Low Stakes

From This Might Be A Wiki
Low Stakes show artwork

Low Stakes w/ John F. was a weekly free-form radio show hosted by John Flansburgh on Jeffersonville, New York-based public radio station WJFF Radio Catskill. The show ran from June 2020 until January 2022. It was broadcast every Friday at 9 PM ET on the station and its website.

Description

Blurb from the WJFF website:

John F. spins music from all recorded genres, with everything from today's latest releases to field recordings from the 1930s. Thoughtfully curated with your mind in mind!

Prior to getting his own WJFF show, Flansburgh guest-hosted two episodes of The Secret Show (normally hosted by Bryan Sheehan) on WJFF on May 7 and 14, 2020. Three weeks later, Low Stakes began airing on June 5, 2020. Flansburgh had been using the Low Stakes name since 2017 for a series of playlists on the They Might Be Giants Spotify page, similarly highlighting selections of songs by some of his favorite artists.

Episodes were produced remotely at home by Flansburgh and were sent to WJFF for broadcast. The shows were archived on the station's website and Flansburgh's Mixcloud page shortly after airing. Between groups of tracks, Flansburgh often shared anecdotes about the selections, and referred to himself as "your radio pal, John F." or "your make-believe DJ." For bed music, he typically used instrumentals by Raymond Scott or the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Flansburgh described his process putting together the show in a 2021 Tumblr post:

I have a show every week so I'm not looking to do anything that takes up oodles of hours or requires a lot of research. It's a freeform show so all the hard left turns of style and sensibility are kind of baked in. I do track the charts and all the new releases to keep things fresh (I find it fun to play the number one song in the world-so many people have lost track of that part of pop culture. #1s just aren't as ubiquitous as you'd think!)

The show came to an end in January 2022. Flansburgh explained on Tumblr: "Things have been heating up on the writing and recording front [with They Might Be Giants] so I'm on an unofficial sabbatical. Not even sure when I'll get back, although now that it's not part of my week I miss it!"

Episode playlists

Contents

January 14, 2022

Repeat of January 15, 2021

January 7, 2022

December 31, 2021

December 24, 2021

December 17, 2021

December 10, 2021

Repeat of December 3, 2021

December 3, 2021

Theme: Stephen Sondheim Tribute

November 26, 2021

Theme: Psychedelic Music

November 19, 2021

November 12, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud
Theme: Censored and Banned Music

November 5, 2021

October 29, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud

October 22, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud

October 15, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud

October 8, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud

October 1, 2021

Theme: Bottle Episode

September 24, 2021

September 17, 2021

September 10, 2021

Repeat of September 11, 2020

September 3, 2021

August 27, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud

August 20, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud

August 13, 2021

Theme: WJFF Pledge Drive
Repeat of April 23, 2021

August 6, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud
Theme: WJFF Pledge Drive

July 30, 2021

July 23, 2021

Theme: Low Stakes' Greatest Hits, Week Two

July 16, 2021

Theme: Low Stakes' Greatest Hits, Week One

July 9, 2021

July 2, 2021

Theme: An hour of power pop!

June 25, 2021

Theme: A belated Juneteenth celebration

Medley of Songs That Sample "Funky Drummer" (1970):

June 18, 2021

June 11, 2021

June 4, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud
Theme: "Tonight, let's all make love in London" UK Special (Part 2)

May 28, 2021

Listen: Mixcloud

May 21, 2021

Theme: In honor of Dylan's 80th, an evening of music from several artists who were considered "the new Bob Dylan."

May 14, 2021

May 7, 2021

April 30, 2021

April 23, 2021

April 16, 2021

April 9, 2021

April 2, 2021

March 26, 2021

Theme: "Songs About Happiness and Rickenbacker Guitars"

March 19, 2021

March 12, 2021

March 5, 2021

February 26, 2021

February 19, 2021

Theme: "The 'going' edition."

February 5, 2021

Theme: "Smoking, drugs, plus one segment of all new releases"

January 29, 2021

January 22, 2021

Theme: "Tonight Let's All Make Love in London"

January 15, 2021

January 8, 2021

January 1, 2021

December 25, 2020

Theme: "The last bit of Christmas music for 2020"

December 18, 2020

December 11, 2020

Theme: "John F.'s soul spectacular"

December 4, 2020

November 27, 2020

November 20, 2020

November 13, 2020

October 30, 2020

October 23, 2020

October 16, 2020

October 9, 2020

October 2, 2020

Theme: "A full hour tribute to the compositions, productions, arrangements and performances of Allen Toussaint. Everything this shows plays is going to be funky."

September 25, 2020

Theme: "An hour of hard lefts and rights because it is being put together very spontaneously"

September 18, 2020

September 11, 2020

September 4, 2020

August 28, 2020

Repeat of August 21, 2020

August 21, 2020

Theme: Soul music

August 14, 2020

August 7, 2020

July 31, 2020

July 24, 2020

Theme: Dance party!

July 17, 2020

Mini Theme: Songs with "one note things" (saxophone in "Flying Home", guitar in "Cinnamon Girl", and saxophone in "Corn Bread")

July 10, 2020

Theme: Songs you may know more popular versions of.

July 3, 2020

June 26, 2020

June 19, 2020

June 12, 2020

June 5, 2020

May 14, 2020

Theme: John F. fills in for The Secret Show

May 7, 2020

Theme: John F. fills in for The Secret Show

External links