Walter Martin Radio Hour: Selected Episodes

About Walter Martin Radio Hour: Selected Episodes

Selected public episodes from Walter Martin Radio Hour. The full show — weekly episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com. So who is Walter Martin? I’m a songwriter and musician and I’ve been in the bands The Walkmen and Jonathan Fire*Eater in one form or another since I was 12. Literally. I also make a lot of music under my own name and write songs for film, TV and advertising. You can learn all about my work here. What’s the deal with your radio show? In May 2024, I started a weekly radio show (Walter Martin Radio Hour) on Sunday nights on my favorite radio station, WEXT in upstate New York and I post new episodes on my Substack every Friday. I play vinyl records from my record collection and talk about why I like them and why other people might like them. What’s the show like? It’s an informal hour-long show recorded live with my favorite scratchy records. I provide some deep and shallow commentary and some mostly accurate background for the songs (no Googling allowed). Basically I just play great records and joke around. Why do you think you are qualified to do a radio show? I don’t know… I mean, I’ve been collecting records since I was 15 or so and over a few decades as a touring musician I think I went to basically every record store on planet Earth and I’ve got a ton of great records. I’ve always been the guy in my friend-group who finds the music and makes the mix tapes and all that, so now I’m doing that for anyone who wants to listen. Does that qualify me? What kind of music do you like? I like every kind of music but I guess my musical world revolves mostly around early rock ‘n’ roll—but I really listen to everything. After I fell in love with early rock ‘n’ roll, I starting researching who made it and what else did they make and what were they listening to when they made it and who played what on what record and what were they inspired by and who wrote what and what else did they write…etc. So in answering all those questions, I guess I figured out how to find more and more great music. And now I have a lot. And that process spread my tastes across most of the world. Do you think you have better taste in music than most people? That’s a weird question…I’ve never thought about it that way before.. Well, do you? Ummm. I don’t know…no…? I mean…I think I might listen to a lot more music than most people. So does that mean you like better music than most people? Not necessarily. But I mean, I listen to music all the time basically so I guess, when you do that, you end up getting sick of the mediocre stuff pretty quick and, by necessity, you have to find more great stuff and then you wind up knowing about a lot of great stuff. I dunno…does that make sense? I guess… but I think that’s just a clumsy way of saying yes you do think you have better taste in music than most people… Ok I don’t know what to say I guess… Do you like new music? Yes. Like who? I like SZA. And Adrianne Lenker. And I like Sam Gendel’s records a lot. And I dunno, I like a lot of new stuff. Oh and I love that song called Million Dollar Baby. I forget who sings it but it’s so good. Yeah I agree. Million Dollar Baby rules. Yeah totally. wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Walter Martin

Category

music · music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

13 Jan 2026

Latest episode

13 Jan 2026

Latest episodes

8 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Jan 2026

   Spider Stacy Interview: The Pogues and 40 Years of "Rum, Sodomy & The Lash"

   Browse all episodes, playlists, archives, info and the whole experience at: waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com) This a selected public episode of Walter Martin Radio Hour — a weekly deep-dive radio show about music, records, and the strange emotional life we build around listening. The show is hosted by Walter Martin, a lifelong musician and songwriter (The Walkmen, solo work, film & TV). These are standalone, episodes chosen from the larger archive. The full show — including weekly music episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, Classical Club, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com). This is the front door. The whole house is over there.. waltermartin.substack.com - This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   13 Jan 2026

   The Sleigh Bells Episode

   Browse all episodes, playlists, archives, info and the whole experience at: waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com) This a selected public episode of Walter Martin Radio Hour — a weekly deep-dive radio show about music, records, and the strange emotional life we build around listening. The show is hosted by Walter Martin, a lifelong musician and songwriter (The Walkmen, solo work, film & TV). These are standalone, episodes chosen from the larger archive. The full show — including weekly music episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, Classical Club, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com). This is the front door. The whole house is over there.. waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com) - waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   13 Jan 2026

   The Bass Episode

   Browse all episodes, playlists, archives, info and the whole experience at: waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com) This a selected public episode of Walter Martin Radio Hour — a weekly deep-dive radio show about music, records, and the strange emotional life we build around listening. The show is hosted by Walter Martin, a lifelong musician and songwriter (The Walkmen, solo work, film & TV). These are standalone, episodes chosen from the larger archive. The full show — including weekly music episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, Classical Club, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com). This is the front door. The whole house is over there.. waltermartin.substack.com - - - This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

4. 

