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City Gardens, Page 2

LISTEN: Artificial Artifacts cover “Gilligan’s Island”

I started listening to WPRB during the summer of 1985 or 1986. For a misfit kid who’d not yet established a strong sense of self-identity, everything WPRB played at that time seemed utterly revelatory in comparison to the bar-band hokum, limp dance tracks, and horrific hair-metal that populated the corporate airwaves of the day. Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long for me to become completely hooked. One of the first bands I associated with the station was a local hardcore act called Artificial Artifacts. They did a ridiculous cover of the Gilligan’s Island theme song, which (I soon discovered) many WPRB programmers were happy to honor requests for. THIS IS THE STORY OF THAT BAND, THAT SONG, AND THE NOW-OBSOLETE TECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO PLAY IT. (As told by Artificial Artifacts member, former WPRB DJ, and noted filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig.) -Mike Lupica

Glenn Tucker and I were roommates at Trenton State College in 1985 where I was production manager and a DJ at WTSR 91.3 FM doing the Jeff Eph show (also known as “Radio Of The Absurd.”)  [A guy named] Gene was in a hardcore band named Send Help who had a 45 out titled “Buffy’s Dead” on the super cool Long Branch NJ Brighton Bar label Mutha Records owned by a leather and chains biker named Mark “The Mutha” Chesley. This of course spoofed the TV show Family Affair.  Here’s a link to the song and cover art.

John and Dave Tamp, along with Adam Bushman, were friends of Glenn’s from New Brunswick where we used to rehearse in a wild crumbling space owned by the leader of Terry Hughes and the Backyard Party. Terry also hosted Monday night jam sessions at the Court Tavern.

After hearing the Dickies and Circle Jerks do humorous covers and particularly ISM doing the fantastic Partridge Family cover of “I Think I Love You”, we were inspired to tackle Gilligan’s Island which we recorded live to 2 track in some cheap basement studio in Princeton on a reel of used 1/4″ tape from WTSR.

DOWNLOAD or LISTEN: Artificial Artifacts – “Gilligan’s Island”

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WPRB at the DNC, Sting from the Police, and Freeform vs. Format

By Jordan Becker

I started at WPRB during the second semester of my freshman year in 1979. The ability to have the entire record library—and it was still all vinyl—at my disposal was intoxicating. Unless that was the fumes from the records.

At the time, the station’s rock programming was still very much beholden to the freeform model of the late 1960s-early 1970s. In fact, to my memory, the only requirement that we had was the obligation to play a certain amount of jazz during a rock show. That all changed, though, when Ashley Ellott became station manager, and Jason Meyer became program director. They attempted to turn the rock programming into something more consistent and more rock oriented. To me, there is something to be said for listeners having a general sense of what they might hear when they turn on the radio, and having some consistency from day to day and time slot to time slot theoretically results in listeners staying with the station for longer periods. On the other hand, they also insisted that we use the slogan “Your Music,” which was generally reviled—it might have worked at a professional commercial station, but was a bad idea for a college radio station.

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Mudhoney interview, 1991

In 1991, Mudhoney stopped by WPRB prior to their show with Gas Huffer and Superchunk at City Gardens. On the inside of 13 minutes, DJ Corey (whose great radio show I’ve written about elsewhere) interviewed the band, and got them to dish on  Sub Pop, death metal, and Thurston Moore being stalked by crazed fans in Tokyo.

Here’s the interview:

 

(Corey was also the co-host of a great show called “Three Bad Sisters” with a grad student named Julianne. Each of the hosts comprised 1.5 of the sisters.)

Early 80s Tin Lizzie Garage Commercial

The Tin Lizzie Garage was a local bar (later strip club) in Kingston, New Jersey that advertised with WPRB for a spell during the 1980s. Here’s an ad from that era, voiced by Bill Rosenblatt ’83, John Bailo ’82, and Mike Webber ’81.

Bill Rosenblatt recalls:

[WPRB] didn’t have that much to do with the Tin Lizzie Garage – it was a fairly divey bar in a strip mall in Kingston that usually had cover bands, Bruce Springsteen wannabes, that kind of thing. They ran some ads; we hardly ever promoted any of the music.  There was one exception, though: the Dixie Dregs.  (more…)

“Thanx IV Sharin'”—Like Punk Never Happened

Here’s an on-air promo for WPRB’s infamous call-in show, “Thanks IV Sharin'”.

Program host Ken Katkin ’87 recalls:

“Thanx IV Sharin’, in addition to commanding an intensely loyal following, attempted to reach out in a far more personal way than was customary for radio.  Customized WPRB: Thanx IV Sharin’ T-shirts were individually handmade by the hosts and their friends, and made available to listeners for a nominal fee.  (more…)