Lost Audio

Dear readers and listeners,

While the bulk of our efforts go towards publishing a magazine, there's been a strong connection with radio from the very beginning. We all take great pride in the enormous archives that have been put together over the decades, as they capture so much of our lives and culture.

Most of the shows I've been involved with on WUSB and WBAI have thankfully been preserved, often through the efforts of a number of different people. But there are always forgotten shows, segments, and raw audio lying around in various places. Through a great amount of coordination and painstaking research, we've managed to put together a huge amount of material that we believe will be of interest to a number of you.

Let's be clear, though. Some of this is pretty bad. In fact, I'd go on to say that some of it may be the worst radio that's ever aired. But I tend to be biased, especially when listening to myself. Also, it's important to show just how bad you can possibly be at something, in the hopes that this may inspire someone else not to give up when they're nowhere near as bad as you once were. In fact, I continue to try and inspire people in this way.

But it's not all about simple bad radio. Some of it actually may be hard to listen to sound quality wise, particularly when it comes to raw audio. We didn't always have the best equipment at the time, but hopefully the overall mood and general idea comes across. Remember, there's a reason a lot of this stuff was lost.

That said, I think every bit of what we're releasing here is interesting stuff that tells a story. And we're always surprised by what captivates listeners. For instance, we almost cut a piece that took place inside a phone company office where nobody was saying anything, until we were told in no uncertain terms that the sound of a step-by-step switch was the most interesting part! You'll find little moments like that in the most unexpected places.

Each day we'll be releasing something different. It may only be a few minutes or it could be several hours. It might be one of my forgotten shows, an interview, a piece from another radio station that involves us somehow, or a mini-documentary from some sort of adventure that involved radio. You'll be able to download or stream each release and they will all be available afterwards in an archive. We'll announce each time a new release becomes available and the whole thing will last well into October. Yes, October. There's a lot of stuff.

It all starts Thursday, July 15th. Stay tuned!

emmanuel