Over the next few days, the station where I volunteer, Foothill College radio station KFJC-FM is broadcasting live from a music festival several thousand miles from home. With a fixation on underground music and a growing obsession with undertaking ambitious remote broadcasts from afar; my KFJC cohorts continue to amaze me (see my tech-heavy account of the 2017 remotes from England and Iceland) with their cheerful embrace of complex live music set-ups.
Currently, a crew of KFJC volunteers are in Takoma Park, Maryland for the Thousand Incarnations of the Rose: A Festival of American Primitive Guitar. The sold-out event has garnered some great press already, including an in-depth article in The New Yorker that highlights the impact of primitive guitar hero John Fahey. The New Yorker writes that in the 1950s and 1960s Fahey “…helped to develop a particular and idiosyncratic style of fingerpicking that borrowed heavily from the country blues—then a dying music, but one which Fahey venerated, obsessed over—while incorporating prickly, dissonant elements more common to avant-garde composers,” adding that, “American primitive is generally instrumental, and performed by a solo, steel-string guitarist working in an open tuning. The feel is introspective, if not plainly melancholic—like gazing out over flat water.”
KFJC folks are setting up to stream live from multiple venues and will be beaming not only audio, but also video on the KFJC website. I’m a bit jealous, as I really enjoyed my brief trip to Takoma Park a few years back, where I got the inside scoop on low power FM community radio station Takoma Radio WOWD-LP (read about my tour and hear about it on Radio Survivor Podcast #57), before it had even been built. Today, Takoma Radio is thriving and is even doing some broadcasts from this week’s primitive guitar festival.
Sound Artists on Radio Survivor
Also, this week, I was mesmerized by my colleague Eric’s interview with sound artist Zach Poff on our Podcast #137. He has worked with radio in intriguing ways, including some special projects for the transmission art-oriented Wave Farm Radio.
Additionally, my colleague Paul digs into the recent documentary about Negativland’s Don Joyce, a super inspiring radio DJ (who sadly left his earthly studio in 2015) who created masterful on-air mixes from every source imaginable.
Read on for a jam-packed compilation of this week’s college radio news. Spring Break must be over, as stations seem to be quite busy!
More College Radio News
Programs and Podcasts
WONC Doing Tribute to Chicago Radio Station “the Loop” (Robert Feder)
To the College Broadcaster I Heard Tonight (RadioInsight)
HUA Voice Radio Helps Chinese Students Adapt to Life at UW (Daily UW)
The Hottest New Radio Show at UWG: The Crew Out West (The West Georgian)
Radio Show to Amplify Local Issues, Artists, and Activists (Herald Community Newspapers)
Podcast Killed the Radio Star (The Michigan Daily)
Events/Live Remote Broadcast
KFJC Broadcasting from Festival of American Primitive Guitar (AllAccess)
KWUR Week Kicks off with Mothers Concert at Washington University (Student Life)
WHFR Fundraiser to Include Concerts and Specials (Dearborn Press and Guide)
UTA Radio Station Taking Part in Vinylthon (Dallas Observer)
Aggie Radio’s Logan City Limits Descends on Downtown as Local Music Scene Picks up (The Herald Journal)
KRLX’s 70th Birthday Bash (KRLX Facebook)
Station Profiles
Tuning in for Four Decades: Higher Ed/Community Radio Collaboration (Western Advocate)
Tuning in to the Power of Radio at Emory & Henry College (Southwest Virginia Today)
How to Be a DJ While Still in College at WONC (North Central College Student News)
History
KRLX Archive Deep Dive: Unearthed (KRLX)
That Time Sean Hannity Got Fired for Homophobic Comments…and Went to the ACLU for Help (The Wrap)
CNN’s Jim Acosta has a College Radio Past (The Breeze James Madison University)
Funding
Grad Students to Vote on Student Media Levy for CFUR Radio and Over the Edge Newspaper (Prince George Citizen)
Awards
Longtime Broadcaster to be Honored by Seton Hall (New Jersey Herald)
North Jersey College Radio Station Named Best in U.S., Again (Wayne, NJ Patch)
WSOU Student Station Manager Recognized as Rising Star (Seton Hall University)
Broadcasting Students Win Awards (The Record/Goshen College)
Student Wins IBS Award for WESS Student Radio Station (The Stroud Courier)
State Associated Press Names 2017 College Contest Winners for LA, MS (Miami Herald)
Students Win 11 Awards in Louisiana-Mississippi Associated Press Contest (The Daily Mississippian)
