Radio Mon Sep 14 2009
The Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP) needs your help to launch the webstream for their up-and-coming radio station.
As CHIRP's physical station is nearing completion at 4045 N. Rockwell St. (and Congress and the FCC are in the midst of reconsidering the law that limits new low-power broadband FM radio stations in big cities), the group is asking for donations to help bring the noise via the Internet. Contributions start at $1 and can run up to as much as $10,000, if you're feeling like that. Through November 11, CHIRP is offering various premiums for donations, from buttons and tote bags to signed silk-screened posters and free CDs. Hell, if you donate $500, various CHIRP DJs are available to spin at your house party!
— Kara Luger /
Radio Fri Aug 28 2009
For the past five months, a certain someone has been notably absent from The Hideout. That someone is Tim Tuten, co-owner of the venue (and staunch Obama supporter), who followed Obama to Washington to work for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
On September 1st at 9am, www.vocalo.org 89.5 fm will catch up with Mr. Tuten as they talk with him about schools, rock and DC. (via @hideoutchicago's Twitter stream)
— Michelle Meywes /
Radio Wed Jul 01 2009
Wilco's Jeff Tweedy sat down with WBEZ's Alison Cuddy to talk about the band's newly released album Wilco (the album), Jay Bennett and the order of things.
— Anne Holub /
Radio Tue Jun 16 2009
On the off chance we've got a few Mariah Carey fans amongst our readership, you may be interested to know that B96 has the exclusive world premiere of Carey's new single, "Obsessed." It'll play at 2pm today.
— Andrew Huff /
Radio Wed Feb 18 2009
Chicago Public Radio's latest project "Hard Working" posed the question on their blog late last week: What songs belong on a recession-themed mix tape? They've got some solid starters, but it got me wondering what would the slant of this mix? Would you want bluesy, soulful tunes or peppy mood lifters?
My vote: "Welcome to the Working Week" by Elvis Costello
— Anne Holub /
Radio Thu Feb 12 2009
If you've grown tired of Pandora or scouring MySpace pages for free music, then former Transmission writer Michael Schmitt has you covered. His most recent project, Future Perfect Radio, is a website that offers over 25 streaming channels of today's hottest indie music. The channels are organized by genres and geographic regions, and also offer convenient customization options. The site also highlights five artists each week so you can get acquainted with old favorites as well as up-and-coming bands.
The best part about Future Perfect Radio is its sense of community. Listeners are encouraged to complement or bash artists through Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or a blog. In effect, listeners can influence what music is streamed on the channels through their suggestions. Unlike Pandora, you'll be constantly exposed to new music and changing playlists. For example, a new Michigan/Detroit channel will be launching soon because of huge listener feedback. Future Perfect Radio also offers sweet channels like Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks of 2008, Indie Down Under, The Chicago Scene, and Lo-Fi. Check it out!
— Raf Miastkowski /
Event Wed Dec 03 2008
Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis have a ton of knowledge between them in rock music and the going-ons in the industry. You've heard them on "the worlds only rock 'n' roll talk show," Sound Opinions, and now you can join them live to discuss the future of the music industry in this uncertain time.
It's no secret that the Internet and the digital age have changed the way we listen to music, buy music, are exposed to music, and generally enjoy artists we like. Record companies are left scrambling to try to figure out how to still make a profit in this new time, but what does it mean for you the consumer/ listener, and for the musicians themselves? Kot and De Rogatis promise to break it down for you tonight at Columbia College's Conway Center (1104 S. Wabash). It's free, but space is limited so get there early. Doors open at 5:30, and the talk begins at 6pm.
Chicago Public Radio Event Details
— Michelle Meywes /
Radio Thu Nov 13 2008
Did you find the new Portishead album a bit dull? Were you expecting more from the Los Campesinos! debut LP after the hype generated from
Sticking Fingers into Sockets? Think
Way to Normal doesn't compare to Ben Folds' earlier works? Well, now you have the chance to air your grievances over the radio airwaves.
Each year Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis, hosts of
Sound Opinions, call out the most disappointing albums of the year in their annual "Turkey Shoot". If you want to make your complaints known, tell them which albums left you disgruntled this year by emailing interact@soundopinions.org and they will contact you to be on air.
Tune in to Sound Opinions weekly on
Chicago Public Radio (91.5 FM in Chicago) at 8 PM on Fridays and 11 AM on Saturdays.
