As promised, here’s some data about the most recent 1,000 songs I listened to. These made up the last 1% of 100,000 unique tracks heard.
Purview
We consider merely the 1,000 tracks played by iTunes (or its related phone app) from the April 2 to June 9, in the year 2017* — which tracks comprise numbers 99,001 – 100,000 in my ‘Already Played’ Smart Playlist.†
*Those paying attention to my earlier report will note that the last investigation covered songs played through March 28th — So why the 5 day gap? Due to the fact that songs may be played multiple times, a repeated play of a song heard before may ‘push out’ a new song from the LastX set of songs. That is, if we consider the ‘Last 10’ songs and start from the 91st song, counting up to 100 unique songs, and songs 91-99 are all new (single play) tracks, but the would-be 100th track is a repeat of #1, we’ve still only listened to 99 total songs; if we now listen to a new track for #100, the song which had earlier been #91 has been ‘pushed down’ to #90 (due to the fact that the former #1 is now #99) and the time at which that song was heard has been lost, replaced by the Last Played time of the former song #92 (now #91). Taking this over 1,000 songs explains why we’re missing quite a few days. Alas, some songs are lost from our view, like some strange Feynman Diagram of data.
†More details about this playlist and associated details (including that covered in the preceding note) can be found in this earlier post on reaching 99,000 songs. The same caveats about data modification apply.
Overview
Changes in the conditions of my material life continue. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the primary fact presented by these 1,000 songs: Over 80% of all tracks played are Radio Shows.
80.3% of all tracks played were Radio Shows
As previously mentioned, these tracks were played between April 2 and June 9, 2017, making a total of 68 days to play these 1,000 songs. Thus nearly 15 songs were played per day.
14.7 Songs played per Day
Assuming that each track was played only once during the thousand song run — not an entirely valid assumption (and see note * above), but a fair hypothesis for this analysis — the total amount of time taken to play these 1k songs was 19 days, 17 hours, 17 minutes, and 21 seconds.
Total Time of Tracks: 19 Days, 17 Hours, 17 Minutes, and 21 Seconds
Since these songs were played over a stretch of 68 days, and given the total length of time of all played tracks above, this means that just over 29% of this 68-day period was spent listening to iTunes in one way or another.
29% of Each Day spent listening to iTunes
or
6 hours and 57-1/2 minutes per day Listening to Stuff
Once again, most of these tracks have only been played once. Specifically, 900 songs (9/10) were played for the first time during this most recent thousand tracks. The remaining 100 songs with multiple plays together have been played a grand total of 354 times.
900 Tracks heard for the 1st Time
Details
Genres
The data shows the prevalence of Radio Shows in my recent listening. Here is a chart, broken down by genre, showing what was included in these one thousand tracks:
And here is a table showing those genres which each provided over 1% of the total number of tracks played:
Songs Played by Genre
Radio Show 803 Rock 76 Pop 16 Alternative 14 Jazz 13 Novelty 11
All the rest of tracks played make up 6.7% of the total.
But the prevalence of Radio Shows is even greater than shown by this first view, due to the fact that (natürlich) the average radio show is longer than most popular songs. If we inspect the tracks played with respect to their duration we discover that the Radio Show genre actually makes up almost 97% of the total.
96.92% of time spent listening to Radio Shows
Here’s the chart:
Usually I’d put a table in here to follow up the chart, but the reality is that only one other Genre made up more than 1% of the total time spent listening. This was Rock, which 1.14% of the total duration spent listening to these thousand tracks. That big green bar in the chart up above, representing time of Jazz songs? That represents only 0.31% of the total time. I almost made a table of the contributions by time excepting Radio Shows, but … meh.
Again, due to the overwhelming preponderance of old radio shows among these thousand tracks, the average length of the played tracks was twenty-eight minutes and twenty-four seconds. This was very similar to the average from the last thousand tracks, being only twenty seconds less.
Average length of played tracks: 28:23.8
Radio shows had the longest average, at thirty-four minutes and seventeen seconds (34:16.6). Only two other Genres averaged over ten minutes: Avant-Garde (a single Salvador Dalí track from Être Dieu, lasting twenty-five minutes and five seconds) and History (three selections, averaging ten minutes and fifteen seconds each). Since I ripped you off last time, here’s another table:
Average Length of Tracks by Genre
(with more than 10 tracks played)
Radio Show (803 tracks) 28:23.8 Jazz (13 tracks) 6:40.2 Novelty (11 tracks) 5:48.4 Rock (76 tracks) 4:16.5 Pop (16 tracks) 3:51.5 Alternative (14 tracks) 3:25
Albums
Radio Shows contributed (of course) most of the songs when we regard them by albums. Over half the tracks played came from just fourteen albums.
