WFMU's Beware of the Blog

From the WFMU News Vault: Local Coverage

This week:  Local news coverage from past and present.

Recent coverage:  The December 4, 2005 Bergen Record featured WFMU in "the third of a 5-part series looking at people who help shape alternative culture".  Music & Program Director Brian talks about his favorite music, including Sun City Girls, Jason Forrest, and Southeast Asian Blink 182 wannabes:  "To me, it's interesting to hear a band from Southeast Asia try to be like Blink 182. I don't know why. I don't even have any Blink 182 records."  The complete article can be read here.

Past coverage: Thanks to Listener Ed for sending this article from the Newark News of September 13, 1969.  It is about the closing of WFMU in 1969, as mentioned earlier in this blog, "following a conflict between the school and station personnel".   

From the WFMU News Vault: The Reincarnation of WFMU Poster

In the great tradition of WFMU-related art, here is a poster heralding "the Reincarnation of WFMU", created by an unknown artist sometime in the very-early 1970's.

As seen earlier on this blog, in the Summer of 1969, the WFMU staff walked out in protest in part due to pressure from Upsala College over their "far-out" (free-form) programming.  WFMU was off the air for about 10 months until Upsala hired a new Station Manager who would run the station with "a more professional effort"

At left (click to enlarge) is a copy of this poster which a listener donated to the station.  We estimate that it dates back to the time around when the station went back on the air in 1970.  It is a seriously groovy flyer for the night-time slots, and promises "good karma" and that "a splendid time is guaranteed for all".

From the WFMU News Vault: The Man Comes to WFMU

According to the Freeform Timeline,  "April 24, 1958 - WFMU's first ever broadcast. Nothing is known about it. For its first ten years, WFMU serves Upsala College students, broadcasting lectures, Lutheran services, classical music, jazz and international music."  On November 4 of 1967, WFMU's first-ever freeform show, Vin Scelsa's The Closet debuted in the midnight to 6am slot, and as seen earlier on this blog, by 1969, WFMU was getting more and more national media exposure for it's "far-out" free-form programming, and the station staff was getting more and more heat from the college administration for it, as well.    On August 31st, 1969, the staff walked out in disgust and Upsala College shuttered WFMU for 10 months. But what happened at the end of those 10 months?  According to these undated clippings (93k Jpeg) (supposedly from The New York Times), a new station manager was brought aboard by Upsala to "teach students the proper guidelines for radio"...

WFMU in the News: Mixed Bag

This week a myriad of current WFMU press clips:

WFMU Keeps All Us Weirdoes Tuned to the Same Wavelength  - Francis Joseph Smith reports on his experience recently volunteering at the 2005 Record Fair.  "A weirdo is someone who goes beyond the norm and operates entirely on their own frequency. Sometimes they happen to hear each other out there in the ether, but it takes a station like WFMU to bring them all together. Once you’ve got a bunch of weirdoes in one place, no one is really that weird anymore."  Nice!

Online Radio:  A Weird Wonderful World - Mary Coyne Wesling writes about her two favorite discoveries in the realm of online radio.  KUCI's "Lesbosmak", and WFMU's Seven Second Delay.

Alive and Rocking in Berlin:  An interview with Jason Forrest - Melanie Cohn speaks with Jason Forrest, formerly known as Donna Summer, host of Advanced D&D, about his musical endeavors, art, and life in New York vs life in Berlin. 

Country in the City -  Kurt Gottschalk writes for the Village Voice about the country music scene in New York City.  Radio Thrift Shop proprietress Laura Cantrell speaks up on the state of radio in relation to the development of this scene.

No Wave -  In their "guide to the best websites that play cool music", supermarket check-out aisle mag Entertainment Weekly gives WFMU the nod:    "WFMU is a "freeform" station, which means that the DJs pick the music without any programming oversight. Its programs are all over the map (folk-rock, dirty disco, and avant-retard are some of the colorful designators). Plus, the station's free podcast archive includes archival-quality history-of-music feeds dating back to 1896." 

