''Hearts of Space'' is an American weekly syndicated

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

show featuring music of a contemplative nature"When you listen to space and ambient music you are connecting with a tradition of contemplative sound experience whose roots are ancient and diverse. The genre spans historical, ethnic, and contemporary styles. In fact, almost any music with a slow pace and space-creating sound images could be called spacemusic." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space
''What is spacemusic?''
/ref> drawn largely from the

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

, new-age and

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

genres, while also including classical,

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

, and other music selections.Hearts of Space Playlist - Complete list of genres
/ref> For many years, the show's producer and presenter, Stephen Hill, has applied the term "

space music Space music, also called spacemusic or space ambient, is a subgenre of ambient music and is described as "tranquil, hypnotic and moving". It is derived from new-age music and is associated with lounge music, easy listening, and elevator music ...

" to the music broadcast on the show, irrespective of genre. It is the longest-running radio program of its type in the world. Each episode ends with Hill gently saying, "Safe journeys, space fans ... wherever you are."

History

''Hearts of Space'' was created in 1973 by Stephen Hill,HOS, "Hearts of Space - Stephen Hill": " ..in 1973 Hill created ''Hearts of Space'' as a three-hour live weekly radio program on KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California. Joined a year later by former co-producer Anna Turner ..HOS, "Hearts of Space - Company": "Intriguing sounds were in the air in 1973 when producer Stephen Hill turned his fascination with space-creating music into a weekly late-night program called '' Music from the Hearts of Space'' on KPFA-FM in Berkeley, CA. With original co-producer Anna Turner joining the enterprise in 1974, .. and co-produced by Hill and Anna Turner. It was first broadcast as ''Music from the Hearts of Space'', a three-hour-long late-night show on

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is a public, listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed o ...

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

, California. It was hosted by Hill under the on-air

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

"Timotheo", with Turner becoming co-host from 1974 to 1986 as "Annamystic".NCET
"Anna Turner"
: " ..she continued to co-produce and host (under the pseudonym of Annamystic) the radio program 'Music from the Hearts of Space' ..with co-host Stephen Hill (radio pseudonym: Timotheo)." Shortened to a one-hour version, it entered syndication on

on January 1, 1983, and quickly grew in popularity, signing its 200th station within three years. In December 2009, it was still broadcast by over 200 public radio stations weekly. Until April 1, 2010, the show was also broadcast nightly by XM Satellite Radio. Beginning on its Audio Visions channel in 2001, older shows aired weeknights at 11 PM ET. The current week's show was broadcast on Saturdays at 9 AM ET, then repeated on Sundays at 9 PM ET. After the merger,

Sirius XM Satellite Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merger ...

moved the program to its

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

channel until discontinuing it. On January 4, 2013, the show celebrated a milestone broadcasting its 1000th program on the 40th anniversary of its KPFA debut and 30th anniversary month/year of its national syndication on NPR. On November 12, 2021, it reached its latest milestone, 1,300 installments of the show have been produced.

Production details

Episodes, or "transmissions," are thematic, commencing with a voice-over introduction by Hill, followed by almost an hour of uninterrupted

segue A segue ( , ; ) is a transition from one topic or section to the next. In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next section) without a pause''. The term ''attacca'' is used synonymously. For writ ...

-mixed music. The show concludes with back-announced track details. Before she left the program in 1986, co-producer Anna Turner jointly announced the show with Hill. , ''Hearts of Space'' is presented by Hill and produced by Hill and Associate Producer Steve Davis. A number of other individuals have worked on ''Hearts of Space'', including guest producer Ellen Holmes who created a series of "Adagio Recordings classical spacemusic" shows.

Related projects

The ''Hearts of Space'' radio show has spawned a number of related projects, including the Hearts of Space Archive, a commercial ambient-music streaming service"Hill's Hearts of Space Web site provides streaming access to an archive of hundreds of hours of spacemusic artfully blended into one-hour programs combining ambient, electronic, world, new age, and Western classical music." Steve Sande, ''The Sky's the Limit with Ambient Music''
SF Chronicle, Sunday, January 11, 2004
started in 2001, and a record label started in 1984,

Hearts of Space Records Hearts of Space Records is a record label owned by Valley Entertainment. The label represents several sublabels, including Hearts of Space, Hearts O'Space, Fathom, RGB, and World Class. History Hearts of Space Records was founded in 1984 as an ...

(including 5 divisions, sub-labels or label imprints: Hearts of Space Records, for the core space music; Hearts O' Space, for Irish/Celtic albums; World Class, for world-music albums; Fathom, for sounding the deep, dark ambient albums by artists such as Robert Rich and Steve Roach; and RGB, for soundtrack and pop-oriented electronic albums). The record label released nearly 150 albums over the course of its existence; it also licensed and released European albums in the U.S. During the 1980s Hill also produced albums for other labels, such as those of

Eckart Rahn Eckart is a German surname, and may refer to: * Anselm Eckart (1721–1809), German Jesuit missionary * Carl Eckart * Dennis E. Eckart (born 1950), American lawyer, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives * Dietrich Eckart (1868–1923) ...

(Celestial Harmonies, Fortuna Records, and Kuckuck Schallplatten). In 2001, the label (and catalogue) was sold to

Valley Entertainment Valley Entertainment is an American independent record label and music distributor based in New York City, United States. The company was founded in 1994 by Barney Cohen and Jon Birge. In 2001, it acquired the prestigious back catalogue of space, ...

.Ambient News, 2001
"Valley Entertainment Announces Acquisition of Hearts of Space Records!"
(scroll down), via

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

. Stephen Hill, though no longer associated with the label's business side, continues to work on A&R and to produce new compilation recordings for the label.

Cultural influence

The show was parodied on ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then ...

'' episode 303 ('' Pod People''). A running gag during the film, which sported an ambient noise soundtrack similar to the music typical of the show, was to imitate the announcer of the program. One of the host segments featured "Music from Some Guys in Space" as a parody of the show. According to the ''Amazing Colossal Episode Guide'', the ''MST3k'' staff were sent several albums from the ''Hearts of Space'' producers after the episode aired. In a 1981 interview with

Tom Snyder Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on NBC in the 1970s and 1980s, and '' The Late Late Show'' ...

for

The Tomorrow Show ''The Tomorrow Show'' (also known as ''Tomorrow with Tom Snyder'' or ''Tomorrow'' and, after 1980, ''Tomorrow Coast to Coast'') is an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder that aired on NBC in first-run form from October ...

, convicted criminal

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...

said that he would listen to ''Hearts of Space'' when a radio was available to him.

Notes

References

*HOS
"Hearts of Space - About"
*HOS
"Hearts of Space - Company"
*HOS
"Hearts of Space - History"

External links

* {{official website Ambient music radio programs New-age music American music radio programs Pacifica Foundation programs 1973 radio programme debuts