Radio Survivor

SXSW 2010

Well, the geeks are getting ready to flee Austin to make way for all of the radio folks streaming in for the music portion of this massive festival of technology, music and film that is South by Southwest (SXSW).

As in years past, radio stations have both a visible and audible presence; hosting shows, doing live broadcasts, and sending contingents of DJs to check out up-and-coming bands and blog about the proceedings.

If, like me, you are fixated on radio, here’s a guide to some of the terrestrial radio stations who will be on the scene this year. Times are all CST. (If you know of more, please let us know in the comments section.)

Wednesday, March 17th:

KEXP broadcasts live (and hosts bands) from the Gibson Studios:

11:30am – Fanfarlo
1:30pm – The Middle East
3:30pm – Best Coast
5:30pm – The Crayon Fields
7:30pm – Title Tracks (more…)

Jeff McMahon's Rare Panasonic RF-1130 Radio

It’s time for another installment in our ongoing series Radio Obsessives, in which we share tales about people who are passionate about radio.

So far we’ve profiled Garrett Wollman’s Radio Tower Quest, Jose Fritz and his amazing Arcane Radio Trivia website, Radio Sticker of the Day curator Greg Blouch, and radio historian/Seattle Radio Theater founder Feliks Banel.

Blogger Jeff McMahon muses about radio on his blog Herculodge. Although the blog is ostensibly focused on a myriad number of topics (from vegetarian cooking to parenthood to cars), Jeff found that his posts about radio seemed to generate the most interest and excitement from readers.

Filed under the category “Radio Lovers Can’t Be Cured,” Herculodge’s radio posts typically focus on reviews of both new and vintage radios, as well as radio-related products. Written by Jeff and a crew of guest contributors, the radio section of Heculodge is kind of like a clearinghouse for feedback about specific radios. I was also amused by a post by Radio Russ enumerating a “12-Step Program for Radio Addicts.” He writes that step 1 is: “We admitted we were powerless over Radios, that our lives had become unmanageable without a radio in every room.”

On the site, Jeff also has a 3-part semi-autobiographical story “The Man Who Loved Radios Too Much,” in which he describes both the origins of his radio love and how he has descended into obsession.

In our email interview, I chatted with Herculodge founder Jeff McMahon about his website and why he’s so passionate about radio and radios. (more…)

last.fm has a Joe Frank radio channel

I forget when I first started listening to Joe Frank. The other problem is that his half-hour to hour long programs are so weird that one can’t trust one’s memory about them. I mean, I think I remember an episode about a hysterical waiter who, after a long tirade, vomits on his patrons, a furious ex-girlfriend who leaves a long message for some guy alternately begging to get back together then fantasizing about murdering him, and a radio evangelist who claims that the actual physical process of dialing in to give him money will bring salvation.

Anyway, I really like Frank. “I’m sitting at a dinner party attended by Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao,” begins one episode. “Seated at another smaller table are Sadaam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Pinochet, and some others that I don’t recognize.” What’s not to love about this stuff?

Like so many great radio personalities, Joe got his start at WBAI-FM in New York City, then he did Weekend Edition for National Public Radio, followed many productive years at KCRW producing his “Joe Frank: Work in Progress” series. He’s won all kinds of neat awards, especially for his “Rent-A-Family” shows.

As already suggested, Frank is particularly reverential to religion [not]. In another episode he’s got somebody who just had a stroke calling in to another Pentecostal type.

“Repeat after me,” the preacher healingly declares. (more…)

KOME Sticker

Recently I was tracking some college radio news when I ran across Greg Blouch’s website, “Radio Sticker of the Day.” Immediately I was taken back to my junior high school years when radio station stickers were a hot commodity. My classmate Ricky Kanazawa would spend most of our English class time focused on a stack of bright yellow and black KOME stickers and an exacto knife, carving up new, inspired, psychedelic creations. I’m not sure if Greg has tapped into this aspect of sticker art; but his website is a testament to the most visible radio station branding that there is.

KISR Sticker Courtesty Greg Blouch

I dropped Greg a note to find out what fuels his obsession for radio station stickers and learn more about his website, “Radio Sticker of the Day.”

It turns out that his fascination with stickers began in the 1980s, around the same time that my friends and I were plastering KOME, KSJO, and KMEL stickers (with a picture of a camel on them) all over our notebooks, windows, and Pee-Chee folders.

Over the years he’s accumulated around 12,000 stickers and largely credits the Internet for making it easier for him to contact stations. His site only features pictures of stickers that are in his collection. I love that attention to detail! On to the interview:

WYSO Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer Waits: How did you get started collecting radio stickers and what was your first sticker?

Greg Blouch: When I was 13 years old our family moved from Middleport, New York (in the western part of the state near Niagara Falls/Buffalo) to Celina, Ohio.  I was homesick and wanted to get my hands on something that reminded me of New York.

My favorite radio station had been 107.7 WUWU which was an offbeat, almost freeform, rock station heavy on the new wave music of the time (this was around 1982/1983.)  I wrote to the station and asked for a sticker which I promptly wasted by slapping it on a book cover for school.

(more…)