— Stephanie Griffin /
Radio Fri Oct 03 2008
KEXP in Seattle has been counting down the top 903 albums of all-time over the last few days, and something shocking just happened. Sandwiched in between Alexi Murdoch's Time Without Consequence (#681) and Whiskeytown's The Ballad Of Carol Lynn (#679) was the Chicago classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I know it is hard to please everyone in a fan based voting system, but I find it hard to believe that there are 679 albums better than Wilco's best. In fact, while Sons and Daughter's (677) and Ratatat (676) play, it is clear we need a recount! Regardless, if you are tried of debating Palin vs. Biden, check out the rest of the countdown at KEXP.org, and start debating Wilco vs. The Meat Puppets.
— Jason Behrends /
Radio Tue Aug 19 2008
If you enjoyed Graham's interview with The Ex's Andy Moor but missed of the band's shows with Ethiopian saxophonist Getatchew Mekuria, you have one more chance: Peter Margasak notes that WFMU will broadcast the band's Wednesday concert at Damrosch Park in New York live. Also on the bill are Extra Golden and Ethiopian singers Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete performing with Either/Orchestra. Tune in for the online stream at 5pm (6pm EST).
— Andrew Huff /
Event Tue Jul 01 2008
For the third straight year, KEXP will visit Chicago and feature some homegrown talent live in the studio on their airwaves. On July 16, 17 and 18, KEXP hosts 4 bands each day at Engine Studios. Many local acts like Bottomless Pit, The M's, Mahjongg, Occidental Brothers and David Vandervelde will perform. And because they're such nice folks, KEXP is letting almost anyone join them to see and hear them play live. But you have to sign up. And you should do it sooner rather than later because these events fill up. Performers and times are listed at KEXP's Live from Chicago 2008 website. In addition to the studio sessions, Au and Sleep Out will perform for free at Darkroom on the 16th as part of KEXP's Midwest invasion.
— James Ziegenfus /
Radio Tue Jun 10 2008
The Third Coast International Audio Festival and the Prelinger Library are looking for radio ephemera -- take bits from two out of five books posted on this site, add a recording of a stranger's voice and turn them into a short audio story.
Submissions are due by August 3. Four pieces will be selected to be included in the Third Coast Festival Conference in October. And there's a chance your piece will also be played on Re:sound or Vocalo.org.
— Andrew Huff /
Concert Fri Mar 28 2008
Pitchfork Music Festival announced today that KEXP, the "where the music matters" public radio station in Seattle known for its innovative music and web programming, will broadcast live from the actual festival and from Chicago in the days running up to the festival.
The announcement helps bolster KEXP's efforts to become the nation's top new music/rock station via its internet stream. KEXP replaces KCRWMUSIC.COM (Santa Monica, CA) as the chief radio sponsor, and why KCRW did not grab this opportunity is unknown. The fact that, for two years in a row, public radio stations from other states have sponsored the festival seems to demonstrate how sorely lacking Chicago is of a great rock station, public or commercial.
In addition to the radio broadcast announcement, the festival announced the following newly added acts to the lineup, and expects to announce more in April.
Those newly announced acts are:
* Dinosaur Jr
* The Pitchfork Music Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties present "Don't Look Back" featuring Mission of Burma performing "Vs."
* Jarvis Cocker
* Ghostface & Raekwon
* The Apples in Stereo
* Jay Reatard
* Ruby Suns
* Dirty Projectors
* Cut Copy
* A Hawk and A Hacksaw
* Fuck Buttons
* King Khan & His Shrines
* Occidental Brothers Dance Band International
They will join the following previously announced performers:
* The Pitchfork Music Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties present "Don't Look Back" featuring Public Enemy performing "It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"
* Animal Collective
* Spiritualized
* !!!
* M. Ward
* Boris
* Vampire Weekend
* Dizzee Rascal
* No Age
* Atlas Sound
* Fleet Foxes
* Extra Golden
* El Guincho
* and more than a dozen others TBA
— David Polk /
Radio Fri Dec 21 2007
If you're all geared up to listen to Kot and DeRogatis on the airwaves after reading this week's feature, but you still want to bask in the glow of the holiday spirit, then you're in luck. There'll be a special holiday edition of Sound Opinions this week, with all of the season's weirdest offerings, brought to the studio by special guest, and holiday music savant Andy Cirzan. The show airs tonight at 8pm and again tomorrow at 11am at 91.5 FM, or you can grab the podcast starting Monday. You can add even more to your Xmas tunage by downloading Andy's mix, titled "The Santa Set" here.
