Your favorite WFMU DJ!

A CD started skipping badly, and he puts on an unpreviewed substitute track, which turns out to be this hilariously tasteless song that goes something like, "Come...take a sip...from me! It tastes just like a milkshake!". After the damage had been done, he pulls the track, obviously shaken, and apologizes profusely. Killer show, too - he played Yoko Ono's "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mommy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)" fer crying out loud.

My favorite DJ is probably Marc Grobman but my favorite show is probably Monica's. (Douglas, I liked your show too.)

*ILM's own

This could become a habit. Thank you.

I have to give props to Douglas' Rhubarb Cake archives. They're what drew me to WFMU in the first place. I was searching on something else via Google, came across the show's archives and then started exploring. Big ups to DJ Small Change, Donna Summer and Brian Turner, too.

I have a fondness for Trouble.

mike lupica, because he's a swell guy all around.

(Just kidding, although I listen almost every day. Charlie, Monica, Fabio, and Kenny G., in no particular order.)

runners-up: douglas wolk. monica lynch.

v

does it? i haven't seen a release on NWOS in a while now, so i wasn't sure. last thing i recall hearing was that he was doing a suntanama 7", and that was a year or two back.

-Full disclosure: Yet another WESU-biased opinion ('94-'96).

well i wished we had radio like that in sweden

How did this happen? What happened to all the vinyl in the Clark basement?

I feared something like this when, in the years I was there, no one took the initiative to bring WESU's concerns to the attention of the administration in re. renovating Clark Hall and building a new campus center. I take part of the blame.

I was excited to learn Erase Errata is from Wesleyan. WESU is bringing them back in April, I think.

Sweet crap, there's actually someone else in CT that posts here!

wait, what name does mosurak post under? shouldn't he be molesting the populace on chug?

I loved being a Special Guest Expert on RHUBARB CAKE a few years ago.

tony? metal director? sakes alive!

I would say that Mr. Finewine is the second best.

and nothing on FMU is so compelling that i'd need to listen to it "on the internet" - great that they exist, sure, but entirely overrated.

Do you have a comparison at the very least?
Of course not, because your argument is stupid.
"Great they exist" "entirely overrated" "sad truth is...I can't get the station" "boring"...
You're an ass.

find me someone (or several people) saying something bad about WFMU (other than "they play jewish music every damn morning!") and then i'll say, "ahh, you were right, they're entirely underrated!" but until then i say yeah, great, free-form radio - but that doesn't mean every show is compelling (most of them aren't). but feel free to be a blustering shithead some more if it makes you feel good.

Not every show on the station is meant for everyone, and that's fine. It's not meant to be a Clearchannel sort of thing, where it's the same 24-7. I don't listen to/like a lot of their programming, but my intense love of Tom Scharpling's hilarious Best Show, Dorian Devins' interview show The Speakeasy, Downtown Soulville, Aircheck, and the Audio Kitchen makes WFMU the best radio station in the world enough for me. There's a number of good music programs, but I don't get excited about them the same way - Laura Cantrell's The Radio Thrift Shop, Scott Williams, Douglas Wolk, Mosurock, Donna Summer, Frank O'Toole, and Doug Schulkind all play plenty of good music.

Best FMU DJ, currently: OC DJ

:-(

:-(

i also love belinda and hova's warped kid's show "greasy kid stuff," which probably has a much smaller playlist than the average fmu show, but it's a damn good playlist, and it's funny, and they're funny, and they, too, are pop-tastic.

Chris T's Aerial View is great, Greasy Kid Stuff, Kenny G, Ken Freedman, Brian Turner, $mall Change, Frak O'Toole, and I think I remember a DJ named Crow from a few years back who I miss alot.

Glenn Jones because he doesn't care if I think so and plays whatever he wants.

What happened to Frank O'Toole? I finally have the bandwidth to listen on the web and I can't find his show?

Doug Wolk has/had a show? That must be/have been good.

and lastly, in memorium, TKF

Skooli Descartes, Hyena Sparerib, the Electric Eggplant, SPOOG, S!T!O!I!N!K!

Also, here are the archives for Frank O'Toole.

Does anyone listen to WXYC?

joining words with others and turning them into sentences = *so* overrated

kenny g's been brilliant since his return. as has rob lim.

