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The request show isn't original to 88Nine, but it's the lifeblood of community radio

Ah, the radio request show. A time-honored tradition that dates back to a time when *gasp* you couldn’t pull up any number of streaming services to listen to any song, anytime, anywhere. Instead, you’d call in to your local radio station and beg a disc jockey to play your single favorite song. And, if you were lucky, they would.

On 88Nine, we pay homage to that AM/FM institution with “Let’s Hear It,” our listener-request show that airs Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we added some extra interaction to our listeners' days by hosting a weekday request hour from noon to 1 p.m. via Facebook comments. We had so much fun, it’s now a permanent part of the schedule.

The most important part of a request show — outside of the actual requests from you, our listeners — is the host. We're lucky enough to have one of the smoothest in the game, Marcus Doucette, hosting ours. He can talk to just about anybody, brainstorms themes like a wizard and consistently puts together a show with flow.

Before I started working at 88Nine, I listened to the Saturday request show regularly. I tried to guess the theme before Marcus shared it out loud. I reveled in the quirky, long-winded and sometimes truly heartfelt phone calls Marcus aired from listeners who called in. I marveled at the musical aptitude and creativity of the listeners.

To me, the request show represents everything that’s beautiful about 88Nine. It’s real humans talking to real humans and sharing their mutual love of music. It’s radio with heart. And we’re so lucky to have Marcus making space for these conversations and giving them a home on our airwaves.

Another great thing about the request show is how it’s accessible to everyone. Every day, Marcus poses the theme in the form of a Facebook post. While that’s always been on Radio Milwaukee’s page, I’m here to let you know those request-show posts will move to the new 88Nine Facebook page, which we launched in concert with our brand extension earlier this year. You can also text requests to 414-892-8899.

Let's keep the requests coming. Keep sharing our love of music. Go right now and follow the 88Nine Facebook page, and we’ll see you on the radio.