— Anne Holub
Radio Thu Sep 20 2007
If you were at Delilah’s last night for the Future of Music Coalition’s “Rock The Music Party,” you might not have recognized Jon Langford’s guest harmonica player – but that was FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, who has been known to sit in with the North Mississippi Allstars. But now it’s time to get down to business: In about an hour, Adelstein and his fellow FCC commissioners will begin listening to testimony on media ownership over at Rainbow PUSH HQ. It’s the fifth of six national sessions the FCC is holding on the subject, and the opinions could decide who – or rather, what businesses – may be heard on your radio dial in the future. You can tune into the testimonials here.
— JP Pfafflin
Radio Mon Sep 17 2007
This Thursday, for a change of pace, Chicagoans will get a rare chance to hassle the FCC. Officially starting at 4PM (with hopeful speakers lining up for the sign-up sheet as early as noon), The Rainbow-PUSH Coalition will host an FCC hearing "to fully involve the public in the process of the 2006 Quadrennial Broadcast Media Ownership Review". Many of the speakers will be panels of specially chosen representatives of various media faces, both commercial and independent. There will also be the aforementioned sign-up sheet for those Chicagoans who would like to voice their own opinions. The Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP) will be sending several representatives to the hearing in the hopes of convincing the FCC to revisit (and re-assign) misused "translator" station licenses that offer no local broadcasting. To show your support, voice your dissent, or just learn first-hand about the politics of modern radio, the hearing will last from 4PM until 11PM (or later).
— Dan Morgridge
Radio Fri Jul 13 2007
Robert Feder in today's Sun-Times reports that Loyola is asking for WLUW to once again be under their management after essentially giving it to WBEZ in 2002 due to budgeting. If the red tape clears between Loyola and Chicago Public Radio, the station could be back in the university's hands by next summer. Right now it appears unclear how that switch will affect WLUW's programming and operations.
— James Ziegenfus
News Tue Jun 26 2007
If you're not hearing anything on your favorite Internet radio station today, it might be a silence you'll have to get used to -- Today, online stations like Accuradio and Pandora, along with terrestrial, taste-making stations like XPN and WOXY, have stopped streaming in protest of a royalty rate hike for online radio stations that's set for July 15. Some stations say that the 17 months of back royalties that need to be payed up next month could put them out of business, therefore making today's planned silence a permanent vacation. For more about how the rate hike could affect Internet radio, and how you can still contact your representative in support, read up in May's Transmission feature.
— JP Pfafflin
Radio Tue Jun 19 2007
Once again, Chicago Public Radio is asking listeners to share their choices for the best music the area has to offer this summer. It's just a matter of clicking over and filling out their online form, letting them know who you're looking forward to hearing this summer in Chicagoland. Then, if they like what you have to say, you'll get a note back from the station along with a special hotline where you can call in and record a message telling them all about your picks. At the site, you can read the submissions, or Chicago Public Radio show Eight Forty-Eight might even air your message if you make the grade.
(And yeah, the station's doing that fund drive thing again right now. Maybe throw them some bones if you can? That would be real nice.)
— Anne Holub
Radio Wed Apr 04 2007
Got the mid-week blues? Don't snap into a Slim Jim, friend -- tune into the Hump Day Dance Party on WLUW 88.7 FM (Wednesdays, 8-10 pm).
Tonight, DJs Dr. Drase and Michael Flavor will host guests The Black Bear Combo. I caught the Chicago-based quartet last week at the Beat Kitchen, and they got the crowd all in a tizzy with their gypsy-influenced brass band beats. It's good, and it's good for you. Best of all? No cover!
— Kara Luger
Radio Wed Mar 28 2007
If you're tuning into Chicago Public Radio, or maybe even streaming it here from the archives, you'll want to keep your ears tuned for the NPR All Things Considered piece on our recently reviewed Touch & Go Records artists Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. They'll be focusing on the band's politically charged rock.