Me too!

I love the Spazz and many others, though.

I also liked the Pounding System with Clay (who always sounded very down), Small Change (who was fond of the term "Schlitz" instead of "shit" which always cracked me up), and the Bossa Nova show.

You should really hear Mark Allen's Halloween show from last Saturday, the body-disposal instructions and Dario Argento murder collage in partic:

http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/16856

What happened to Laura Cantrell this season? Busy promoting her new album? Hope she returns next season.

Anyway, I'm originally from jersey, so, much love to FMU!

This Hatch character (9-12 on Tuesdays) appears to be a genius, if only he'd step off the old reggae just a bit.

FATTY JUBBO!!!

bob brainen and i are practically the same person

that dave emory (?) conspiracy dude is a trip and a half

seven second delay

RIP Charlie ;_;

It's going to take me a while to remember that Scott Williams has moved back to Monday nights.

whats is the deal with kenny g?

station manager ken

Anything with Andy Breckman. (Really liked the time they fooled him into thinking the station hadn't met their marathon goal and they had a sign warning the DJs not to berate the listeners for falling short and Andy couldn't get over the idea that DJs had to be told not to do so.)

Noah Zark for indy hip-hop. Bill Kelly for the twenty-five years or whatever it's been. If anyone had the opportunity to hear the Vanilla Bean, Frank Balesteri, back in the late 80s, RIP, Frank. Amazing improvisor. Cantrell, Belock...the ones who still play music and don't turn it into a show about them. (I know he's like a lifer, but Irwin, man, you're not that cool...

whoever's playing Enuff z'Nuff, I kiss you

Hova was my favorite before he skipped town.

SINNER'S CROSSROADS!!! Can't believe it's not been mentioned here, yet. My favorite show holy fuck, so good.

There are at least a dozen shows I miss a lot, even shows I didn't necessarily dig at the time like whatsisface the guy who had the retro show on Saturdays (I think?) in the late '80s, who used to be a pot delivery guy for his day job -- fuck it's gonna drive me crazy. He had some silly nickname? He played a lot of great raw Norton type stuff...

Anyway it's so great that Brian and Fabio are still on the air -- I always get turned on to so much stuff by them. Wish I could podcast their shit!

The Hound, Mike? I thought he ran a bar or something.

that one on Ave B -- is it still there? Lakeside Lounge?

DJs are doing their best-of-2007 on the blog, btw:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/wfmus_top_ten_of_2007_lists/index.html

i like hearing the beginning of dj rupture's show at the end of my seven second delay podcasts. too bad there's not a podcast version of his show (?).

Yeah, Mudd Up! (the /rupture show) is great. I listen to it at the end of my workday on Wednesdays.

Strangely the little I've heard of Seven Second Delay isn't funny at all.

It's easier once you understand that the show is often funnier when it's not funny.

I didn't think it was funny at first either, and now I luv it.

mike a -- yes that was it, the hound! and of course i meant "allegedly" in ref. to his other job before he opened that bar.

After moving to Vermont, Charlie has hooked up with WVEW and has a show starting tomorrow (2-4 p.m. Eastern). Station has live stream! Yay!

Where is the love for Michael Shelley?

gaylord fields

DJ Icepack

Favorite adult DJ: Gaylord Fields. Because he hates pie.

maria has been kicking my ass tonight

er sorry its monica

i only listen to wfmu tues @ 8 & wed @ 6 so i am not familiar w/ the djs

where is the bob brainen love? he and fabio are like the two halves of jeff lebowski to me.

shrunken planet and airborn event, too.
& i really love donna & ira's fill ins.

Finally listened to brainen the other day. Pretty good.

No one told me gaylord hates pie. That sounds terrible.

Yeah, what was that all about?

He's the opposite of Murray Hewitt.

i think brainen plays jazz is better than brainen plays pop, some of the pop stuff being a little too sunshine and jangles. but then i'm not a massive byrds fan. he's a really endearing guy ... listening to him run through a line-up and say 'no slouches' makes me want to pay more attention to musician who's-whos more than i do.