528 tracks came from just 14 albums
Of course, grouping Radio Shows into ‘albums’ means that these have more tacks than the average CD. Of the fourteen albums mentioned above, the smallest contribution was over seventeen tracks. All of the albums making up this majority of tracks heard were Radio Shows. The first non-radio album on the list, with seven tracks, was Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits. (This album has only nine tracks — a respectable number — so that it would never have made the top of the list anyway.) The top fourteen albums are:
| Lux Radio Theatre | 112 tracks |
| Theater Five | 73 |
| The Green Hornet | 38 |
| Sears Radio Theater | 36 |
| Space Patrol | 36 |
| Suspense | 33 |
| NBC University Theater | 32 |
| Mystery House | 31 |
| CBS Radio Mystery Theater | 28 |
| Have Gun, Will Travel | 28 |
| Words At War | 23 |
| Zero Hour | 23 |
| You Are There | 18 |
| Gunsmoke | 17 |
Artists
All of the most played artists this time around were those actors appearing in the most frequent albums/shows mentioned above. The list includes the luminaries John Dehner and William Conrad (for Have Gun, Will Travel and Gunsmoke respectively), as well as Al Hodge, Jack McCarthy (who both played The Green Hornet) and Earle Graser (who played The Lone Ranger during the 30’s).
Songs
As I said earlier, the vast majority — 900 — of the played tracks have only been heard once (by me). The 100 songs which have been played 354 times in toto primarily consist of songs played only twice (74 songs). And almost 20% of the 354 multiple plays came from one song — if ‘song’ it can be called, but as I have named radio episodes ‘songs’ who am I to quibble? — that single song being the first movement (Tacet) of John Cage’s 4’33”. It certainly has its appealing aspects.
Most played song (70 times): “4’33”: I – Tacet” by John Cage
The next most frequently played track was the work of genius “The Man’s Too Strong” by Dire Straits, which I’ve listened to (according to iTunes data) a total of thirteen times.
2nd most played song (13 times): “The Man’s Too Strong” by Dire Straits
Only two other songs in this last one thousand have been heard (by me) ten or more times, both of them covers: Johnny Cash’s masterful rendition of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” (11 times), and “Working Class Hero” as performed by Marianne Faithfull live on her album Blazing Away.
The shortest track was only 3 seconds long, an audio sample from an experimental set of sound files from the radio station KKFS. The longest track lasted two hours, thirty minutes and forty-six seconds; this was “If Two Of Them Are Dead”, a week-long radio drama, from the series Zero Hour hosted by Rod Serling, which originally aired in September of 1973, though this particular recording was broadcast (putatively) from New Year’s Eve 1973 though January 4, 1974. The song closest to the average length (the median) was an episode of Suspense titled “On a Country Road” (aired May 5, 1959) which clocks in at seventeen minutes and twenty-nine seconds.
Review
I usually refrain from getting into my ratings for specific tracks, etc. I will say, however, that the average rating for all 1,000 tracks was 3-3/4 stars. I won’t get into specific of my rating system save to say that this is lower than usual for rated items.
I will also say that not all radio shows are created equal, and that something was forgotten not long after television began to dominate American media. The reprise of radio in the 1970’s was for the most part a pale mimeograph of the original greats. However, many great shows aired on radio under the penumbra of the new medium of television. Shows such as Dragnet, Gunsmoke, and Have Gun, Will Travel were broadcast on both radio and TV, and the radio version of these shows were often at least as good — if not better — than the televised episodes.‡ Other good radio worth checking out includes Suspense, some of the Lux Radio Theatre, the fantastic Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Let George Do It, and Box 13. And fans of history will love the wonderful dramatic recreations of You Are There. There are many other great shows, but the ones mentioned have enough extant episodes to make binge listening a possibility. (You might check out Pat Novak … For Hire for a different take on Jack Webb.)
‡Note that many of the available recordings of Have Gun, Will Travel are of lower quality. :(
I still hope to make an analysis of the full set of my first 100,000 songs. But I do not doubt that I won’t complete that before the next thousand tracks have passed my ears. Currently I’m knee-deep in Lux Radio Theatre episodes, and I’m trying to make up the over 100 day deficit between songs listened to and those I have not yet heard. So I expect the average track length to grow greatly in the next tranche.
