The University radio station, WVUA 90.7, will take a break from its regular programming Thursday to count down the top 25 albums of 2010.
Joshua Thomas, host of the usual Thursday night show “Get Folked Up,” will be joined by WVUA hosts Adam Morrow, Donovan Reinwald and Parker White Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. Together they will count down the best albums from what Thomas said might be the best year of music in a decade.
“All these bands that I’ve listened to forever, they all came out with good albums at the same time,” he said. “Even the local scene has chosen this year to explode.”
The group said the final list, including albums from local and national bands, has been difficult to put together. Thomas said he thought about his list for a while before he was able to write it out and even now wonders if certain things should have been changed.
Morrow and Reinwald discussed it sporadically for about a month before finally sitting down and writing it.
After each individual list was submitted, points were assigned to each album based on their position – the top album received 25 points, the second received 24 points, and so on. Finally, all of the points were totaled to create the top 25 list that will be aired.
The race to be the number one album of the year will come down to only a few points, with Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” and The National’s “High Violet” tied for the top spot.
“Adam and Donovan had those two albums pretty high, and I had them pretty high too, so it just worked out that they just got enough points to jump everyone else,” Thomas said. “And I’m fine with it because they are both really, really good and I think they represent this year in music pretty well.”
He said he has made a list of his favorite albums for years but never had a place to share them and is excited to finally have the opportunity to broadcast it. Claire Brucker, the station manager at WVUA, said the station has combined specialty shows before but had never put together a comprehensive list like this one.
“These are three shows coming together that sometimes skirt similar artists, but generally focus on different aspects of the music culture’s landscape, so you’re going to get different views from everyone involved,” Morrow said.
Although these four share a passion for music, it wasn’t until they all joined WVUA that they met. Morrow and Reinwald are the hosts of “The People’s Show,” which airs from 8 to 10 p.m. on Sundays. “The People’s Show” plays music that can’t be heard on any other station in Tuscaloosa because they focus on the local music scene.
White is the host of “Up Beat Up,” which airs Mondays from 8 to 10 p.m. This show features “mixtape-style playlists of indie music.” He often brings in bands to perform live on-air or brings in a record player, which is unique to his show.
Thomas’s show, “Get Folked Up,” airs from 4 to 6 p.m Thursday nights and
features folk and folk-inspired music.
“They all have their own unique opinions and their own unique shows,” Brucker said. “I think it will be exciting to see them come together.”
She expects the show will have both serious and funny aspects because that is the way all of the hosts approach their own shows. This will be the one time listeners can tune in to get opinions from a lot of people who are really passionate about music.
“I highly suggest that if you’ve never listened before, this is the show to listen to,” she said.
