Category: WFMU

I am writing a book on New Jersey independent listener-supported freeform radio station WFMU. I post my writing and research finds here.

Published Writing

Essays about WFMU’s early experiments in “streaming” music via telephone, gopher, and the web; about the Free Music Archive; and about WFMU’s relationship with music recommendation apps.

Set List: MC5 at Lincoln Park, Chicago, August 25, 1968.

1. Kick Out the Jams (MC5)
2. Borderline (MC5)
3. I Put a Spell on You (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins)
4. I Believe to My Soul (Ray Charles)
5. Tutti Frutti (Little Richard)
6. Black to Comm (MC5)

The WFMU-Hypertext Connection

“Frisby,” the theme song of the Kokaine Karma show on WFMU in 1968-1969, was written by Ted Nelson, who in 1963 coined the term “hypertext,” an early concept that prefigured the internet.

Billboard Announces Fundraising Marathon for WFMU, November 2, 1968

The music industry magazine declared listener-supported WFMU “the best” freeform station “in the nation.”

Phantom Power Podcast Interview

I was interviewed on Mack Hagood’s Phantom Power podcast, talking about radio audiences, freeform radio station WFMU, and the plundering of open source software movements by big tech.

WFMU Music/Art Convergence Auction, May 26-30, 1992

Read program and catalog for the WFMU Music/Art Convergence silent and live auctions and benefit performances at the Germans van Eck Gallery, New York City, May 26-30, 1992.

WFMU Live Benefits Map

This map-in-progress chronicles live performances at rock, avant-garde and international music venues such as CBGB’s, Maxwell’s, Lauterbach’s, the Ritz, the Bottom Line, Roulette, PS 122, S.O.B.’s, Wetlands Preserve, ABC No Rio, and others. It lists participating NYC-area and NJ musicians and bands, playing alternative rock, hardcore punk, experimental music, folk, anti-folk & more. It includes links to first-person accounts and/or audio recordings whenever possible.