— Anne Holub
Radio Tue Jan 23 2007
It's been a year since Sound Opinions left their old radio home for WBEZ. And despite some perhaps questionable decisions about the actual music programming on the station, the world's only rock'n'roll talk show is doing well and will celebrate its first anniversary at Chicago Public Radio with a taping open to the public. Donna and Robbie Fulks will be featured during the show, which is doubling as their Valentine's Day episode. Audience members will have the opportunity to contribute some of their favorite love songs.
The taping will be at the Claudia Cassidy Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Randolph, at 7pm on Thursday, January 25. Seating is limited. The show will be broadcast on February 9 at 8pm on WBEZ.
— James Ziegenfus
Radio Tue Jan 16 2007
WBEZ's "Eight Forty-Eight" news magazine is launching a weekly segment called "UnderCover," running every Thursday starting this week. It'll feature a local band or artist performing a cover song outside their typical genre. Sounds like it could be pretty good, especially based on the initial line-up.
Jan. 18: Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, performing “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order
Jan. 25: Don Stiernberg, performing “Something in the Way She Moves” by James Taylor
Feb. 1: Detholz!, performing “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant
Feb. 8 The Zincs, performing “Silver” by Echo & the Bunnymen
Feb. 15: Las Guitarras de Espana, performing "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack, remake by The Fugees
Feb. 22: Puerto Muerto, performing "Be My Husband" by Nina Simone
Mar. 1: The Hoyle Brothers, performing "Go Home Girl" by Arthur Alexander
Mar. 8: Bobby Conn, performing TBA
— Andrew Huff
Radio Wed Jan 03 2007
Eight Forty-Eight interviewed musician and teacher Michael Droste this morning about his just-completed One Song Every Day project , which began as a New Year's resolution in 2006. Listen to the interview here (mp3).
Later in the show, Chicago Public Radio's decision to kill its nighttime jazz programming was defended by music critic John McDonough (mp3), who pointed out that many of the most vocal opponents of the decision don't actually listen to jazz on the radio.
If you do listen to jazz on the radio, your last chance to do so at 91.5 on your FM dial is tomorrow (Thursday) night beginning at 8pm, when Dan Bender, Richard Steele and Sarah Toulouse will host the final eight hours of jazz programming as a team.
UPDATE: Here's Peter Margasak's take on the McDonough piece.
— Andrew Huff
Radio Wed Nov 15 2006
Cleveland post-punk band Pere Ubu will be guests of Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis on Sound Opinions this Saturday. The show begins at 7 p.m. on WBEZ and the band will be interviewed before playing a live set. (According to Pere Ubu's website, though, they only trust three European broadcasters to record them for radio.) A podcast will be available next Monday. The following Saturday, November 25, Pere Ubu will play at the Abbey Pub. For more information, check either the Abbey or Ubu Projex.
— James Ziegenfus
Radio Wed Nov 01 2006
Speaking of Chicago Public Radio's upcoming program schedule changes, the time is nigh for the big music programming change at the station.
While we're losing a lot of jazz programs, local jazz authority Dick Buckley thankfully remains on the board at 2pm Sundays and Ken Nordine's Word Jazz seems to still there in the wee hours of Sunday, starting at midnight (it's only on the PDF version of the schedule).
Favorites bringing world music keep going strong as Passport stays with Chicago's Tony Sarabia at the helm at 9pm Friday and PRI's Afropop Worldwide still lives at 11pm Friday nights.
Positive gains include the rebroadcast of Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot's rock and roll talk show Sound Opinions at 11am Saturday morning (they'll premier each week's episode at 8pm Friday night) and the addition of New Orleans-based American Routes program at 2pm Saturday bringing a "broad range of American music".
The week's musical treat still might come at 9pm on Sundays with a return of the Sunday Special slot just right for great music programming, should they decide to feature it there.
I, for one, will miss Richard Steele's voice while he deejayed hours of jazz throughout the night, Blues Before Sunrise, and I'll actually be sad to lose kooky Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on the weekends.
— Anne Holub
Radio Thu Sep 21 2006
Tonight, Chicago Public Radio celebrates jazz legend John Coltrane's 80th birthday (on a day darn close to it) by playing the master's music all night long. It's a Coltrane Marathon from 8pm till 4am! To prep, remember to stretch, and check out their website with all the background you'd ever need, plus listen to some past programs devoted to the saxophonist and his work. Got some feelings on Coltrane? Share them with WBEZ and they might just play your favorite tune.
— Anne Holub