James R: ha!!

wau, oldtimers weekend coming up:

WFMU Radio Greats Weekend
Friday, August 8th, 6pm - Sunday, August 10th, 11:45pm

Legendary WFMU DJs from years past drop by to help celebrate 50 years on the air, August 8-10. Special guests include Danny Fields, Wildgirl, Meredith, David Newgarden, Nicholas Hill, William Berger, Neal Adams, Mark Allen, Douglas Wolk, Stork, Vin Scelsa, Steinski, Hova & Belinda, R. Stevie Moore, John Schnall, Bart Plantenga plus surprise guests and rare airchecks.

http://www.wfmu.org/upcoming

Back when you could only listen to WFMU if you lived in North New Jersey / the Western half NYC.

and I did

Bummer about Tony Coulter moving away. ;_;

waht! i love that dude. how come i never heard?

<3 Vicki Bennett

apparently there's going to be an on-air wedding at the record fair?

forks: Whose??!?!

RIP Hatch's show.

tokyo: Debbie d?

Yeah, very sad about Hatch. He is a class A guy and did a great show. Hopefully he'll be back soon... I finally had the chance to meet him recently and he was really quite nice. They'll keep on rockin' without him I guess...

aw, hatch's was a good show. i feel bad for not listening for a while; he seemed really energised by the primaries going on last time i was tuning in. what happened?

http://www.wfmu.org/Playlists/HM/hatch_logo.jpg

MMmmmmm....Monica's back,luv her!

Soooo psyched for Monica back on the schedule.

Thanks for the love, folks. That logo is totally tongue-in-cheek, by the way. If anybody enjoyed our RNC Remix webstream in 2004, we've organized a sequel of sorts for Election Day:

WFMU's Electile Dysfunction 2008

election day should be good listenin'.

has anyone heard this yet, by the way?, radio freetown? i caught monday's, it was excellent. i'd never heard monica before her comeback, either, she's great.

They're about to do this World's Greatest Music Experts panel on Michael Shelley's show.

This was pretty cool. As Wes Montgomery said.

Stan

forgot how great shrunken planet can be when you're in the mood

rex on saturday morning, perfect music + perfect time for it

I keep forgetting how great Irene Trudel's show is.

Let's have a little love for the Inner Ear Detour with David.

totally thought this thread would be populated by lonely bumps in which i reiterated how great monica's show is. reliably educationally fantastic.

^^^ agreed re: Monica

I used to hate the Michael Shelley + Rex block on Saturday...wtf was I thinking.

There's only one DJ I hate so much I switch to a different stream asap.

twitter feed uses term 'golden age of syphilis'

rex on saturday morning, perfect music + perfect time for it

― dont wear sh@q without the fu (tremendoid), Wednesday, 18 August 2010 07:55 (11 months ago) Bookmark

saturday afternoon for me but yeah this ^^, practically without fail

haha he actually reminds me a lot of 1xtra's dancehall dj robbo ranx

i think i need to change up my listening habits a little. are there any shows people are liking currently for like, newer stuff? i dug up an old hatch show for a lindstrom remix, beguilingly overlaid with the rantings of some crazy anti-obama ranter. i think i usually gravitate towards my comfort zones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7NmCBiNx6M

yeah good call. the last time i was listening to fabio week in week out was amid an even higher than usual concentration of cluster/rother/related reissues & oddities resurfacing, so i tend to think of it as being older stuff. but right on.

new kid Mike Van Laar has been doing some excellent shows. psych/kraut/post punk etc pulled from mutant sounds and the other usual suspects.

Joe McGasko does a great show too.

i haven't heard yet, but psyched to check this out after hearing monica mention it:

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/HP

i don't get to hear Ken's archives much, but i enjoy lookin at his gifs

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/53261

Ken was in bonkers politics mood today, always amazing

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/67477

It was great, and followed by a monster Duane Train. Duane is quickly becoming my new favorite WFMU dj.

Pseu Braun's Thing With a Hook is back, now Tuesday noon-3! I can hear it on my mini-radio from my aerie in lower Manhattan.

I just read that Wm. Berger has passed away but I don't know anything more..

that's a damn shame

Ken and Duane Train always produce the goods

This is terrible news.

damn, RIP.