War Plan - Available for Only $15,000,000

Attention all government and military professionals:  Are you stumped by what to do about this pesky Iraq situation?  Do you really want to get this Mission Accomplished?  Uncertain about what to do in any future military endeavors?  The solution is here in this war plan auction on Ebay, available for the low low price of $15,000,000!   The auction ended November 5th, but since the reserve wasn't met, you could probably still snap it up by contacting the seller directly.

As described:  "This is a war plan (tactic) to aid the U.S.A. in protecting it`s (sic) vital interests... it will be shared only on a need to know basis, the winning bidder probably will NOT get to know the strategy... Chances are first come, first served, you better buy it before it`s gone. This offer void where prohibited by law.  Sold as-is, where-is, no warranty expressed or implied, since this offer involves the sale of information that cannott (sic) be disclosed, or inspected before purchase, buyer accepts full responsibility if you are NOT satisfied, NO refunds... if I slip, and disclose the strategy by mistake, it still has value, and buyer is still required to pay..."

Click here to see full auction description.

More Record Fair Recap

Bronwyn and Miss Amanda have already written Record Fair round-ups, but here are a few more pictures of the fun and mayhem from this past weekend. 

Early Friday morning.  An empty Metropolitan Pavilion awaits the arrival of hundreds of record dealers, who are lining up outside on 19th Street, waiting until noon, when they can start bringing thousands and thousands of obscuro records and CDs.  The two fellows in the far right picture were at the front of the line.  They arrived at 6am to secure their place!

The night before, the Pavilion had hosted a fancy-schmancy benefit dinner where a motorcycle autographed by former Police-frontman Sting had been auctioned off.  When we arrived early Friday morning, the motorcycle was still there, and some of the volunteers and I  took turns sitting on it, including lovely volunteer Mary, who you see here.  The Stinger-cycle was just the first of many brushes with fame during the Fair.  Other reported celebrity sightings at the Fair this year included actors Benicio Del Toro and Rosie Perez, musicians Carlos D (Interpol) and Tom Verlaine (Television), and comedians Rachel Dratch, Jeffrey Ross, and Horatio Sanz, who showed extremely good taste in choosing a "Where Dead Air Lives" t-shirt to purchase from the WFMU Swag table.

"Fat Gal" by Merle Travis, now in Visual Form on WFMU's Comics Page

WFMU's Comics Page has a new addition!

Listener-artist Ken Struck created this comic based on Merle Travis' 1947 song "Fat Gal" (mp3, 1.8mb).  He submitted it to us many moons ago and has given his kind permission for us to make it available for your funny-pages pleasure.  He has other "cool comix" for sale and you can email him at Kennethstruck at aol dot com if you have any inquiries.

Ken's comic joins works by Mary Fleener, Chris Worden, and John McLeod, who were inspired by the songs of Captain Beefheart, The Angry Samoans, Arthur Lee and Love, Earl Bostic and Pastor John Rygden. 

The Comics Page also features Jim Ryan's 1989 strip "Among the Vinyl People", which serves as an amusing preview of what's in store at the WFMU Record Fair, coming this weekend. 

Enjoy the funnies, and if you are a cartoon artist who has a song-based comic you would like to submit for consideration, please drop me a line!

From the WFMU News Vault: New York Times Magazine, 1999

This week features a sort-of lengthy article (html link) entitled "No Hits, All the Time",  written about WFMU for the New York Times Magazine's April 11, 1999 issue.   Fast forwarding 30 years from WFMU's groovy past, we get a picture of the station as it is, more or less, in these modern times.  Quotes from Citizen Kafka, Kenny G, Monica, and other DJs attempted to elucidate for the coffee-sipping Sunday morning Times readers exactly what it is that makes FMU so different from your average pitstop on the radio dial.   

 

Hooray for Friday!

Congratulations FRIDAY!

The Village Voice recently named Friday on WFMU the Best Day of Radio in their recent "Best of NYC 2005" issue.  Props were given in particular to Doug, Monica, and Mike Lupica, who has, in fact, moved to Monday nights from 8pm to 11pm since the new schedule went into effect (pre-publication of the Voice Best ofs).  Doug and Monica still start off Fridays with a bang, and drivetime is now hosted by the delightful Donna.  Check out the full praiseful listing here.

