We're seeking new members for our 2025 Board of Directors, as well as our founding Associate Board for young professionals 35 and under. Details and application at each of the links above.
The CHIRP Blog
Sarah A. writesCHIRP Radio Volunteers Director Sarah Avampato on What Makes a “Typical” CHIRP Volunteer
August 2009. I am at a party in Ukrainian Village. I only know one person, the girl hosting the party, so I’m forced to make friends. It’s surprisingly easy, though, because these are the sorts of people I’d been longing to find ever since I moved to Chicago in 2006: artists, writers, musicians. People who make and do and create. There's a handful of starving artists, to be sure, but I'm also surrounded by people with “real grown-up jobs” who still make time for their passions.
At this party, I met a guy with a pin on his jacket: a white bird in a red circle. He was very excited to tell people what the bird was about. The pin, of course, was for CHIRP Radio, and the guy was a volunteer there. I’d heard a little bit about CHIRP around the city, but I’d yet to take the plunge into volunteering. That dude with the pin was pretty convincing, though, and not long after, I signed up to volunteer with CHIRP.
That dude with the pin was CHIRP DJ extraordinaire Bobby Evers, and almost exactly two years after that party, I sat down with him in the studio as he taught me how to be a DJ so that I can entertain your ears with French rap and bluegrass covers of Katy Perry songs on a regular basis.
Volunteers are the driving force behind CHIRP, and as a member of the Volunteer team, I am pleased to welcome all of our new faces as we bring volunteers on board. While I wear many different hats at CHIRP, working with all of our volunteers is a constant joy. People who support CHIRP come from all walks of life, from college students to thirty-something cat wranglers to parents and grandparents. Some of us love techno, some of us love metal, and some of us could program a six-hour block solely of old-timey banjo music. We are lawyers, teachers, designers, baristas. We are underemployed or overworked or actually pretty content in our lives, thank you very much.
What I mean to say is this: there is no “one type” of CHIRP volunteer. What brings us all together is a deeply rooted passion for music, and for sharing that passion with anyone who will listen. CHIRP would not be possible without its 250+ volunteers. It’s not always glamorous work, either. We stuff envelopes and fold t-shirts and cart heavy equipment across town. We organize supply closets and shout at Excel spreadsheets and get lots of paper cuts. We do these things because we love and believe in CHIRP and its mission to support local music, arts, and culture.
CHIRP would also not be possible without its listeners and supporters. I am grateful every day for everyone who has given money, time, or attention to help us (literally) build our station. Thank you for being a part of our community!
Support CHIRP’s amazing and tremendously dedicated group of volunteer superstars with a donation today! Your contributions help in keeping both CHIRP and our volunteer community strong!
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesIn Rotation: Melkbelly
After releasing a few tracks online, Chicago band Melkbelly got themselves a record deal and are out with their debut album. You can feel the noise from this Noise-Punk outfit along with all kinds of other music on CHIRP Radio!
Anna Ha writesA Shout Out from CHIRP Radio Promotions Directors Mike Pakowski and Anna Ha!
As Promotions Directors for CHIRP Radio, we have the exciting task of extending the CHIRP experience outside of listening to the station at home, work, or on your commute (shout-out to our mobile apps!). This great city of ours has a vibrant arts community, and we are proud to be a part of it. Our department partners with venues, promoters, and artists for CHIRP sponsored shows and events. These events allow us to be part of the experience and interact with current and future CHIRP Radio listeners.
Ticket giveaways are our department's bread and butter, allowing us to send listeners to shows, promote artists and events, and strengthen our relationships with local venues. It's win-win-win! In addition to concerts, we've also sent CHIRP fans to local music fests (Pitchfork, Riot Fest), film festivals (CUFF, CIMMFest, CIFF), and other fun events (Beerhoptacular, C2E2).
CHIRP is about community and sharing and celebrating music, arts, and culture with that community. We love our listeners and supporters, and we pride ourselves on providing them with a unique experience they can't get anywhere else. There is nothing more rewarding for us than hearing from our winners after they've gone to an amazing show or event that they might not have otherwise attended! Your support will allow us to keep doing what we love!
