WFMU Shows

WFMU is a Jersey City, New Jersey freeform radio station.  It's awesome.  In NJ it's at 91.1

It broadcasts at 128kbps live on the internet, and all shows are archived for 2 weeks as 128 kbps mp3s, and archived forever as 32kbps real files.  Realplayer Gold Ultimate Supreme etc. sucks a lot, it's true.  But if you find an old version without all the utter shit produced by that company, and turn off all the useless distracting options, it's only slightly annoying.

They're completely non-commercial - no commercials, no sponsorship, underwriting etc.  No central part of the station exerts any control over what is played, beyond FCC requirements.  The station manager, Ken, pretty much seems to just pick people, give them shows, and then not mess with them at all.  Once you have your time you can do anything you want.  And listening to shows you can tell that DJs really do have that freedom.

128kbps live stream works in winamp.
WFMU Homepage lists today's show schedule.
recent archives high quality archives of the last week of shows.  It's good.

Since I've discovered WFMU I've listened to it about 12 hours a day.  It's great.

On regular radio you tend to hear all different moods of music mixed together, all from the same era, and all popular.  Selection is based on era and popularity, disregarding mood.  WFMU shows tend to have a consistent mood and since the DJs are so knowledgeable about music, they disregard popularity.  So 90% of WFMU music is stuff I've never heard before, yet it still sounds like it goes together pretty well.

After a while you realize that so-called pop music is just a tiny slice of all the music out there, and that just chance/bribery has determined who got big and who didn't.  Behind every popular group there are 10 groups just as good who just didn't happen to make it and were mostly forgotten.  Hearing those guys can be great.

The DJs aren't proudly amateurish like college radio, but aren't annoyingly smooth either.

Also, not having commercials means I don't have to switch stations every 20 minutes.

Shows I listen to every week
The more I listen the more good shows I find.  So this section is a bit long.

The Ed Shepp Radio Experiment

This is a new show summer 2005.  It is awesome.  Ed Shepp is a guy with an incredible voice who records weird extremely manipulated monologues.  He's brilliant.  Now he's got a 1 hour interview type show.   He's really into voice inflection, controlling his own and manipulating/exposing that of others.  The show is pretty random.  Every week he talks about a different subject.  Combines him reading scientific journals, snips from songs, movies, popular lore, and songs he's produced himself.  My recommendation: Listen to the show Colors in realaudio


The Best Show on WFMU
Talk show with Tom Scharpling.  He plays music and does funny stuff on the radio.  Sometimes he interviews strange people.  Also some regulars call all the time: some he likes such as Petey (a 14 year old boy), Officer Tom (a NJ cop), No-smokin joe (formerly smokin joe), and people he doesn't like such as Skag Winesack (a houseboat living sax playing former detective on the wrong side of the law), Philly Boy Roy, the Gorch, etc.  He also does "unfair record reviews" where he talks over and disses some indie record.  I'm gradually listening to the archives.  It can be kind of slow sometimes but often is great.  Listen to a great show featuring Woodsy and Captain Catchphrase

I've taken his archive page and added comments to the shows I've listened to.  So now it's my comments, his descriptions, and links to the shows together.


Plug and Play with OCDJ 
This is awesome, and much cooler than anything you'd ever find out about all by yourself.  all kinds of drone, from rock to electronica.  Game boy music, interviews, live shows.  This is the shit that proves freeform is a million times fucking better than normal radio..  Listen to the show from Dec 31, 2005

Seven Second Delay
Comedy talk show Totally un-slick.  Sort of funny.  Sometimes.  Unfortunately I know their personalities well enough now that I am hooked. 

During the Monica Lewinsky thing, they decided to do a survey.  They'd randomly call people, who would have to say whether they support or oppose Clinton's resignation.  Then, they'd ask the person to rate their level of support for this position on this scale: 
1) they would see a random peruvian guy keel over before his time
2) watch parents make love
3) have a brazilian spider inserted into their ear by a doctor and have it lay half a million eggs which would later hatch, but you wouldn't be hurt

I laughed SO hard at the "keep the caller on the phone show".  Fucking hilarious.  It's a game where they'd alternate calling random numbers and trying to keep the person on the phone as long as they can.  The restriction was that they could only say 10 words in the first minute.  After that the other guy got to cut in and say 5 words to try to get the person off the phone.  Whoever kept the random person on the phone the longest won.  Listen to "Stay on the Phone in 10 words or less"

Lately the show has been pretty spotty.  Since I am used to the hosts it's still pretty fun to listen to though.

