After another long absence, Freq-Amp returns with a new dispatch. Sometimes the drip of time really creeps up on you, leaving the months and the unfinished projects piled up. Radio, especially quality radio, is still a very important thing in my life. People who don’t appreciate radio would scoff at that sentence; people who don’t appreciate radio probably won’t be reading this, anyway. Still, there are worse ways to spend your time than searching out good radio. Think of all the time people spend at work, hanging out in bars, watching TV, following sports teams, whatever else. In order to experience good radio outside of the handful of great stations in the NYC-metro area, I’ve been forced to go online. Working with an analog receiver equipped with Bluetooth, I’ve done quite a bit of exploring. Starting with this dispatch, I’m going to focus on what I’ve found to be some of the better stations, highlighting what I think are a few of the best shows available anywhere.
Like everything else online, one of the biggest problems with listening to internet radio is sorting through the immense amount of content. It can be hard to get a foothold with online radio, especially college stations, given the increasing reliance on automated programming. I can see the appeal podcasts have for people; listeners know what they are getting, without having to wade through hours of mediocre shows. Unlike podcasts, online radio gets very little traction on social media, which plays a major role in determining people’s media-consumption habits. Most, if not all of the programming I’m focusing on here barely exists on social media.
This time around, I’ll be focusing on some good stuff in the Northeast United States. Aside from the first listing, all of these are radio stations that can be heard on an analog radio (if you happen to find yourself within range). I’ll be rolling these out incrementally, so stay tuned…
Online radio adventures—US Northeast Part 1
These listings are starting small, in order to give readers the chance to digest the individual stations/shows. We’re already overrun with content, the goal here is to distill the flood into a more curated experience. I’m also hoping to give a little much-needed recognition to people who toil largely in obscurity and without monetary compensation.
Wreck Your Own Adventure with Wendy del Formaggio
Veteran radio pirate Wendy Levy has been doing a consistently excellent show on WFMU’s Give the Drummer Some stream. Wreck Your Own Adventure covers a wide breadth of music, and on more than one occasion, I’ve found myself writing down the names of bands that are new to me. Wendy’s got a good sense of humor, and a good ear for sounds that mix together in a way that makes sense. She’s also a damned-good scribe and takes the art of radio-write to new levels with the Wreck Your Own Radio newsletter. It’s for subscribers only, so you have to listen, or at least pay attention to the playlist to get the details. Mondays 3 – 6 PM, available to stream any time. https://wfmu.org/playlists/WY
Worcester, Radio City
For some reason, Worcester, Massachusetts has multiple non-commercial stations. Unity Radio, a former low-power FM signal does some interesting community and music programming. Both Holy Cross and Clark University have actual functioning radio stations (I’ve done only cursory listening to these, and the Holy Cross station doesn’t provide an updated schedule). WICN is an NPR-affiliate that grew out of Worcester’s Inter-Collegiate Network. Of all the Worcester stations, the most interesting to my ears is WCUW. The station started as a Clark University student operation, but was incorporated as an independent entity in 1972 when it provided coverage of antiwar rallies. The programming varies: there’s a vegan show, city council meetings, Spanish-language community affairs programming, Democracy Now, lots of music. Everything you’d expect from an actual community station.
WCUW is also home to Andy Cimino’s Music Under the Moon. In this writer’s opinion, this is one of the best free-form music programs that is not on WFMU. Every time I’ve listened, Cimino has played things I’ve never heard before. He is also adept at mixing things that are familiar with more esoteric sounds. Runs the gamut from out jazz, obscure rock, textural noise, unclassifiable things. Tuesday nights, 6 – Midnight. Archived at the Internet Archive.
WRIU, Kingston Rhode Island
WRIU is the University of Rhode Island’s student-run radio station, with a good amount of classical, folk/roots and hip-hop programming. WRIU doesn’t archive their programs. If you want to catch something, you need to listen live. Tune in on any given day, and there’s a good chance you will hear intrepid host Anna Lofgren, who seems to fill in quite a bit. Lofgren disregards limited notions of genre, and the audience is better off for it.
When I am able, I stream Delirium, hosted by Jim Morgan on Friday nights, 9 – midnight. Morgan’s show is a real free-form treat. I’ve caught a wide array of music including Richard Youngs, Father Yod, Horace Tapscott, Hawkwind, Umm Kulthum, Natural Snow Buildings, Sun Ra. Morgan’s been doing radio for over 30 years, and he often will preface a set by mentioning he just visited some new city, where he picked up some great records to share with the audience.
To be continued…
Birth Announcement: Freq-Amp-affiliated Literary Website is up and running
For sake of convenience, this section will be written in shameless third person:
Lenticular, a lit site edited by the Freq-Amp editor is alive and kicking. Kicking what, you ask? A working motto of Lenticular is Death Before Dead Language. From the editor’s introduction:
“…hopefully Lenticular will be enjoyable, for both readers and contributors. Good writing, like good music or food, hits you somewhere inside. You know it when you experience it. This is the feeling we’re aiming for. [Aside from fiction, poetry, art, we’re also interested in more] political texts that speak to the realities of daily life. The Internet is overrun with countless articles, seemingly written in the same voice, droll writing in a style as boring and predictable as the politics it represents. Give us the poetry of the bus stop, the new language heard on the dollar vans, in the bodegas, in the lines outside the food pantries. The coffee shops, the diners, the truck stops, and rest areas. Give us the music of the streets, of the subways, even the derailed ones (especially the derailed ones).”
The site contains some fine writing by great writers including Robbi Overbey, Jackie Stowers, Rhöm Robert, and Susan Nash. Lenticular can be read at: lenticularlit.com
FREQUENCY AND AMPLITUDE 