All about the XPN A to Z
Welcome to our annual Fall programming event! The first ever XPN A to Z launches today with Morning Show host Kristen Kurtis. We’ll play thousands and thousands of XPN songs in alphabetical order, starting with “ABC” by the Jackson 5 until we hit the final Z.
The A to Z has been an idea that the programming staff at XPN has been toying with for a few years. For those of us who grew up listening to commercial radio stations, the A to Z weekend is a familiar concept. And it’s fun to see what happens to a playlist when the alphabet is the curator. But with thousands of titles in the XPN library, we realized that if we were to take on the A to Z idea, we’d have to flip the concept on its head and reimagine it XPN-style. So we did.
To put our arms around it, we started with lists – lots of them. We pulled from our 885 Countdowns, our Greatest Year in Music countdowns, David Dye’s Funky Friday vaults, Helen Leicht’s Philly Local record stacks, Dan Reed’s punk rock record collection, Kristen Kurtis’s massive collection of Friday Morning mixtapes, many years of our Artists To Watch, the hundreds of band that have played the XPoNential Music Festival, Robert Drake’s Land of The Lost library, and more, covering the 1950s through today. The XPN A to Z promises to be a musical experience that will showcase the incredible size of the XPN music library, the depth of the artists we play, and all the many genres we explore from folk to funk, from indie-rock to classic rock, from soul and blues to beyond.
Because there is so much music to play during the XPN A to Z, we’ll be going through the alphabet round the clock, 24/7. It will take a couple of weeks. During this time, we will be preempting our specialty shows, but don’t worry —they will be back! You will also be able to go online to hear archives of some of our specialty shows, as well as catch our daily World Cafe on demand.
In case you were wondering, no, we are not playing EVERY single song we’ve ever played in our library. Truth be told, we’d probably be in A to Z mode for the next eight years. We have pulled together thousands and thousands of essential XPN songs for you to enjoy. Please let us know what you think — comment here, or get in touch with us at Facebook and Twitter, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #XPNAtoZ!