Starting Friday Feb. 19, Baltimore composer and electronic musician Dan Deacon will host “Distorting Time,” a weekly radio series dedicated to playing unabridged long-form music, on 89.7 WTMD.
“Distorting Time” features two hours of unabridged music where extended length is the common theme, will air at midnight EST every Friday night on 89.7 FM and stream live on the station’s site or via the free WTMD smartphone app.
Baltimore musician and composer Dan Deacon is the host of “Distorting Time,” a new radio show on WTMD featuring long-form instrumental jams. The show begins at midnight Fridays and runs through 2 a.m. Saturdays starting Feb. 19 on 89.7 WTMD. Illustration by Wilson Ward Kemp.
While setlists will be available at wtmd.org, the show will only be available live – not as a standing podcast for on-demand listening.
“I love long-form music, and I love the collective shared yet distantly separated experience of listening to the radio,” Dan said. “There is something about the waves traveling through the air that adds a magic to music.”
WTMD and Dan have been in talks to create something like “Distorting Time” for several years, but when the pandemic put the world of touring musicians on hold, the timing was right to make it happen.
“Dan understands the mystique of late night radio, and ‘Distorting Time’ is perfectly suited for after-hours listening,” said Scott Mullins, WTMD’s General Manager and Program Director. “We are very grateful to Dan for believing in the power of radio, and his continued support of WTMD.”
While Dan has been an influential figure in the Baltimore music scene for more than 15 years, this is the first time he’s hosted his own radio show. The name “Distorting Time” comes from one of the cards in Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies deck.
“It was wild how on-the-nose the first card I drew was, and I didn’t need to draw a second one,” Dan said. “I hope the show can live up to its title and, for brief instances, distort time to allow listeners to sit in extended moments and bliss out.”
Dan is reaching into a diverse range of genres and generations to collect music for “Distorting Time,” and he hopes the show will have a meditative quality. Some of the pieces stretch beyond 20 minutes in length, and could only air on a radio station like WTMD.
“It’s rare to find a show like this on FM radio anymore, and Dan’s a natural host,” said Sam Sessa, WTMD’s Baltimore music and community outreach manager. “This is a side of him we really haven’t seen before, and it’s been such a pleasure helping him become a radio DJ.”
“Distorting Time” hosted by Dan Deacon airs midnight Fridays-2 a.m. Saturdays every week starting Feb. 19 on WTMD.
For more information, contact Sam Sessa at [email protected]
