I have ripped most of the fidelipac tapes. All that remain are a bunch of tapes with polka music on them, probably from WRJQ.
Here’s a list of the archive posts.
CD Room Cleanup!
Time for a behind-the-scenes look at what we’ve been doing. As we renovate all three studios in the SOL/WLFM basement, one of the greatest challenges was figuring out to do with all the CDs. Last term, people ate up the free LPs like candy but the same could not be said about the CDs, and unfortunately the latter were taking up more valuable space. This all changed when Amos Pitch, who runs a small record label in town, reached out to me and expressed interest in taking the CDs and the shelves they sat on. I kept anything that didn’t look mass-produced to chuck on archive.org
Many thanks to Amos, Ridley, Julia, Chloe, Henry, Lee, Kate, Cassidy, and Isaac for their help loading and hauling stuff.
Here are some photos of the progress!
Mattie
WLFM station ID tapes and more
Mattie here, writing the first blog post on this site in over three years.
I’ve been preserving the legacy of WLFM by digitizing physical media that was once essential in broadcast. For many years, those cassette tapes sat untouched until one day when the club folded and it was time to clean them all up, along with all the other physical media. I saved them from the dumpster and turned them into 44.1 khz FLAC files. Click here to listen (archive.org)
Funny story: I joined WLFM in 2021 in hopes of having a radio show where I would DJ only using physical media, the Nightfly Retro Hour, taking name inspiration from Donald Fagen’s 1982 album The Nightfly. Instead I found the studio in great disarray after being effectively abandoned once everyone was kicked off campus in March 2020. The rest of the academic year, I tried my best to get the studio functional again, but I didn’t get much help. The only thing I ever got to broadcast on WLFM was a few tests, usually consisting of me saying “balls “over and over. I became the station manager by default once Zoe Adler graduated in fall 2021, and I made an executive decision to not re-apply for LUCC re-recognition and merge with another student organization, SOL Studios, who had been gaining traction since its inception while WLFM was fading in popularity, as evidenced by putting the term “WLFM” in Google Trends.
I am currently working on digitizing the surviving fidelipac tapes, an odd format that looks similar to 8-tracks that was once the standard of radio station IDs and announcements. Stay tuned!
WLFM House Show October 14!
We’re collaborating with Band Booking Committee for our first show of the year! We’re so excited to be showcasing student artists and hosting JOYCE MANOR!!
Joyce Manor is an American rock band from Torrance, California, formed in 2008. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Barry Johnson, guitarist Chase Knobbe, bassist and back-up vocalist Matt Ebert, and drummer Pat Ware.
BravePrince is a Lawrence student and Lawrence treasure.
sex, love, see you monday.
Molly
Ridley’s Favorite Records of 2016
I realized last year when I was drafting my Top 10 list that I just wasn’t prepared to do it right. There’s no way I was going to feel good about naming the “best” albums of that year like a big music blog or magazine. I just hadn’t heard them all. So I made a list of new records to me that were released in 2015 or earlier. And then I realized that the famous end-of-year lists are written by whole companies in which lots of people contribute. Of course I wasn’t going to put out a fair and unbiased list, I’m just one dude. Duh.
So anyway, I’m doing a few things this year. I made the following list of my favorite records that were released this year, each with a three-word review. And there’s a cute little list at the end of ones that I REALLY REALLY WISH CAME OUT THIS YEAR BECAUSE I HEARD THEM THIS YEAR AND THEY ARE SO GOOD AND I WANT TO PUT THEM AT THE TOP OF THE 2016 LIST BUT I CAN’T. I JUST CAN’T. I am making a tiny little zine run of drawings of these album covers with the reviews and my favorite songs. Check out my website [editor Mattie here, this used to link to a dead tumblr but that has been fixed] in a few days to get one of those if you’d like. I’m also making a zine of important songs. Every week or so there’s that one song that I put on whenever I have my headphones on. I kept a running list of these and added their title to a drawing on my phone until it became a squiggly mess of letters. The zine’s will also have some pictures from the year and drawings I made, sorted by month. It’s kind of cool I think. Check that out on my website also. And I’m making a list of my friends’ music that was released this year. For that, I guess friend me on Facebook.
Thanks for reading! I hope my list interests you and you check out something you haven’t heard before or re-listen to the ones you have.
10. Twin Peaks – “Down In Heaven”
Gotta love it.
Favorite songs: Holding Roses, Butterfly, Heavenly Showers
9. Humanshapes – “Fabulous Actors”
“Punch a dog.”
Favorite songs: Black Leather Jackets, I.W.P.A.D., Are You Bored Yet
8. Danny Brown – “Atrocity Exhibition”
Real and new.
Favorite songs: Downward Spiral, Ain’t it Funny, Golddust, Hell For It
7. David Bowie – “Blackstar”
Secret death, Guiliana.
Favorite songs: Sue (Or In a Season of Crime), Blackstar, Girl Loves Me
6. Kanye West – “The Life of Pablo”
Ultra light beam.
Favorite songs: Ultralight Beam, Feedback, Freestyle 4
5. LVL UP – “Return To Love”
Grew on me.
Favorite songs: Cut From the Vine, Spirit Was, Hidden Driver, Five Men on the Ridge
4. clipping. – “Splendor & Misery”
Nothing like Hamilton.
Favorite songs: Baby Don’t Sleep, Wake Up, Story 5, The Breach, True Believer
3. PUP – “The Dream is Over”
Catchy and angry.
Favorite songs: The Coast, Old Wounds, If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will, Sleep In The Heat
2. Behavior – “375 Images of Angels”
Testing your mind.
Favorite songs: North, For Contempt, Dry Swift Horse, 78
1. Pinegrove – “Cardinal”
“Walking outside labyrinthian.”
Favorite songs: New Friends, Old Friends, Cadmium, Visiting, Then Again
Honorable Mention
A$AP Ferg – “Always Strive and Prosper”
Rap about Grandma.
Albums I WISH came out this year:
The Hotelier – “Home, Like Noplace Is There” (2014)
Favorite songs: Dendron, An Introduction To The Album, Among the Wildflowers, In Framing
Alex G – “DSU” (2014)
Favorite songs: After Ur Gone, Sorry, Harvey, Icehead
LVL UP – “Hoodwink’d” (2014)
Favorite songs: Soft Power, DBTS, Annie’s A Witch, Primordial Heat
Roy Wood – “Boulders” (1973)
Favorite songs: Wake Up, Songs of Praise, Nancy Sing Me A Song, Dear Elaine
Elliott Smith – “Either/Or” (1997)
Favorite songs: Angeles, Say Yes, Between the Bars, Cupid’s Trick
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Edited by Mattie on 2023/03/11 to fix broken images.
Winterm M.D. Office Hours
Ridley
New Website!
Hello friends and WLFM family! We have launched this here new website in time for Winter Term shows which begin this Tuesday, 1/19 at 4pm! Listen with the built-in web player at the top of the home page or, as always, with this stream link. Happy listening!
Ridley