Here is another sample of these last one thousand songs:
Another Tenth of One Thousand Tracks
| # | Artist | Name | Album | Date | Time | Genre |
| 10 | “The Tin Whistle” | The Columbia Workshop | 11/23/1946 | 29:56 | Radio Show | |
| 20 | “The Last Letter of Dr Bronson” | Suspense | 7/27/1943 | 29:39 | Radio Show | |
| 30 | “Masquerade” | CBS Radio Mystery Theater | 2/11/1977 | 44:57 | Radio Show | |
| 40 | Abbott & Costello | “Sam Shovel – Case Of The Russian Diplomat” | The Abbott & Costello Show | 11/18/1948 | 28:52 | Radio Show |
| 50 | “The Strange Voyage of the Lady Dee” | CBS Radio Mystery Theater | 11/18/1974 | 43:58 | Radio Show | |
| 60 | “The Mystery of the Marie Celeste” | Suspense | 12/27/1955 | 29:13 | Radio Show | |
| 70 | Eric Dolphy | “245” | Seven Classic Albums | 1960 | 6:51 | Jazz |
| 80 | Spike Jones | Guest – Francis Craig | Spotlight Revue | 11/14/1947 | 29:41 | Radio Show |
| 90 | “A Table for Two” | CBS Radio Mystery Theater | 9/25/1978 | 42:32 | Radio Show | |
| 100 | Glen Langan | “Monica Feels Threatened” | Mystery Is My Hobby | 1947 | 24:58 | Radio Show |
| 110 | William Conrad | “Maw Hawkins” | Gunsmoke | 3/8/1959 | 23:49 | Radio Show |
| 120 | The White Stripes | “Black Jack Davey” | Black Jack Davey – Single | 2004 | 5:06 | Alternative |
| 130 | The Stooges | “Head On” | Metallic K.O. | 1976 | 8:30 | Rock |
| 140 | Bob Dylan & The Band | “All-American Boy” | A Tree With Roots, vol. 3 | 1967 | 3:57 | Rock |
| 150 | “Great Impersonation” | Studio One | 1/27/1948 | 0:11 | Radio Show | |
| 160 | Tyrone Power & Barbara Stanwyck | “This Above All” | Lux Radio Theatre | 9/14/1942 | 59:04 | Radio Show |
| 170 | Bob & Ray | “Lawrence Fechtenberger’s New Recruit” | Bob & Ray Present the CBS Radio Network | 11/25/1959 | 15:27 | Radio Show |
| 180 | Ronald Reagan | “Carbine Williams” | Lux Radio Theatre | 3/22/1954 | 55:12 | Radio Show |
| 190 | Anne Baxter | “The Affairs of Susan” [AFRS] | Lux Radio Theatre | 8/24/1953 | 56:20 | Radio Show |
| 200 | “The Elsner Case” | The Line-Up | 12/28/1950 | 29:41 | Radio Show | |
| 210 | John Dehner | “Bad Bart” | Have Gun, Will Travel | 1/31/1960 | 24:29 | Radio Show |
| 220 | “Condition: Red” | Words At War | 1/25/1944 | 29:29 | Radio Show | |
| 230 | Union Carbide Productions | “Maximum Dogbreath” | Financially Dissatisfied Philosophically Trying | 1989 | 4:42 | Rock |
| 240 | “Heart Of Darkness” | NBC University Theater | 5/15/1949 | 59:28 | Radio Show | |
| 250 | The English Beat | “Ackee 1 2 3” | Special Beat Service | 1982 | 3:13 | Rock |
| 260 | “The Good Samaritians” | Theater Five | 10/15/1964 | 20:47 | Radio Show | |
| 270 | Jimmy Stewart | “Britt Poncett’s Christmas Carol” | The Six Shooter | 12/20/1953 | 28:58 | Radio Show |
| 280 | “Lexington, Concord And Merriam’s Corner [April 19, 1775]” | You Are There | 5/15/1949 | 30:05 | Radio Show | |
| 290 | “Melodrama” | Theater Five | 8/13/1964 | 20:56 | Radio Show | |
| 300 | Jack Moyles | “Ace High Straight” | Rocky Jordan | 12/12/1948 | 29:48 | Radio Show |
| 310 | Bob Bailey | “The Markham Matter” | Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar | 11/18/1956 | 30:00 | Radio Show |
| 320 | “The Ship” | Words At War | 7/24/1943 | 29:27 | Radio Show | |