I guess one of my new fave 'DJs' is... p4reene

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/TV

neat

listening to FMU around 11am today, Pickle time Theater's Matty Gherkin plays Don Felder's "heavy Metal." I heard the same song on another show last week. Does any dedicated FMU phreak know if this is a recent meme for the station? seems improbable that two shows would play a forgotten FM chestnut coincidentally?

later Pseu Braun on her show was talking about a commenter on some FMU page or other: "Matthew Sweet's Yoga Farts." I have been laughing since then.

There has been a whole thing around Don Felder lately, yes, possibly instigated by Station Mgr Ken.

Pseu roolz

He plays it every on every show at 11. I think it's the most favorited song.

Oops, added an extra every. I blame Don Felder.

Dr. Morbius OTM; I love Pseu!!!

should i complain that i never got my dj premium? i mean i don't *really* care, it would just be nice

From this spring's marathon? They're just now starting to get it sent out. I haven't gotten mine either.

5/24/18
I Want My Swag!
We are getting ready to begin the months-long process of mailing out swag to everyone who pledged to our 2018 Marathon (the more stuff you requested, the longer it will take). This year’s swag is worth the wait!

ah, cool

thanks

I just got an email for volunteering, so it sounds like they are starting to send out swag today.

ah yes Friedman, you and yr FMU lackeys think yr funny? then play this, in which Felder repurposed his contributions to "Life in the Fast Lane"…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oIH8bNsRpU

Probably a dumb question: does the station pay for the production of DJ premiums or do the DJs kick in production costs?

I think the answer is both, depending on the dj -- if the dj can pitch in on production (Scharpling had family in the t-shirt biz, for instance), they do -- but Station Manager Ken would probably give you a clear answer.

RIP X-Ray Burns.

This is so awful.

got a hearty handshake from the man at last year's marathon

RIP

Really, really heartbreaking episode of the Glen Jones Radio Program last night.

RIP. Frank's was a gateway show for me about 35 years ago.

We're very sad to share the news that longtime WFMU DJ Frank O'Toole passed away last night. Frank started at WFMU in 1976 when he was at Upsala College, the school that WFMU used to be part of. We will miss his kindness and knowledge.
📷: Frank (on right, w/ @dmandl) by @keeptru pic.twitter.com/VGK8dFe8c9

— WFMU (@WFMU) May 3, 2019

RIP -- I always liked his 6-9 web-only show, which I caught pretty often as an early riser.

Same - an incredible freeform DJ. RIP

Also a genuinely nice guy, easy to talk to. He played for awhile in a Feelies offshoot band called Speed the Plough.

Was really nice to hear the ladies of Shut Up Weirdo again last night. Did not realize the new phone number turns out to be 201-KEN-WFMU

icymi

Join Station Manager Ken and Andy BreckmanMan for a night of comedy and juvenile pranks, this Wednesday, October 30th for Seven Second Delay‘s Standup Comedy Mischief Night at Monty Hall. Ken and Andy welcome a dozen of America’s leading stand-up comedians for a beautiful evening of mirth. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll wipe away a little tear, and you’ll also get a roll of toilet paper so that we can all take part in Mischief Night festivities by TPing a neighboring rival radio station. Monty Hall, Wednesday, October 30th. Admission: $12, includes one (BRAND NEW) roll of toilet paper.

skeleton crew continues on the air

Ira Kaplan in for Duane at noon today

In 20 minutes:

Tonight on 7SD we are focusing ONLY on the positive aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. Just about every disruption in history has good and bad sides, and recent events are no exception. Ken, for one, is grateful that Mission Impossible 5 has been postponed indefinitely, while Andy is thrilled that the WFMU Record Fair has been cancelled.

Listen for details tonight-- we are just now working out the final logistics-- but we will be giving away TP free, with no strings attached, and no plys missing.

