Filed Under: "WFMU"

WFMU, our favorite free-form, listener-sponsored radio station, is holding a benefit art sale. Participating artists include Cindy Sherman, James Siena, Jad Fair, and others. The only deceased contributing artist is Jim Flora, whose 1955 Mambo For Cats LP cover Barbara and I adapted for this limited edition fine art print. The edition of 15 was donated; all proceeds from sales benefit non-profit WFMU.

Flora and WFMU: a sustaining relationship

The music business is infested with characters who are unpleasant — few more so than Courtney T. Edison, a.k.a. “The Old Codger,” who occasionally hosts radio programs at WFMU. He plays nothing but 78 rpm records—”Like they’re goin’ outta style,” he asserts, with a spray of saliva. The Codge is a nasty piece of work—an ornery, crusty, useless, misanthropic, cigar-chomping anachronism. How old? Allegedly between 116 and—well, at his age they mark birthdays by the…

I’ve hosted a radio program at WFMU since 1975. Thirty-two punch-drunk years. WFMU is a non-commercial, Free-Form station—one of the charter FF outlets, being entertainingly anarchic since 1968. We play anything—popular/obscure, new/old, good/bad; the tasteful juxtaposed with the creepy. We’re an aural curio shop, and “Genre” is a poltergeist who got discouraged and went a-haunting elsewhere. A typical WFMU program sounds like an overactive iPod shuffle. The station has a four-decade reputation and retains an…