Join the CHIRP community now by making a donation in support of our Fall Fundraising Campaign! Share your love of Independent music and culture with a gift at any level!
Tyler Clark presents: Local Mythologies writesTop Five: Must-Have Lounge Records, And Their Uses
Tiki bars are hip again; can lounge music be far behind? It's been 20 years since the last lounge revival and, Mad Men theme parties notwithstanding, that means we're just about due for another. While you polish your cocktail shaker, I'll get your hi-fi ready with recommendations for five must-have lounge records, and the situations in which they'll come in most handy.
1) Ferrante & Teicher - Heavenly Songs in Hi-Fi (1957)
Useful when: You need to defend lounge music from naysayers.
It's important to remember that lounge acts weren't all made up of square dudes with loud jackets and thick glasses. I mean, most were, but that doesn't mean that hip dudes didn't lurk beneath the polyester. Before they earned their reputation as purveyors of inoffensive easy-listening music, piano players Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher were faculty members at Julliard. That pedigree makes it less surprising that the two Muzak masters once drew inspiration from avant garde composer John Cage. Cage's "prepared piano" techniques make thrilling appearances on the duo's early collaborations; jammed with precisely placed debris including "metal chains, glass, wood and cardboard," Ferrante & Teicher's dueling pianos reinvented decades-old standards with percussive, alien effects previously unheard in pop music. The duo's run of albums from 1956's Soundproof to 1959's Blast Off contains no duds, so grab Heavenly Songs in Hi-Fi for its hypnotic rendition of 1930s hit "The Moon Was Yellow."
JimK writesCHIRP Radio Record Fair Director Director Jim Klososky On His History With CHIRP Radio
I introduced myself to CHIRP Radio about 3 years ago, after noticing a table at a street festival. I had come to the festival to see an obscure indie band, and thought I'd play stump the DJ at this upstart radio station's table. It didn't go so well, as the guy working the table proceeded to fill me in on the band's soon-to-be-released album that I knew nothing about, and told me how he'd spun an advance single from the album on his show earlier that week. I signed up for the mailing list & walked away impressed. A few months later, a neighbor of mine (DJ Stevo) asked if I wanted to come with him to check out the new volunteer meeting for this new community radio station, CHIRP. I agreed, and we both signed on that day in February, 2012.
I started out reviewing new albums for CHIRP's Music Department, which was a lot of fun...getting early listens to new music coming out and writing little blurbs for the DJ's to scan quickly. I really had no designs on trying to become a DJ, but there were spots open and they were offering to train us, so I gave it a shot. My show, Diggin the New, went on live in June of 2012, and continues to run Fridays midnight until 3am Saturdays. I got involved with the Features Department and did a couple of artist interviews for the podcast section. I've worked several street fairs over the past few years, sitting at the CHIRP table telling folks about how we've advanced the cause community of radio not just in Chicago, but nationally. There are several opportunities a month to check out live shows via the CHIRP staff tickets and review the shows for this blog page. And there's more to do! I tell you all of the above only to illustrate how deeply involved CHIRP is with Chicago's arts, and especially its music scene, and that anyone with some time & passion can quickly jump right into the deep end.
So now I find myself, along with Morgan McDonald, a Co-Director of the CHIRP Record Fairs. We run one every April that stands on its own, and another right in the middle of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Union Park, just west of the Loop. Vendors come from 8-10 different states to fill our tables with thousands of new, used, rare & vintage records. Even if you aren't a collector, these are super fun events for any music fan. Getting involved with the production of these Fairs has gotten me deeper into the workings of several other departments at CHIRP, seeing and really feeling how our 250+ volunteers work together to pull this stuff off.
CHIRP is a community of volunteers interested in digging into Chicago's arts scenes, and then sharing the best of what we've found. We do good work here, and we can't do it without support from our listeners. Thank You!
Show your support to our hard working and amazing volunteers by making a donation during the Fall Fundraising Campaign now! A gift at any level will help us conquer the airwaves!