The Saturday Six Pack with Mark Maynard, tune in this Saturday at 6:00 PM

AM1700 Mark Maynard f4

OK, the contract negotiations are now over, and it’s official. As of Saturday, I will be a part-time, non-compensated employee of Ypsilanti’s AM1700, where I’ll host “The Saturday Six Pack with Mark Maynard”. (Other Mark Maynards were interviewed, but I came out on top.) As we discussed earlier, the show will be extremely free-form in nature. Depending on how I feel, I can either just sit and stare quietly out the window, while those of you at home listen to me breathe, or I can open up the door of the station and invite people in to share a beer and chat for a minute… There are no sponsors. There is no mandate to increase listenership. There is just me in a room, doing what I want in front of a mic for as long as there is beer. And you can either listen, or not. It could not be any more elegant and beautiful.

The premise of the show, as you may recall from our earlier conversation, is pretty simple. I walk into the station at 6:00 with a six pack, and then leave once it’s done. So, if there are quite a few live guests, the show could be extremely short. Conversely, if it’s just me, the show could go on for hours and hours. As I’m pretty good at pacing myself, though, I suspect I can time things, and dole out the beer accordingly, so that shows don’t run too much longer than two hours. So, if you tune in between 6:00 and 8:00 PM (EST) this Saturday, I’m pretty sure that you’ll hear something. It may not be terribly interesting, but you’ll hear something that you would never hear on commercial/professional radio.

I only have two things planned. I’ll begin the show with a surprise guest at 6:00. And, at 7:00, Brigid Mooney will be coming in to pitch the idea of a weekly “shy comedians” segment on the show. (Brigid’s of the opinion that funny people, who are terrified of performing in front of people, should have a non-comedy club venue, like the Saturday Six Pack, where they can do their thing without having people watch them perform. I told her that she could come in and make her case, and then we’d put the idea to a vote. If people like the idea, we’ll make some time available every week to these terrified, yet funny, people.) And, otherwise, we’ll just see what happens. I’m not going to stress about it. I’m happy to just see what develops. Ypsi, I’ve found, usually comes though in situations like this… And, if nothing magical happens, I’ll just read Prairie Home Companion transcripts (adding sexy parts where necessary).

I should warn you that it’ll likely be really sloppy. There’s no call screener, so there will be no jumping effortlessly from one call to the next. And there’s no talking to four people off-the-air in order to determine which one might have something interesting to say. There’s just one phone line, and me talking with whoever gets through. And I know that we’ll have technical glitches. I just hope it comes across as more small town charming than embarrassingly lame. Either way, though, I think it’ll probably be interesting. Painfully awkward, maybe, but interesting.

If you want to call in, here’s the number: 734.217.8624. Please take a minute to write it on your hand.

And, like I said, I’m happy to talk about almost anything… Seriously, we can talk about anything, from Ypsi politics and dating advice to animal husbandry and movie recommendation. It’s up to you… As I’ve said before, “I’ll bring the beer, you set the agenda.”

As for the poster at the top of the page, the station owners Brian and Kate put it together. The body’s not mine. I’m not sure where they got it. The head, however, does belong to me. It’s usually more pudgy, though. I think they thinned it out a bit. I suppose I should be thankful for that… I like their decision to go retro with the design. An AM radio program, I think, kind of demands that.

For those of you living more than a block away from our 100 microwatt antenna, you’ll want to tune in online. And, from what Brian tells me, you can do that in a few ways. You can stream the show directly from the AM1700 website. (Just select your desired format.) Or, you can listen by way of TuneIn.com. If you want, you can even download the TuneIn ap and listen on your phone. As I understand from station management, you can also listen through your television, if you have something called Roku. Or, if you want, you can just stand on Washington Street and press your good ear against one of the station’s windows. So, really, there’s no excuse not to listen.

There’s also been a Facebook event page set up for the first show. As of right now, 23 people say they’re going to be listening. If I’m not mistaken, that should leave us with a few milliwatts to spare, but they’re going fast.

Oh, I should also warn you that it’s not recommended that you just drop by the station. I know I said I’d have six beers there, but it’s a small space, and I can’t invite everyone in. Yeah, if you look interesting and knock, I may let you in for a Dixie cup full of PBR, but it’s more likely that you’ll freeze to death outside while watching me act out scenes from a Prairie Home Companion and lap up warm beer from a saucer. And no one should have to die like that.

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11 Comments

  1. Posted January 15, 2015 at 10:01 pm | Permalink

    I put it in my calendar to call in. But I will probably talk about Ann Arbor :)

    Also, perhaps this is the place where you and Pete can film the remake of the She’s Gone video? I just introduced someone to it a few weeks ago, and they were as smitten as we are.

  2. Posted January 15, 2015 at 10:02 pm | Permalink

    Btw, if this makes you become creepy like Garrison Kellior, I will kick you. <3

  3. Posted January 16, 2015 at 9:46 am | Permalink

    Congratulations on your new venture! I think if you call it a podcast, it’s not retro.

  4. Posted January 16, 2015 at 12:41 pm | Permalink

    Mark,

    Are there going to be any listening parties? Are there ways that we can interact with you while you’re on the air other than the phone? Will you be on Twitter? Should those of us discussing the show on Twitter use the hashtag #satudaysixpack or #saturday6pack?

  5. Mr. Y
    Posted January 16, 2015 at 2:27 pm | Permalink

    Ben, they will be opening up the Michigan Theater that night so that people can all discuss the first episode of the Saturday Six Pack together. There will be nurses and representatives from all of the major religions on hand. Jim Harbaugh will be facilitating the conversation. It will be simulcast to Asia.

  6. Posted January 17, 2015 at 9:44 am | Permalink

    I thought that I’d constructed this thing so that there wouldn’t be any stress. I was wrong.

    As for listening parties and the like, I don’t know of anything formal. A few folks have indicated to me that they’d be listening together, but I don’t think that anyone has rented a hall or anything. My sense is that the entire listening audience could be accommodated in the bathroom of the Dreamland Theater, though, so maybe that’s an option for folks.

  7. grunch
    Posted January 17, 2015 at 1:34 pm | Permalink

    I’d like to listen, but I often work Saturday evenings. Any plans to archive the show so I can listen at a later time?

  8. Posted January 18, 2015 at 12:32 pm | Permalink

    How did it go?

  9. Posted January 18, 2015 at 1:37 pm | Permalink

    I’m biased, Doug, but I think it went incredibly well. Lots of calls. Lots of people dropping in. I hope to post about it later today with audio. Thank you for asking.

  10. Posted January 18, 2015 at 2:47 pm | Permalink

    I am sure that it was wonderful.

    Did you talk about public schools or buses?

  11. blueeyedpupil
    Posted January 18, 2015 at 3:53 pm | Permalink

    did hear some discussion of rainbows

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  1. […] night was my first night hosting The Saturday Six Pack with Mark Maynard on Ypsilanti’s historic AM 1700, and I think it went pretty well. You’ll find my rough […]

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