Some really great moldy oldies this week:
On June 24, 1969, Look Magazine published an article about "the new radio" - "stations with a far-out format" including KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco, KMET in Los Angeles, WNEW in New York, and there's a mention about a little station in East Orange called WFMU, which had just managed to raise all of $13,000 for their operating expenses that year. Also, a creepily prescient scene featuring pot-smoking, mandala-wearing record executives who are none too concerned about "renaissance radio" encroaching on their profits.
Download the article here. (PDF, 524k)
Later that year, Eye Magazine featured an in-depth 3 page article about WFMU and it's incongruous presence at Upsala College, which in description sounds a bit like the Faber College campus. This article has some really fascinating facts:
- WFMU's first marathon ever raised $2,500, which was enough to keep the station on the air in the summer of 1968.
- Leonard Bernstein once called the station to tell them "he liked what was going on".
- Some things have really changed, like "A listener could call to request a song and hear it played 10 minutes later."
- And some things haven't changed at all such as the station "being under the care of various dropouts, mistfits and professionals" and the perception of WFMU as being "considerably looser, more spontaneous and less professional".
Interviews with Vin Scelsa, Lou "The Duck" D'Antonio, biker mama Toni Stevens, and the Kokaine Karma guys, among others, round out this very interesting piece of WFMU History. Download the article here. (PDF, 1.18 MB)
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