By Madyson Martinez
Picture this: You wake up at noon, binge watch a season of your favorite tv show, and curl up with your cat and a good book. It’s a relaxing Sunday. As you get ready for bed that night, you settle into your cozy space, make yourself a warm mug of tea, and turn on your radio to KRTU to enjoy the “calmest hour of the week.”
San Antonio native Ryan Menefee, host of KRTU’s Moonlight Meditation, sat down to talk with us about his radio show.
“[It showcases] the many styles and genres of ambient and electronic music that I find compelling, contemplative, hypnotic, and soothing,” Menefee said. “For those familiar with soma.fm, my program is like a mix of Drone Zone, Deep Space One, and Space Station Soma.”
Menefee first fell in love with meditation music at the age of 16 after watching the movie, Pi. Once he got hooked on the ambient track featured near the end of that movie, he took it upon himself to search for more similar music. Later in his thirties, he used ambient music to help concentrate and relieve his anxiety.
“There’s certain qualities of ambient and electronic music that have attracted me for years, and they can invoke a spirit of calm watchfulness or a sense of mystery and wonder - those are the tracks I tend to gravitate toward,” he said. “The pandemic reinforced this appeal even greater, as the existential anxiety I felt during that time was met with albums by Stars of the Lid, Joanna Brouk, and Warmth, to name but a few.”
In 2009, Menefee started listening to KRTU in his car. It quickly became his go-to station. When he accepted a job at Trinity University ten years later, he was interested in producing his own radio show.
“By then, I was making a lot of playlists for myself and friends, and I knew I had enough experience with the ambient genre to contribute something unique in the indie overnight lineup,” he said.
Moonlight Meditation features new material in almost every show. Menefee compares arranging his program to crafting a collage.
“I just go with the flow,” he said.
Menefee currently works for Advancement at Trinity while being an independent music producer. In his free time, he enjoys creating and listening to music, eating breakfast tacos, and hiking. In the future, he hopes to have some of his own music on a record label.
“I truly appreciate the folks in Advancement, as well as the entire KRTU staff for being so supportive of my program and giving me the opportunity to spread the love of music,” Menefee said.
Moonlight Meditation airs Sunday nights at 11:00 p.m. on KRTU San Antonio. All of Ryan Menefee’s broadcasts with playlists are available at http://www.mixcloud.com/MoonlightMeditation .
Check out this video segment of “What’s On My Turntable”, a new series produced by KRTU interns featuring hosts sharing stories about their favorite vinyl albums. Episode 1 - Ryan Menefee - host of Moonlight Meditation.