Ken is jumping in to Bryce's (prerecorded) show to announce that effective immediately, all shows will be prerecorded or from the archives with a few exceptions (skeleton crew still in building) for the next 2 weeks+.

also some DJs are planning to remote-broadcast, if they figure out how to

Ken going Full Ken today with Traktorized "Don't Stand So Close to Me" for bed music

Dave the Spazz and Duane were on 7SD via phone tonight, and both have some symptoms :/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/arts/music/coronavirus-community-radio.html

WFMU included in this

Endless respect to the skeleton crew, some of whom are sleeping there. Listenership via the streams is at an all time high, I'm told

I'm a big fan of lots of the DJs, but I wanted to throw out a special appreciation for Jeff Conklin's Avant Ghetto. Not sure if he doesn't get the same love since he's a little more jam-band friendly, but his shows are usually a treat. I especially like when he dives into 70's folk obscurities. The run he started his show with this week (the Branford Marsalis assisted "Bird Song" into a '72 King Crimson take on "The Creator Has a Master Plan" into Universal Congress Of) was killer.

Ken was killin' it reading official instructions in Satan Voice today

Interview with Dave the Spazz about his COVID experience. Looks like he's recovering but they're still doing fill-ins (Ira the K again last night).
https://www.psreader.com/pandemic-diary-vii-%e2%80%a8dave-the-spazz-covid-felt-like-blowtorches-behind-each-one-of-my-eyeballs/

title made me wonder how many eyeballs he has

Ira K doing lots of fillins, incl now til noon ET

I appreciate him.

Looks like I can appreciate him every week for the next year in the midnight Tuesday slot.
https://www.wfmu.org/table?period=45

yeah I saw that! surprised.

Ken really goin for it rn

https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/93678

Looks like the Rock n Soul Ichiban stream has been shitcanned without any announcement.

Debbie D: "Sorry, folks. I was permanently suspended from WFMU today. I had a disagreement with management. Thanks for 10 great years of Ichiban."
https://www.facebook.com/groups/162415257052/

Oof. Wonder what that's all about, can't really get a handle based on those FB comments. Seems like some folks are calling for other DJs to quit WFMU in support, but others saying there's another side to the story? Odd.

Yeah, anyone know why?

i saw longtime best show caller fred from honolulu beefing with ap mike on twitter, and i couldn't figure out what it was about, but fred made remarks about women being creeped out by p@ul brun0 ... is that related?

sorry i shouldn't be spreading rumors i know nothing about

yeah disregard my post it's unrelated

As much as I love the Ichiban stream, there's some sketchy bullshit being spread by folks close to Debbie D and elsewhere online -- the Hound is straight up making things up about Ken Freedman on Instagram. I have a feeling Ken may have called a bluff that's been going on for a while; I think Debbie D said "you have to do it my way, Ken, or I will take Ichiban and that sweet Tom Hanks pledge money with me" once too often.

Ichiban stuff broadly related to huge internal strife at the station regarding WFMU's BLM statement

Saw the Hound also been trolling (now ex)Ichiban DJs in IG - I think he's just happy to see anything related to WFMU go wrong

who is the Hound?

Jim Marshall

https://pleasekillme.com/hound-back-on-the-air/

the Hound has been a gigantic anti-FMU asshole ever since he lost his show (in the '90s?)

1997 it says in that article.

the Hound has been a gigantic anti-FMU asshole ever since he lost his show (in the '90s?)

The Night Owl Show is on the stream right now.

I do suspect that the BLM statement may have something to do with things, but that's one of the points that Debbie D's crowd and the Hound are straight mythmaking about -- that Ken fired her for putting up a pro-BLM statement, when in fact Ichiban was the last stream to put anything up, and their statement was a weirdly-edited, shorter version of the Drummer Stream's statement. Also got a Controversial Mod Edit on the Ichiban Facebook group deleting my (factual, non-shaming) comments about the still-active far right broadcaster who did the gross, racist Queen Bee Barbecue bits they've been playing forever *before* the "KEN FIRED DEBBIE FOR SUPPORTING BLM" bullshit started spreading.

