, Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, and more!!!

Tune in to 89.3 FM (89.3 WHFR.FM) in the Dearborn-Detroit area, Echo or Tune In Players, or with this special Philby Top 20 Album list, streaming link: http://whfr.fm/images/stream_audio.html

Please share freely with your fans, friends, and families, but say something about yourself in the comments section when you repost it, so that everyone knows why your posting it!

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And please feel free to “like” the Phil Maq page! Thank you!