live on WFMU's
Saturday 6/4/11 3pm-6pm
Personal anecdote and/or rant after the jump...
I never really listened to WFMU growing up in New York City. With all the congestion, not to mention crap, on the dial, I didn't really have much interest in radio, outside of the now "hi-jacked" WCBS. I didn't really get turned on to FMU until I got involved with my college radio station and alma mater. Truth be told, even if I had been in the know, getting the Jersey City signal in Manhattan could (and still can) be tricky.
As a rock 'n roll fan it didn't take long for me to find something on WFMU that really grabbed me. Bill Kelly's Teenage Wasteland, Fool's Paradise with Rex, and my absolute favorite Music To Spazz By with Dave The Spazz. I even found archives of a decades old show, The Hound that reveled in obscuro rockabilly, honky-tonk, rock 'n roll and R&B*. Absolutely fucking brilliant, all of them. The kind of loose, fun, and engaging programing that should exist everywhere**. Thinking back on it now, the show at my college station that really inspired me to do my own, had a lot in common with FMU programs. It was driven by personal interest, possibly obsession. It was gritty and unpolished. Done by the fan, for the fan. That could probably be said of a lot of programs on indie stations, but you know you've found something special when there's genuine enthusiasm and excitement coming at you through the speakers. Unfortunately, radio like that seems harder and harder to find, making a station like WFMU that much more important.
One FMU show that I've really been digging on recently is The Cherry Blossom Clinic hosted by Terre T. Terre's been at it for over ten years without missing a beat, and if we're lucky there's a lot more Cherry Blossom Clinic heading our way. Recently she's been joined live in the FMU studio by Chicago's very own White Mystery and Tyler Jon Tyler, Shannon & The Clams, Personal & The Pizzas, Bare Wires, and Titus Andronicus. That's a hell of a roster, and it's only the last five weeks worth of guests!This weekend Terre welcomes Obits, which features former members of Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, and Edsel. Their 2010 full-length I Blame You (Sub Pop) was one of my favorite releases of last year, so I'm really looking forward to hearing them on the country's oldest free-form station. It's gonna be a real cool time, so tune in and turn on.
xoxo
*The Hound also featured Hasil Adkins live in studio on multiple occasions, interviews with Billy Miller of Norton records, Tim Warren of Crypt records, and tons of other real hip slop, before it was hip at all.
**Support The Chicago Independent Radio Project (aka CHIRP) and if we're lucky one day we won't need an internet connection to listen to it.
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