| 330 | Charles Russell | “The Racehorse Piledriver Matter” | Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar | 10/8/1949 | 29:45 | Radio Show |
| 340 | “Murder in Paradise” | Mystery House | 11/18/1945 | 26:26 | Radio Show | |
| 350 | “The Walls of Poison Ivy” | Theater Five | 7/14/1965 | 20:31 | Radio Show | |
| 360 | John Dehner | “No Visitors” | Have Gun, Will Travel | 12/28/1958 | 24:23 | Radio Show |
| 370 | Claudette Colbert | “Thunder on the Hill” | Lux Radio Theatre | 11/9/1953 | 52:06 | Radio Show |
| 380 | “A Leading Case” | Sears Radio Theater | 5/30/1979 | 48:57 | Radio Show | |
| 390 | “A Spy Ring In June” | Stand By for Crime | 1953 | 24:36 | Radio Show | |
| 400 | John Dehner | “The Statue of San Sebastian” | Have Gun, Will Travel | 5/10/1959 | 23:55 | Radio Show |
| 410 | “Murder Hires A Hall” | Mystery House | 6/7/1946 | 25:27 | Radio Show | |
| 420 | “Muncy’s Mob” | Sears Radio Theater | 5/24/1979 | 49:10 | Radio Show | |
| 430 | John Dehner | “Assignment In Stone’s Crossing” | Have Gun, Will Travel | 11/8/1959 | 23:56 | Radio Show |
| 440 | Jack Moyles | “Up in Flames” | Rocky Jordan | 12/19/1948 | 29:38 | Radio Show |
| 450 | “Design for Disaster” | Space Patrol | 9/11/1954 | 28:59 | Radio Show | |
| 460 | Dick Powell | “To the Ends of the Earth” | Lux Radio Theatre | 5/23/1949 | 1:00:10 | Radio Show |
| 470 | June Allyson & Margaret O’Brien | “Little Women” | Lux Radio Theatre | 3/13/1950 | 59:53 | Radio Show |
| 480 | Al Hodge | “Gasoline And The Hornet” | The Green Hornet | 8/29/1943 | 29:23 | Radio Show |
| 490 | Jack McCarthy | “Murder and Espionage” | The Green Hornet | 11/28/1952 | 29:50 | Radio Show |
| 500 | “Lonely Hearts Club Of Doom” | Stand By for Crime | 1953 | 24:43 | Radio Show | |
| 510 | Bob Bailey | “The Flowers That Smelled of Murder”” | Let George Do It | 11/1/1948 | 29:40 | Radio Show |
| 520 | Barbara Stanwyck & Barry Sullivan | “Jeopardy” | Lux Radio Theatre | 3/15/1954 | 48:39 | Radio Show |
| 530 | “The Show-Off” | The Old Gold Comedy Theatre | 1/21/1945 | 30:14 | Radio Show | |
| 540 | Jimmy Stewart | “Apron Faced Sorrel” | The Six Shooter | 2/7/1954 | 28:32 | Radio Show |
| 550 | Ross Martin | “Chicago John And The Glitter People” | Zero Hour | 7/24/1974 | 23:41 | Radio Show |
| 560 | Donovan Faust | “Intrigue on the Waterfront” | The Green Hornet | 4/8/1944 | 29:14 | Radio Show |
| 570 | “The Final Fall” | Sears Radio Theater | 2/19/1979 | 50:08 | Radio Show | |
| 580 | “The Ninth Commandment” | Words At War | 12/28/1943 | 29:58 | Radio Show | |
| 590 | “An Average American Murder” | Theater Five | 12/16/1964 | 20:20 | Radio Show | |
| 600 | “The Imposters” | Theater Five | 1/21/1965 | 21:42 | Radio Show | |
| 610 | R.E.M. | “Superman” | Life’s Rich Pageant | 1986 | 2:52 | Rock |
| 620 | Charlton Heston & Joan Fontaine | “The President’s Lady” | Lux Radio Theatre | 9/28/1953 | 56:49 | Radio Show |
| 630 | “Mama’s Girl” | Theater Five | 6/1/1965 | 21:14 | Radio Show | |
| 640 | “Murder Takes Practice” | Mystery House | 4/21/1946 | 27:07 | Radio Show | |
| 650 | “An Honorable Way” | Theater Five | 10/19/1964 | 19:50 | Radio Show | |
| 660 | John Dehner | “French Leave” | Have Gun, Will Travel | 1/17/1960 | 24:56 | Radio Show |
| 670 | Janet Leigh | “Strictly Dishonorable” | Lux Radio Theatre | 12/8/1952 | 53:21 | Radio Show |
