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
Alli Klein: Family of Noise writesPast Times of Punk Rock: My Riot Fest 2012 Weekend
By Alli Klein (CHIRP Radio DJ every Tuesday 6am-9am)
My leg muscles are still burning from all the jumping around and dancing I did over the weekend. I should have stretched. I would have moshed, but as a bespectacled person I’ve learned that lesson before. Punk rock has been a part of me since age fourteen. I have a Germs tattoo on my right forearm. My friends and I would trade rides to the Tinley Park Bowling Alley, our saving grace of the south-west ‘burbs, to see local punk bands and rid ourselves, or maybe revel in, our teenage angst. I don’t know if I’ve ever grown out of that angst actually, because listening to punk, being immersed in it last Saturday and Sunday in beautiful Humboldt Park, those feelings flooded back. In a good way!
Erin Van Ness writesThere’s No Place Like CHIRP
Over the course of our Fall Membership Drive, we’re sharing some of the inspiring stories we receive from our volunteers and members. Today, one of our inaugural volunteers describes how CHIRP helped make Chicago a place to call home.
I stumbled across CHIRP within a few months of moving to Chicago in 2007 and found out later that I was one of the first volunteers. CHIRP was a lifeline to me when I was new to the city and played a huge role in Chicago gradually becoming home. The fact that those were early days for CHIRP has always amazed me, because right from the start, the organization felt so much bigger than the sum of its parts. I’d been involved in community radio and DJing before, but I was a little intimidated at first by how organized and visionary that initial group was. And yet, at heart it was just a group of music and broadcasting nerds passionate about what they loved and determined to create something great for the city.
My very first job out of public policy school was at Radio Free Europe, and if I’m honest with myself I took that job because of the R.E.M. song, because I wanted to go to Prague (I did), and because I wanted to be on air (I never was). Several years later I’ve accidentally found a broadcasting gig. When people ask me if I would want a career in radio, I say I have one, at CHIRP—ultimately a far more meaningful endeavor to me than commercial radio. And when friends ask me if I plan on staying in Chicago, the CHIRP community is at the very top of the reasons I’ve decided this is home.
The best part about CHIRP to me is the DJs’ desire to share their love and enthusiasm. No matter how obscure or how mainstream your tastes may run, there’s an underlying respect and curiosity about different musical tastes and genres, and I hope that comes across in our programming. No one’s ever laughed at me for liking Falco!
—Elizabeth Ramborger
Volunteer, DJ, Board Member, and Donor since 2007
Agree that CHIRP is a vital service worth supporting? You can always:
- Learn about volunteering CHIRP Radio is always accepting new volunteers. No experience in radio required—just an enthusiastic attitude and a willingness to pitch in!
- Become a member CHIRP needs more than just birdseed to run the station. Show your support by becoming a member today!
- Share your story What does CHIRP Radio mean to you? Let us know and we may feature your story in future materials!
Mike Bennett writesFriday iPod/MP3 Shuffle—Happy Birthday Dave Gregory Edition
Today we pay tribute to one of the great supporting players in music history, Dave Gregory of XTC. The soft-spoken gent joined the Swindon post-punk band before the recording of its commercial breakthrough album, Drums & Wires. Gregory replaced keyboardist Barry Andrews, who fit the hyper sound of the first two XTC LPs, but needed to find an outlet for his own songs. This transition improved the band, as two guitars were better suited for where XTC was going. Both Gregory and Andy Partridge are excellent lead guitarists, and as XTC gravitated to more ’60s inspired territory, Gregory was the ideal guitarist, as his hobby is recording painstaking recreations of classic ’60s tunes. Unfortunately, after the band’s strike against Virgin Records, he left during the recording of Apple Venus, Volume 1, due to musical differences. But he is a known gentleman who has appeared as a sideman for others, including Aimee Mann. He even corresponded with Chicago’s very own Tributosaurus before they did their first XTC night. Let’s pay tribute to Dave by grabbing your iPod or MP3 player, hitting shuffle and sharing the first 10 songs that come up.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesWeekly Voyages: Friday 09/21 to Thursday 09/27
(Do you have corrections or updates for this list? Send us an e-mail.)
Friday September 21
Northern Magnolia The Tornaparts Sarah & The Crosscuts
Abbey Pub: 9pm, 21+
Hemmingbirds, Milano, Glittermouse
Beat Kitchen: 8:30pm
Kele (of Bloc Party), Greg Corner, B Starr
Beauty Bar: 9:00pm, 21+
Typical Cats, Chance the Rapper, Maxilla Blue, Lady Daisy & Batsauce
Bottom Lounge: 11pm
Safetysuit
Bottom Lounge: 7pm
The Weeknd
Congress Theater: 6:30pm
Melvins Lite, Tweak Bird
Double Door: 9pm, 21+
The Hoyle Brothers
Empty Bottle: 5:30pm, 21+
Alt-J, JBM
Empty Bottle: 10pm, 21+
M.A.K.U. Soundsystem, Stephen Paul Smoker
Hideout: 10pm, 21+
Everest
Lincoln Hall: 6pm, 18+
Empires, Pomegranates, Suns
Lincoln Hall: 9pm, 18+
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Dam-Funk, Bodyguard
Metro: 9pm, 18+
Hatter’s Riddle, Pilgrims
Reggies Music Joint: 9pm, 21+
Matuto
Reggies Rock Club: 6pm
Snarky Puppy, The Andreas Kapsalis & Goran, Ivanovic Guitar Duo
Reggies Rock Club: 10:30pm
Django Django
Schubas: 9pm, 21+
Catz N’ Dogz, A.Part DJ Collective-Fortune, BJ Murray, Juan Bucio
SmartBar: 10pm, 21+
Dirty Dozen Brass Band w/ B.S. Brass Band
SPACE: 8pm
Mono, Chris Brokaw
Subterranean: 9pm
John Digweed, Monty Luke, Zebo, Mayhem
The Mid: 10pm, 21+
Geoff Farina
The Whistler: 6pm, 21+
Erin Van Ness writesPioneering the Future of Radio
Over the course of our Fall Membership Drive, we’re sharing some of the inspiring stories we receive from our volunteers and members. Today, long-time CHIRP supporter Scott Brendel explains what makes CHIRP Radio different from traditional radio outlets.
There is more music out there other than what your car stereo currently has to offer. I donate to CHIRP Radio because it is truly independent from corporate sponsors and record companies determining what music gets put on the airwaves. The only way to achieve such independence is through support from donors like you and me. By eliminating the idea that radio is only a tool to sell goods and services (with the occasional catchy tune thrown in) CHIRP has given listeners a real choice in the music they listen to rather than just the illusion of one.
CHIRP is a pioneer in the unexplored world of streaming, independent, and uninhibited radio that gives them the unique opportunity to curate all their programming without the drawbacks of commercial breaks and repeating playlists. I have found that when the CHIRP DJs talk, it is to let their listeners know about the music that they are playing rather than to sell a product. From new releases to independent music labels to foreign and old classics, the variety of music being played is limitless.
CHIRPRadio.org is a great place to visit to expand one’s horizons on music both new and old. It is CHIRP’s uninhibited freedom of music that will continue to get my donations in the future.
—Scott Brendel
CHIRP Member since 2010
Agree that CHIRP is a vital service worth supporting? You can always:
- Learn about volunteering CHIRP Radio is always accepting new volunteers. No experience in radio required—just an enthusiastic attitude and a willingness to pitch in!
- Become a member CHIRP needs more than just birdseed to run the station. Show your support by becoming a member today!
- Share your story What does CHIRP Radio mean to you? Let us know and we may feature your story in future materials!