 

From the WFMU News Vault: Look Magazine, 1969. Eye Magazine, 1969.

Some really great moldy oldies this week:

On June 24, 1969, Look Magazine published an article about "the new radio" - "stations with a far-out format" including KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco, KMET in Los Angeles, WNEW in New York, and there's a mention about a little station in East Orange called WFMU, which had just managed to raise all of $13,000 for their operating expenses that year.  Also, a creepily prescient scene featuring pot-smoking, mandala-wearing record executives who are none too concerned about "renaissance radio" encroaching on their profits.
Download the article here.  (PDF, 524k)

Later that year, Eye Magazine featured an in-depth 3 page article about WFMU and it's incongruous presence at Upsala College, which in description sounds a bit like the Faber College campus.  This article has some really fascinating facts:

• WFMU's first marathon ever raised $2,500, which was enough to keep the station on the air in the summer of 1968.
• Leonard Bernstein once called the station to tell them "he liked what was going on".
• Some things have really changed, like "A listener could call to request a song and hear it played 10 minutes later."
• And some things haven't changed at all such as the station "being under the care of various dropouts, mistfits and professionals" and the perception of WFMU as being "considerably looser, more spontaneous and less professional".

Interviews with Vin Scelsa, Lou "The Duck" D'Antonio, biker mama Toni Stevens, and the Kokaine Karma guys, among others, round out this very interesting piece of WFMU History.  Download the article here. (PDF, 1.18 MB)

Decorate your Desktop with WFMU Wallpaper

Now you too can decorate your computer desktop the way the Movie Stars do, with our amazing WFMU Wallpaper!  To take advantage of this fabulous offer, simply click the link below for your desired selection, and once it loads, right click over the image and choose "Set as Wallpaper".  Or, if your computer doesn't have that option, you can right click on the image (once it loads) and choose to "Save Image As.." and then set the wallpaper via your computer's control panel settings.  This site has more information on how to set your wallpaper up, or you can drop me a line if you are still stuck. 

Now, on to the fabulousness.  Today's selections include artwork from WFMU T-shirts past:

Making the End Times Happy Times
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Bruno Nadalin designed this happy-calyptic image for a WFMU T-shirt a few years back.   Perfect for the computer user who rarely leaves home.

Jim Flora Kiddie Ensemble
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Inspired by the artwork of Jim Flora, designed by Dave Cunningham for the 2003 T-shirt.  Download this one and imagine that the mad little children are responsible for all that music in your head. 

Investigate Fish Farm
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Steven Keene created this lovely design for WFMU's Marathon 2000 T-shirt.

Powered By Love
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Forget Dell.  Power your desktop with Love.  Danny Hellman designed this super-cute image for the first-ever WFMU Iron-On back in 2003.

Learn Radio
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Impress your friends and family with this Chris Ware creation in which Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, teaches us about the wonders of Radio.

Enjoy!  And, if you would care to decorate your body with any of these designs, take a stroll over to our Olde Time Internet Emporium to take a look at our fine t-shirts, bumper stickers, and more.

WFMU Gets Macedonian Props

Muisc and Program Director Brian was recently interviewed for an article in the Russian music/ culture magazine PNTAM. (PDF) 

If anyone can translate this, please drop me a line.  Otherwise, just check out the sweet coat BT is all bundled up in.  Nice. 

From the WFMU News Vault: WWOZ-in-exile and Thomas Edison's Attic

A couple of articles this week about the WWOZ-in-Exile stream:

This is a long article from the Nashua Telegraph.  It features interviews with both WFMU and WWOZ Station Managers and a rather somber photo of our own Station Manager Ken.

This is a article about preserving the cultural heritage of New Orleans. (registration required)  WWOZ-in-Exile gets a mention in a few paragraphs.

Speaking of the efforts to save WWOZ, thanks to the many WFMU listeners and WWOZ supporters who have pledged so far!

Also in the news this week: 

A fascinating article (registration required) about Thomas Edison's wax cyclinder recordings.   Jerry Fabris, host of WFMU's Thomas Edison's Attic and curator at the Edison National Historic Site, talks about these early recordings and efforts to preserve them in digital format for future generations to enjoy.