| 680 | “The Strange Affliction” | Sears Radio Theater | 5/29/1979 | 51:09 | Radio Show | |
| 690 | “Sauce for the Goose” | Mystery House | 9/30/1945 | 26:01 | Radio Show | |
| 700 | The Yardbirds | “I’m Not Talking” | Shapes Of Things | 1965 | 2:32 | Rock |
| 710 | Joseph Cotten & Anne Baxter | “Portrait Of Jenny” | Lux Radio Theatre | 10/31/1949 | 59:34 | Radio Show |
| 720 | Cornell Wilde | “Venom” | Hollywood Star Playhouse | 6/19/1950 | 29:17 | Radio Show |
| 730 | “Death House Blues” | Mystery House | 10/7/1945 | 26:13 | Radio Show | |
| 740 | “The Composite Killer” | Mystery House | 5/5/1946 | 26:12 | Radio Show | |
| 750 | Ringo Starr | “It Don’t Come Easy” | Ringo | 1973 | 2:47 | Rock |
| 760 | “The Perfect Hostess” | Sears Radio Theater | 6/13/1979 | 39:19 | Radio Show | |
| 770 | Jack McCarthy | “Election Boomerang” | The Green Hornet | 10/15/1952 | 30:00 | Radio Show |
| 780 | Anne Baxter & Dan Dailey | “A Ticket to Tomahawk” | Lux Radio Theatre | 6/4/1951 | 54:27 | Radio Show |
| 790 | Don Douglas | “The Sixth Bullet” | John Steele, Adventurer | 1/30/1951 | 29:58 | Radio Show |
| 800 | “The Lord of the Witch Doctors” | Suspense | 10/27/1942 | 29:19 | Radio Show | |
| 810 | “The Trophy” | Theater Five | 1/15/1965 | 22:14 | Radio Show | |
| 820 | “Any Port in A Storm” | Theater Five | 3/16/1965 | 22:09 | Radio Show | |
| 830 | Frank Lovejoy | “The Night Is a Weapon” | Night Beat | 2/13/1950 | 33:44 | Radio Show |
| 840 | Earle Graser | “The Mystery Of Apache Valley” | The Lone Ranger | 1/11/1939 | 29:33 | Radio Show |
| 850 | Peggy Seeger | “Letter to Pete” | Pete Seeger’s 90th Birthday: The Clearwater Concert | 2009 | 6:34 | Folk |
| 860 | “Lewis and Clark” | The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater | 4/23/1977 | 40:07 | Radio Show | |
| 870 | “The Trial of John Peter Zenger [August 4, 1735]” | You Are There | 2/6/1949 | 29:02 | Radio Show | |
| 880 | William Gargan | “Death of a Private Eye” | Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator | 1/2/1952 | 29:08 | Radio Show |
| 890 | “Courtesy” | X Minus One | 8/18/1955 | 24:17 | Radio Show | |
| 900 | “The Hideout” | Words At War | 5/1/1945 | 28:52 | Radio Show | |
| 910 | Love Academy | “Originell” | LVCDM EP | 2010 | 2:17 | Punk |
| 920 | Owen Gray | “Lonely Days” | Independent Jamaica (Songs of Freedom from the Treasure Isle) | 1962 | 1:59 | Reggae |
| 930 | Iron & Wine | “No Moon” | 2009-05-13 – Schubas – Chicago, IL | 2009 | 3:43 | Alternative |
| 940 | “A Sense of Pride” | Sears Radio Theater | 6/7/1979 | 39:19 | Radio Show | |
| 950 | Desmond Dekker & the Aces | “Shing A Ling” | The Original Reggae Hitsound of Desmond Dekker and The Aces | 1968 | 2:19 | Reggae |
| 960 | Buffalo Springfield | “49 Reasons” (demo) | The Missing Herd: Vol. 6 Do Not Approach Buffalo | 2:29 | Rock | |
| 970 | Manito | “Na baixa da sapateiro” | Black Rio – Brazil Soul Power 1971-1980 | 1970 | 3:28 | R&B |
| 980 | “The March of Time – Pearl Harbor” | The March of Time | 12/11/1941 | 24:23 | History | |
| 990 | The Grateful Dead | “St. Stephen” | 1978-01-22 – McArthur Court, U of Oregon, Eugene, OR | 1978 | 7:35 | Rock |
| 1000 | The Louvin Brothers | “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight” | Close Harmony | 1993 | 2:42 | Country |