From the Night Owl playlist comments:

Hi OjaibJohn -
Thanks for writing. I am working hard to bring Ichiban back by the end of this month. It had not been my intention to turn the stream off. I suspended the manager of the stream because they said they were going to quit, but they refused to discuss it with me.
I was going to leave the stream up, while I searched for a replacement, but the Ichiban DJs recommended to me that I turn the stream off, at least for a few weeks, while people cooled down.
I hope to be able to provide a date of Ichiban's relaunch next week. When the date is settled, I will post it on the WFMU homepage.
In the meantime, all the Ichiban playlists and archives remain up and working, all on the landing pages for each show. Please let me know if I can help you locate any of the show pages.
-Ken Freedman

oy, such a clusterfuck

It's really gross. Any sympathy I had for Debbie has disappeared as she's started insinuating really shitty things about Ken and the station that just aren't true. She's parroted the "no djs of color on WFMU" thing from the Hound just now, as the Duane Train begins. And she's doing it in my least favorite way: the bad liar's truth, where you insinuate and ask questions and stop just sort of a clear declarative sentence and everyone understands what you are accusing, but you never actually let the untrue words leave your lips. From the look of it on the Ichiban Facebook group, people are buying it. The insanity of her pretending to be the Only Righteous DJ at FMU? As the head of Ichiban? I thought the trash garage crowd had more integrity than the rockabilly crowd, but I guess I was wrong.

There are no djs of color on the Ichiban stream and I don't think there ever have been (somebody who knows better please correct me), although Gaylord has co-hosted a bunch of times.

not to get into too much detail, it wasnt over Ichiban posting a BLM statement (although i can see how ppl might think that from the timing), but was definitely a falling-out with Ken in the broader context of a huge station-wide uproar over the past week surrounding WFMU making (or not wanting to make) a statement in support of BLM & general diversity at the station. Very sad to see all around, really hoping people will cool off soon and the station wont get crippled from within over this stuff like so many community/volunteer stations have in the past.

dont want to get into it here but tbf TWU, go through the schedule and count the ratio of white DJs to POC, its about 50 to 1.

It's about 5 out of 20 on the new schedule, as opposed to 0 out of 10 at Ichiban.

I mean, I am not taking a census and just going by djs I know. Statements are everywhere on the WFMU homepage and a couple of the streams, djs have been talking seriously about the matter for the last couple of weeks, Ichiban has no black djs and plays "funny" racist tunes all the time, but sure, all hail Debbie and cancel WFMU.

I absolutely agree with your hope that this won't cripple the station -- seeing Debbie go scorched earth on Facebook and seeing people suck it up is concerning as hell to me.

I was bummed to see Jeff Sarge wasn't on the new schedule, but it looks like it's more to do with him not being able to DJ from home and he'll be back.

xp FMU also the station that made a bundle off of trump-promoting nachum segal tbf. I love FMU to death but it also shouldnt be that hard to imagine that they might have some work to do behind the scenes re:how to engage with this current cultural moment. All i can say is you gotta trust me that theres plenty of blame to go around on this one, i love FMU and ichiban both, theyve both got some work to do rn, hopefully theyll both be fine.

The reality is is either goes down, I lose a shitload of intelligently curated (and in the case of the main station, often black curated) African American music, and that matters more than the relative sins of two white people. Yes, Irwin and Nachum and X-Ray Burns and a million boring whiteboys playing bad hiphop and extreme metal, but everything else besides and very little listenable alternative. I think I'm saying I didn't want to pick a side until Debbie started insisting that everyone choose a side and that hers is the side of justice, and that just grosses me out in the face of hearing a variety of djs over the last couple of weeks actively engaging the subject and grappling with their personal role on the air on WFMU while Ichiban played old Rex airchecks with the mic breaks cut out. The struggle is totally real and the work has to continue, but I don't think that's what Debbie's about now.

"while Ichiban played old Rex airchecks with the mic breaks cut out"

otmfm

methinks some listeners have no idea of the race of some individual hosts (along with their names)

Loving the newly-united Friday ladies block of Sheila B-Shut Up Weirdo-Dance With Me Stanley.

Worried about Dave the Spazz -- whatever his health issue is, I hope it's treatable and he'll be back in the fall.

(He said on his May 4th show that he was having some medical thing done, and there have been fill-ins the past three weeks. This week is the last of the current schedule and he's not on the summer schedule. No fill-in host listed for tomorrow so I'm hoping for a fun season finale and some good news on his health.)

Spazz is back on the fall schedule, hooray! Also, he's going to be the improbable guest-host for the prog show "It's Complicated" in 50 minutes. I'm hoping for Sammy, Dean, Frank, Jerry Lee et al covers of "Lucky Man" and other prog-adjacent stuff.