It's been ages since I've posted or contributed anything here, but rest assured I have been stopping by now and again to see what new music I need to be catching up on!

Anyway, I wanted to give a heads-up about CHIRP Radio for those not already aware. CHIRP stands for Chicago Independent Radio Project. We're a gang of 150+ volunteers who fucking love new independent music and community radio. Many of you may not know it but the Local Community Radio Act passed late last year. Among other things we were heavily involved in the lobbying to get this passed. (Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, was a sponsor of the bill and we hammered him with written statements from friends, family, and interested individuals for over a year!) We run ourselves like an on-air non-commercial station - we even edit hip-hop to meet "community standards"! - all in the name of eventually getting a license to b'cast over the air and serve our community.

In the meantime, we stream. And it's wonderful. I work as a DJ sub (my freelance work makes it difficult to commit to a shift) as well as do occasional production. Our website is incredible insomuch as our recent playlist is always available, plus we've lots of band interviews and news stories that we post as podcasts.

Chicagobners, if you've gotten this far, there's an added bonus: we are constantly giving away tickets to shows and it's not always via the netcast. Hook up with us on Facebook (CHIRP on FB) as we are always giving away tix via email and IM too.

So there you have it; did I miss anything? I wanted to get the word out to my oldest new music pals, and now I have. Tune in, Turn on, Drop out!

Peace,
ç

That's rad.

Was this a local piece of legislation or national? I can't see this flying in the state that brought you clear channel.

It's nice to see a well maintained facebook page for a change. Especially one with relevant posts.

Checked out the site/FB page and its rad. Love that this is starting to happen in places. This country is sorely in need of independent/micro-license stations. I love podcasts, but there's something great about dialing in a radio station and being overwhelmed by something by chance.

This was definitely national. Now we wait while the FCC figures out standards, procedures and such. We are in a tough place (major market) with a radio dial packed full but there are some interesting rules regarding repeaters (essentially a station will get to use a small transmitter on a different frequency and in a different area than their primary transmitters to get better/wider coverage) that should assist. Despite potential issues, we're probably the top candidate to be a major-market test case due to how organized we are. Cross yer fingers!

Oh right - we also play a shit-ton of local music. Two tracks per hour minimum along with 5 other tracks from rotation every hour.

I'd really like to see a lot more radio stations do this. The bands could use the attention and on a personal level while I like to get out and about enough to at least keep somewhat abreast of what's happening in local music, being able to hear it regularly without having to hit a bunch of shows you don't like before finding the ones you do would be refreshing.

No kidding; who wouldn't? But there's no money in that in today's corporate-dominated radio landscape. /sarcasm

I should clarify that statement of mine you quoted. We don't play 7 local tracks an hour. (You can if you want, but it's not required) The "rotation" is all the new music from wherever it's from.

A lot of our music dept. staff are former WLUW folk and have cultivated great relationships with the local music scene. Here's a terrific and informative article from the Chicago Reader published just before we went live mid-Jan. 2010: Clicky

And of course it's just a social media popularity contest but it's still cool:
Chicago Reader's Poll: Best Radio Station

Every time I see this topic my head goes "when I chirp, shawty chirp back".

Moving along.....

Sounds very cool. Glad to see you around again, Tom!

I love CHIRP! An old friend of mine DJs on Saturday afternoons and it's always fun to hear his voice through the magic of the internet.

Tom, can you shoot me your email address PLEASE!!! I have some new music to send you

this

Incoming!



Danke, Shane

Tom, check your email