I copied their archives and added a couple comments and stars.  That's here

Bill Zurat
Drone, other stuff.  The most high-schooly of the WFMU djs.  I like.

Tony Coulter
60s pop that wasn't popular.  Some of it is awesome.

Scott Williams
random shit.

Music to Spazz By
50s/60s pre-rock music.  He's got a great DJ style, kind of hyper on the mic.  Like the wolfman.

The Glen Jones Radio Programme
Two fat smoking drunk NJ dudes who talk between sets.  The music they play is embarassing - marley, springsteen, but always super-positive and nostalgic and never cynical.  The good part of the show is the 20 minute long breaks where the two hosts rap back and forth.  When one's absent it's not so great, but when they're both there it's awesome.  Just random stoner meandering funny conversations.  One of them holds the record for broadcasting over 100 hours continuously.  Update:  one of the hosts is now in jail.  Update:  He's out of jail now.

Joe Frank
Modern Radio theatre.  So awesome, but unfortunately it's on at 7am china time and there are no archives.  But it's so amazingly good.

Inflatable Squirrel Carcass
spacey instrumental modern classical late night music.  This was the first show on wfmu I loved.

Trans-Pacific Sound Paradise
Sometimes plays amazingly great folk music from all over.  Mostly good stuff, too - not just vocals, but good instrumentals from all over.  Slight lisp on the host?  I always get his voice mixed up with Dave Mandl's.

World of Echo
World music.  I listen a lot.
Host has an incredibly pretentious voice, and always goes on about how rare shit is before saying how he happens to have a copy.  I still listen though.

The Dusty Show
midwest guy interviewing people mixed with lots of fast edits.  The guy sounds like this western meditation guru who used to be on the Joe Frank show sometimes.

Ken
station manager ken's show.  great sometimes.

Shows I like, but don't always get around to

Airborn Event
Awesome late night DJ. Loved his 70s christian rock show.   Usually plays rough drone stuff.  6-9am sunday mornings so it's pretty laid back.  Good voice.

Sinner's Crossroads
Gospel. I find myself listening to this every single week on the archives.  Also has an awesommmme theme song.


Currently off the air awesome show

Advanced D&D
Fucking hard core electro, so awesome.  This show took a break during which the host moved to berlin.  Since it's been back it's been spotty.  Update: it got awesome again.  And now it's off the air again.

Aircheck
Interesting clips of radio personalities of the past.  My favorite is the total asshole gifted with a beautiful voice, Bob Lassiter, taunting and making fools of his idiot listeners.   Also memorable are clips of 70s DJs on drugs while broadcasting.  Each show is 15 minutes of random stuff and then a 45 minute episode of Jean Shepherd's old show, which is so great.  Jean Shepherd is the guy who wrote the book "a christmas story" was based on.  He can just ramble off strangely connected stories for 40 minutes and have it all come together in the last 5 minutes.  An amazing guy whose show was on the air for decades.  Aircheck isn't on WFMU yearround - it comes and goes.  The recent time it came back, first it was 45 minutes of the "it's friiiiiiday!!!" guy, which was intense.  2nd week back played coke jingles from the last 50 years...  unlistenable.

Do or DIY
This is what you think of when you hear "freeform radio".  A mix of mashups, unauthorized wrong genre remixes, hyper japanese children's music themes, etc. Death Metal versions of 80s pop hits.  The DJ is English and has a great voice and a meandering DJ style.  Awesome.

Professor Dum Dum's Lab
A guy with a really fake (???) german accent who plays orchestral death metal.  Lots of King Diamond, which is great.  In between, he proposes a poem topic and listeners call in and recite their poems.  The topic is usually incredibly blasphemous, such as "imagine baby jesus is transparent.  what message would you write on a paper to go with him as you cast him adrift on the ocean?".  Lately he has not been allowed to talk about jesus so much.

The Radio Thrift Shop
Country music.  lately has a tendency to play lots of 20s and 30s stuff.  When she plays her favorites from the last 50 years it's great.  Has a nice theme song too.  Her labor day shows are great.  Other shows can be kind of boring.

Good Shows

Diane's Kamikaze Fun Machine

Brian Turner

The Cherry Blossom Clinic

The Push Bin

Greasy Kid Stuff
kid's music.


Crappy Shows

Jewish Moments in the Morning
ugh.  It sucks too cause 6am to 9am NJ time is 6pm to 9pm here, my good listening hours.

Pat Duncan - badly recorded punk

Teenage Wasteland - eh, I just can't get into it.

oh yeah and Dave Emory is conspiracy theory stuff about nazis.

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May 7, 2006