If you’re like me (and I know I am), you get tired of the same old holiday songs being played on the radio by the second week of December – if not sooner. Fortunately, there is a radio station that doesn’t play by the rules. WFMU (91.1 FM) broadcasts from northern New Jersey, and is what is known as a “freeform” station. The DJs play whatever they want, subject only to FCC regulations. All but the tiniest fraction of their income is from listener donations, so they are beholden to no one. Think of it as a college radio station – but without the basketball games.

Around ten years ago, they started archiving their shows on their website – so you can listen in regardless of the constraints of time or space.

Most of their DJs have holiday specials of some sort – tune in over the next week to hear what they’ve come up with. Here are last year’s (mostly) holiday shows from my favorite programs for your “streaming” pleasure. You are definitely going to hear things you’ve never heard before. The descriptions are the DJ’s own….

Enjoy! And don’t say you weren’t warned…..

Vocal Fry with Dan Bodah

The radio program Vocal Fry is a notorious purveyor of extended vocal techniques, from country yodels to Tuvan and Mongolian höömii to Xhosa throatsinging to Yma Sumac glassbreakers to avant garde weirdness to backcountry eeephing to beatboxing Maoris to yodeling Cameroonian pop to evil Diamanda Galas invocations.

December 24, 2018: Christham Yodels and Hoomies: The 2nd Annual Vocal Fry Christmas Special!

Morricone Island with Devon E. Levins:

Soundtrack music from the first silent forward. If it was written for the moving image, we’ll play it. Library music included; popcorn optional.

December 25, 2018: War On Christmas Soundtracks 2018

Honky Tonk Radio Girl with Becky

Twangs of all stripes and stuff that ends in -billy.

December 19, 2018: Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy

Music to Spazz By with Dave the Spazz

MONKEY ALERT!

December 20, 2018: Spazz Xmas Fiasco with Chalmers 4 + Fiveash and Hamilton Joe Frankincense and Myrrh!

Dance With Me, Stanley with Stashu

Polkatively Yours

December 25, 2017: Polka Tidings We Bring To You And Your Kin. With Love, Stashu

Double-Dip Recess with Roger and Amanda

Music for kids like you!

December 22, 2018: Double-Dip Yulefest

Fool’s Paradise with Rex

Fool’s Paradise examines recorded music located somewhere between low brow and no brow. Vintage rockabilly, R & B, blues, vocal groups, garage, instrumentals, hillbilly, soul and surf set the stage for a two hour sonic excursion to nowhere.

December 23, 2017: Seasoned Greetings From Fool’s Paradise and Grade “A” Fancy Magazine!

WFMU has a few “online only” radio streams. Most of the time, they are automated selections from their archives. But there are quite a few “curated” shows scattered around the week:

Sheena’s Jungle Room
The World’s Worst Records Radio Show with Darryl W. Bullock

Author Darryl W. Bullock presents an hour of terrible records. From the dawn of recorded music right up to some of today’s most hateful aural atrocities, spend 60 minutes with some of the worst, and most hysterically funny, records ever made.

December 19, 2018: Christmas Special

Rock & Soul Ichiban
The Whig Out with Glynis GirlGroupGirl and Richard W.

Hair Raising garage that will make you flyp your lid! With Richard Whig and Glynis Ward.

December 23, 2018: Merry Whig-mas

Enjoy your holidays, and I’ll catch you next year!