Michael Anthony Thomas is the co-host of Music for Listeners alongside Orlando Torres. This month we are celebrating his 30 years of dedication to KRTU! Michael fills his spare time with music - recorded and live. He is a “disc selector, sound editor, (pizza lover), and music collector”, so trips to the record store are always welcome. Outside of music, he enjoys movies and late night TV as well as baseball and “the occasional San Antonio Spurs game”.
When Michael was a toddler, he had his first memorable experience with Independent music. He asked for Paul and Linda McCartney’s RAM just to hear “Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey”. He also remembers listening to and really enjoying Electric Light Orchestra around the age of six. Jeff Lynne of ELO and his label, Jet Records intrigued him. Through this interest he found Sire Records and Reprise Records through the early Fleetwood Mac releases. He developed a love for Sire Records starting in the late 70s and throughout the 80s because of artists such as Talking Heads, Madness, Madonna, Depeche Mode, The Smiths, and Poster Children. When Sire Records began working with the UK label, Creation Records in the early 90s, Michael couldn’t look back. He believes that Creation Records was one of the greatest Indie labels to exist and Sire Records boosted Creation Records listenership in the states. This love of independent labels is present in his music taste today with labels such as Moshi Moshi, Heavenly, Bella Union, 4AD, Fire, Transgressive, and more. He appreciates the freedom independent record labels give to artists, allowing them to produce their art at their own pace. His favorite new album at the moment is Django Django’s ‘Glowing In the Dark’. He has also been loving Declan McKenna’s album titled, ‘Zeros’. Teleman, Django Django, and Summer Camp are his current favorite bands.
Michael first started listening to KRTU in the late 80s back when it was classical programming from 6am to 6pm and jazz overnight until 2am. The first program he listened to on the station was titled Music From the Hearts of Space (atmospheric, ambient music). He recalled the days before automated music systems when a radio host needed to be playing music every hour of the broadcast day. He started working for KRTU in 1991 when a friend who went to Trinity introduced him to the station. He took on some classical shifts and late night jazz shifts. He didn’t know much about either genre at the time, but loved the opportunity to learn about them and share his research with listeners. He grew up with rock, blues, and soul, so in those days he would sometimes get warnings from KRTU staff about breaking the format. He believed KRTU would return to its roots as more of a freeform station. Eventually, this happened in 1999 with the introduction of alternative radio overnight and jazz during the day. When this happened Michael Thomas requested the Midnight to 3am slot on Fridays, thus, Music For Listeners was created.
Music For Listeners was the show Michael had dreamed of hosting. 3 hours of music without limitations. In 2004 Michael’s longtime friend Orlando Torres joined as a regular co-host. Together, Michael and Orlando explore various genres of music. The show is generally formatted as follows: two hours of new singles or album cuts followed by a full album in the last hour. Once a month they pass the mic to a guest host to play anything they like. They call this “The 180”. They also like to include interviews of bands and exclusive live recordings for the show. In 2009, Orlando had the idea to begin hosting music parties during SXSW. Together they curate bands for SXSW day parties. In total, they have hosted over 200 bands at these parties and have created a Music For Listeners brand outside of KRTU.
Michael finds inspiration from the U.S. / U.K. music relationships that sparked his love of independent music when he was young. They play many U.K. artists and strive to give bands or labels their first spin in the U.S. Usually, Michael and Orlando start off the show with a country, folk, or blues song followed by a new single by a U.K. band. After this they play loud rock followed by electronica. Then soul, singer/songwriter, and atmospheric music. You can really get a wide sampling of many genres in just 2 hours. The final hour of the show is called “The Mid-Morning Recording”, playing Fridays at 2am. They have played about 850 albums, rarely repeating, since the mid-2000s when the late night album hour first began.
If you would like to see their playlists, going back to 2001, check out their website, here: http://www.musicforlisteners.com/midmorningrecording.htm
“KRTU is an amazing educational source for the students of Trinity, the listeners, and certainly for me and the rest of the staff. I learn something every day about a recording or an artist. As a music lover of all genres, it has become one of the best stations on the planet. I am obviously a bit biased as I help to program Indie Overnight, but it is so great to hear so many styles of music each day on our broadcasts. The unique blend of staff, students and volunteers makes KRTU special, and it is a rarity in 21st century radio. I hope KRTU continues to keep doing what it is doing. We get new programs and new hosts almost every semester, and it is wonderful to hear what new students and volunteers bring to their shows. I hope the community continues to embrace us as our signal reaches further out into it. I hope to see more and more people out in the community coming together at concerts and events, united by the music. As for me, I hope to be a part of the KRTU family for a long time to come.”