They Might Be Playing They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Playing They Might Be Giants (also known as TMBG.love) is an annual 12-hour radio show that began in November 2014 on Mankato, Minnesota's KMSU ("The Maverick") program Shuffle Function, to honor James Ensor's death.
The program's original manifesto reads as follows:
Today's "They Might Be Giants" Day Sponsors -- Tom and Chantill -- believe in 3 basic truths. ONE: TMBG is the greatest band in America. TWO: KMSU is the second-greatest radio station in America. THREE: James Ensor, Belgium's famous painter, died on this day 65 years ago. If no radio station has ever before dedicated an entire day to playing They Might Be Giants, then we as a society need to ask ourselves not only "why?" but also "WHO???" and "WHAT???"
Contents
Past Shows[edit]
Thanks to the non-commercial radio format, KMSU is able to set aside an uninterrupted 12 hours on or around James Ensor's death day for a marathon focusing on the music of TMBG. In 2015, John Flansburgh found out about the radio marathon and called in to express support. Since then, John and John have typically called in each year for interviews, with questions taken from radio listeners ahead of time. During the marathon, hosts take song requests from all over the world and read out listener-submitted stories about how and why fans came to love the band.
In 2017, the website TMBG.love was created to make announcements, run polls and contests during the show, and record listener requests. Since then the entire broadcast is typically recorded and posted to the TMBG.love Youtube account in the weeks after the show. (Interview segments are available for all years, but due to copyright strikes, the full audio does not always stay up.)
2016[edit]
This year was only 10 hours total. There is a break in between the two parts of the recording where the stream was interrupted.
- Part 1 (5:47:19)
- Part 2 (3:54:08)
- Interviews: Flansburgh part 1, Flansburgh part 2; Linnell
2017[edit]
- Complete list of requests
- Interviews: Linnell, Flansburgh
A TMBG-themed cover show took place at the What's Up Lounge in Mankato after this year's broadcast.
2018[edit]
Starting this year, the song Meet James Ensor was no longer played at the top of every hour. During his 2017 call-in, John Flansburgh noticed that the band's 2018 tour would bring them near the KMSU station, and offered to stop by. On March 13, 2018, the band visited the station for a special in-person interview.
- Youtube video of in-person interview
- Complete list of requests
- Radio interviews: Flansburgh, Linnell, Danny Weinkauf
2019[edit]
- Complete list of requests
- Interviews: Flansburgh, Linnell
2020[edit]
- Complete list of requests
- Interviews: Flansburgh, Linnell
2021[edit]
- Complete list of songs played (missing listener request information)
- Interviews: Linnell, Flansburgh
2022[edit]
- Interviews: Flansburgh, Linnell
2023[edit]
2024[edit]
Because the band was touring overseas during this year's marathon, the interview segments were recorded in advance.
2025[edit]
Because the band was busy traveling to a show during this year's marathon, only John Linnell was able to briefly call in. However, the band "called in" from their soundcheck to play several songs live on air during the final hour.
- List of requests by hour: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
- John Linnell interview
- Brooklyn Bowl Soundcheck (2025-11-14a)