Blogs

While the holidays are not quite here yet, I find myself in a Christmasish mood just now. So, in addition to some of the usual Celtic music on Come By The Hills this week, I will again be flavouring the show with the sounds of Christmas. We've got carols, songs and other wintry fair on the menu, including a folky version of a beloved holiday novelty classic in "Celtic Covers" and a lovely Gaelic carol from Scotland in "What's That About."

The Drifters would become the most successful vocal group in history, charting hit after hit for over 20 years, with no less than a dozen different lead singers. This week, the “Juke In The Back” spotlights The Drifters’ first chapter with the great high tenor of Clyde McPhatter out front. The group was created by Atlantic Records in order to showcase McPhatter’s beautiful and powerful voice after his 2 year stint with Billy Ward & The Dominos ended.

Yes, it's me, Sara Hillis, back again and this time in shameless self-promotion mode. I wanted to let you know that if you've heard my sequel to "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" called, funnily enough, "I Got a Hippopotamus for Christmas" and are just dying to have it for yourself, or even if you haven't heard it and would like to hear it, it's available for the holidays for free from my web site. Steve Cutway has nominated it for his top pick for the Mushroom FM Christmas Count-down. Want to know why?

I do love the holiday sentiments of peace on earth and good will and all that, but if you're sick and tired of all that comfort and joy, tune into the Sara Hillis Show all next week, because we're going to battle it out Christmas style!

Christmas has come a bit early to Mosen Towers with the arrival of a new baby. Now now, we don’t want to kick the rumour mill into fever pitch, this baby is of the tiny laptop variety. It’s here it’s here. It’s powerful, the battery life is insane, it’s thin and light…and it now has all the software installed on it that I use on a daily basis. The big question is, can we broadcast live with it? Can we? Will it smoothly sail through four hours of fun, festive, unpredictable unforgettable Internet radio, or will smoke start billowing from its virtual ears?

It is not officially winter here in the northern hemisphere, but it is December, the month in which winter begins. It is also, of course, the month of Advent, the month of expectation and anticipation leading up to Christmas proper. So, as this month of seasonal change and hopeful waiting begins, I thought we'd celebrate both winter and the coming holiday season with songs about Christmas and about winter itself.

The holidays are all about traditions and rituals. Turkey, mistletoe, Santa and more. Once again, it's time to prepare for one such special tradition.

The Mushroom FM Holiday Countdown and Christmas party is back yet again for 2016, where we're making a list, checking it twice, and presenting a 10-hour extravaganza of the top 100 holiday songs as determined by our listeners.

The “Juke In The Back” features another highly underrated R&B vocal group from the 1950s: The Checkers.  They never scored a national hit, but they’re one of the finest examples of polished 1950s R&B and their story deserves to be shared.  The Checkers were formed after tenor Charlie White and bass Bill Brown split from Bill Ward & His Dominoes.  They had some regional success with “House With No Windows,” an uptempo version of “White Cliffs Of Dover” and “Don’t Stop Dan,” the sequel to “Sixty Minute Man.”  Matt The Cat digs through a mess of King Records 78s to bring you the be

Today marks the anniversary of a milestone in New Zealand radio. At 11 AM on 4 December 1966, a young man named Bob Laehy pressed a button on an open reel tape deck, on which was threaded a documentary that started a new radio station.

But it wasn't any ordinary radio station. All the radio stations in New Zealand since 1936 had been operated by a government corporation, so this new venture, Radio Hauraki, was broadcasting from a ship just outside New Zealand's territorial waters in an effort to break the Government's broadcasting monopoly.

Oh mercy! Sadly, Cute Caroline's not able to be with us this week, so her meagre understudy is back with two hours of great country music.

It's December, so surely no one, I mean no one, can argue with playing Christmas music now. So we'll throw a few good cotton-pickin', finger-lickin' country Christmas tunes in the mix.

Yeah, remember those days back on the farm, where grandma would go out and shoot a turkey on Christmas eve, then get run over by a reindeer on the way home with it? Ah memories, memories.