Back in 2012, NPR’s All Things Considered brought in a live band to fill in the bumper music between their segments. Bumper music is all the music you hear while listening to radio, and serves to create the mood and enhance the story.
Monika Evstatieva, the director of All Things Considered, says she spends two or three hours a day getting the music just right. The bumper music, she says, is roughly 18 to 22 different songs a day. “Some of it you hear at the end of each segment; we call those deadrolls. Some of it gets covered up by our member stations when they run local coverage; we call those breaks. And some are those tiny, tiny snippets you hear in between stories; those are called buttons. I have to pick eight breaks, 10 deadrolls and a couple of buttons for each day.”
But this Friday, Evstatieva is off the hook. Instead, the electronic duo Thievery Corporation, made up of DJs Eric Hilton and Rob Garza, will be taking the lead. “We’ll be in the studio, in the flesh, performing between each story that goes on the air,” they announced on their Facebook page.
The duo will be performing some of the best songs from their repertoire. Tune in today to your local National Public Radio station (in Seattle or in Portland) Friday afternoon from 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm to listen live, or at your convenience online at NPR’s All Things Considered.
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