   13 Jan 2026

   How I Became a Music Fanatic

   Browse all episodes, playlists, archives, info and the whole experience at: waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com) This a selected public episode of Walter Martin Radio Hour — a weekly deep-dive radio show about music, records, and the strange emotional life we build around listening. The show is hosted by Walter Martin, a lifelong musician and songwriter (The Walkmen, solo work, film & TV). These are standalone, episodes chosen from the larger archive. The full show — including weekly music episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, Classical Club, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com (http://waltermartin.substack.com). This is the front door. The whole house is over there.. waltermartin.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

5. 

   13 Jan 2026

   Matt Berninger Interview: When I was Seventeen

   All episodes of Walter Martin Radio Hour are available at waltermartin.substack.com. - In When I Was Seventeen, we talk about the music and art that moved us at that pivotal age—and how it pushed us toward our wildest dreams of becoming musicians. My guest this week is Matt Berninger, solo artist and lead singer/lyricist of The National. We spend about ten minutes on the age of seventeen, then dive into an hour of wide-ranging conversation: first shows, bands forming, the early 2000s in NYC, breaking into the music scene, songwriting, lyric writing, and how to keep a band together for decades. Along the way we get into Ministry, The Thompson Twins, Brainiac, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Morrissey and plenty more. This a selected public episode of Walter Martin Radio Hour — a weekly deep-dive radio show about music, records, and the strange emotional life we build around listening. The show is hosted by Walter Martin, a lifelong musician and songwriter (The Walkmen, solo work, film & TV). - These are standalone, episodes chosen from the larger archive. The full show — including weekly music episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, Classical Club, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com This is the front door. The whole house is over there. waltermartin.substack.com. - - This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

6. 

   13 Jan 2026

   Remembering Bobby Weir

   Listening to, and playing with, the great Bob Weir. All episodes of Walter Martin Radio Hour are available at waltermartin.substack.com. This a selected public episode of Walter Martin Radio Hour — a weekly deep-dive radio show about music, records, and the strange emotional life we build around listening. The show is hosted by Walter Martin, a lifelong musician and songwriter (The Walkmen, solo work, film & TV). These are standalone, episodes chosen from the larger archive. The full show — including weekly music episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, Classical Club, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com. This is the front door. The whole house is over there. waltermartin.substack.com - waltermartin.substack.com - This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

7. 

   13 Jan 2026

   The Handclaps Episode

   All episodes of Walter Martin Radio Hour are available at waltermartin.substack.com. This a selected public episode of Walter Martin Radio Hour — a weekly deep-dive radio show about music, records, and the strange emotional life we build around listening. The show is hosted by Walter Martin, a lifelong musician and songwriter (The Walkmen, solo work, film & TV). These are standalone, episodes chosen from the larger archive. The full show — including weekly music episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, Classical Club, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com. This is the front door. The whole house is over there. This episode will arm you with many interesting facts that you can drop into boring conversations at all of your tedious holiday events throughout this holiday season. Because in real life, as in music, when things get boring, just remember the woodblock. Yes, on this clip-clopping episode we plow through a ton of songs and examine the special place of the woodblock in recorded music. We go from 1911 to 2016. That’s right—100 years of woodblocks for your enjoyment. - - This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

8. 

   13 Jan 2026

   The Woodblocks Episode

   All episodes of Walter Martin Radio Hour are available at waltermartin.substack.com. This a selected public episode of Walter Martin Radio Hour — a weekly deep-dive radio show about music, records, and the strange emotional life we build around listening. The show is hosted by Walter Martin, a lifelong musician and songwriter (The Walkmen, solo work, film & TV). These are standalone, episodes chosen from the larger archive. The full show — including weekly music episodes, handmade playlists, interviews, Classical Club, and the complete back catalog — lives at waltermartin.substack.com. This is the front door. The whole house is over there. This episode will arm you with many interesting facts that you can drop into boring conversations at all of your tedious holiday events throughout this holiday season. Because in real life, as in music, when things get boring, just remember the woodblock. Yes, on this clip-clopping episode we plow through a ton of songs and examine the special place of the woodblock in recorded music. We go from 1911 to 2016. That’s right—100 years of woodblocks for your enjoyment. - - This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com (https://wmrhselectedepisodes.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Contact Walter Martin Radio Hour: Selected Episodes

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.