Click here to listen to the August 23, 2005 episode of Thomas Edison's Attic.  (RealAudio)   All playlists and archives for the show can be found here.

From the WFMU News Vault: 1987 - Village Voice Declares Best New York Radio is Made in New Jersey

Back in age of the dinosaurs, I mean, in 1987, the Village Voice ran a lengthy front page article entitled "New York's Best Radio Station Broadcasts from a Jersey Basement."    They were talking about WFMU, which at the time was still located on the Upsala College campus in East Orange, in the basement of Froeberg Hall.  The article features, among other things,  Irwin expounding on the art of freeform, The Hound testifying on the state of radio and the world, and this amusing anecdote from the late Vanilla Bean,  about how he first came to be involved with WFMU:

"The turning point, what got me involved in WFMU, was when they were doing the marathon.  I called them up to tell them the pope had been shot.  This was back when Reagan first got elected.  So I called up and somebody who answered the phone sounded really harried and said 'Who gives a shit?' and hung up.  And I though, 'Wow, they sound like a great bunch of people.'"

Some nice illustrations by Kaz, as well. 

The article can be found in full here, in all its cut and pasted glory.  (PDF, 1.7MB)

From the WFMU Press Vault: Greasy Kid Stuff in the News

Hello blogosphere.  Welcome to the WFMU Press Vault, home of WFMU-related newspaper and magazine clippings, both new and recent and moldy and old.  This week we will cover a couple of articles about everyone's favorite Saturday morning sugar-bomb breakfast treat: Greasy Kid Stuff.

Hova and Belinda and DJ Waah Waah were very recently featured in a front page article in the Sunday Arts section of The Oregonian on August 25th 2005.  In it, we learn some GKS history, find out about their new remote set-up, and discover some secrets that make GKS the magic machine that children (and their parents) enjoy every Saturday.

Here's an excerpt:

"Kindergarten Rock
INARA VERZEMNIEKS

Among discerning rock 'n' roll parents -- parents who would much rather raise their offspring on ska, punk or quirky retro-pop than the Wiggles or Raffi -- the names Belinda Miller and Hova Najarian enjoy a certain cult status.

On a recent Saturday morning, Belinda and Hova, as they are known to their loyal listeners, were holed up in their Southeast Portland home, fueling up on coffee and Voodoo Donuts and shuffling through stacks of CDs and LPs in preparation for their two-hour radio show, "Greasy Kid Stuff."

Rather than play music specifically written for children, Belinda and Hova have turned 'Greasy Kid Stuff' into a national phenomenon by playing grown-up music they think kids would like instead."

The entire article can be found online here or, you can download the original article here (PDF, 453k).

The Oregonian's story also refers to a New York Times article from April 11, 2004 hanging on Hova and Belinda's wall. That entire article is available here (PDF, 433k)!

Next week:  A trip in time to 1987.

The Voice of the People Speaks: Where Have You Gone, Billy Joel?

Yesterday's "Voice of the People" section in the New York Daily News featured this timely letter from Cynthia Ryan of Brooklyn, NY:

"Just wondering if there was a way to persuade Billy Joel to write a sequel to 'We Didn't Start the Fire.'  A lot has happened since it was recorded."

Although I couldn't get through reading this letter aloud to the rest of the staff at the lunch table yesterday without breaking up into that embarassing hysterical laughter where you think you are going to start crying or worse: the truth of the statement is undeniable.

A lot has happened since 1989, when "WDSTF (part one)" reached the #1 spots simultaneously on the Billboard album and singles charts late that year.   Desert Storm, grunge rock, Bill Clinton, the Internet, the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Rwandan genocide, Red Bull, Enron, W, terrorism, electroclash, WMD, Mountain Dew Code Red and countless other head-spinning events, persons and soft drinks.  How are we to make sense of it all?   Where can we find the perspective we desperately need in this uncertain age, as time marches on and history keeps being made every day?

The Voice of the People knows.  And The Voice of the People has spoken.   We all know who it is who can sort this out for us. 

Billy Joel, you are our only hope.

(Thanks to Liz for hooking me up with Schlock Rock's version of the original "We Didn't Start the Fire" she dug out the the JM In the AM Archives.)