Radio Obsessive Profile #2: Jose Fritz’s Arcane Radio Trivia
Jose Fritz
I’m awed by all the radio enthusiasts, collectors, historians, and scholars out there; so I’m going to try to feature some of my favorites on Radio Survivor in a new feature called Radio Obsessives.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but my interview with Garrett Wollman about his fascination with radio towers is what prompted me to begin this quest to profile radio obsessives; simply because I love talking to other radio fans about radio.
“Jose Fritz” lives for radio and regularly blogs about radio factoids from the olden days on his blog Arcane Radio Trivia. In many ways I’ve found a kindred spirit in radio reportage, as Jose is also a fan of non-commercial radio and continues to remain optimistic about the future of college radio.
Interestingly, he’s opted on his blog to focus entirely on the past, avoiding “topical” stories for the most part. Consistently writing an impressive 5 posts a week, he’s covered everything from the long-forgotten radio show “The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour,” to WXPN’s scandalous student radio past, to James Brown’s career as a radio station mogul, to little-known radio pioneers like Reverend Jozef Murgas.
I had an email chat with Jose Fritz to learn more about his radio obsession and to attempt to peel back some of the layers of his secret identity. I can tell you that he’s an engineer by day, is a blogger by night, has a music and radio past, and writes a fun and educational blog. On to the interview:
Jennifer Waits: When did you start Arcane Radio Trivia and what prompted you to begin writing the blog?
Jose Fritz: I began Friday, May 13th 2005. I decided one day maybe a few weeks prior that I needed a structure that would compel me to write more regularly. I gave myself a set of strict rules and started that Friday. It’s been 5 posts a week since then for 220 weeks; that’s 1047 posts not counting today. I keep thinking I should edit and compile them into a book.
I though it would make my other writing more productive. I was wrong. I did write more, but I wrote more about radio, instead of becoming a writing exercise it became a consuming hobby. I still manage to get the rest of my writing done, but I often end up posting after midnight. (more…)
