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The CHIRP Blog
Matt Rubin writesA Special Message from Matt Rubin, CHIRP Radio’s Director of Community Giving
Hello CHIRPers in Chicago and world-wide! My name is Matt Rubin and I work for CHIRP as the director of community giving, which means that I work with external organizations to arrange sponsorship for CHIRP activities and airtime. Running a radio station isn't free, so it's important for organizations like CHIRP to to build strong community ties and develop sustainable ways of supporting the music and events that you love.
Our listeners drive CHIRP, whether it's by requesting songs, talking to us at shows, or just kicking back and enjoying our music. We exist for you, and pride ourselves in our responsiveness and approachability. There's (almost) nothing we won't play for you and your energy gives us the fuel to keep growing.
If you believe (like we do) that music can save your life, now is the perfect time to show your support by taking part in our fall fundraising campaign. Every dollar you donate lets us plan exciting events like our Record Crawl (Oct 5) and First Time (Oct 15) or shows with bands like Why (9/27) and Wand (9/21).
Beyond simply donating, you can also support CHIRP by taking part on our listener survey this fall. We want to know more about you so that we can keep tailoring CHIRP to match your interests. Stay tuned for information on the listener survey and other ways that people like you are helping to shape the future of CHIRP.
Please consider making a donation during our fall fundraising campaign now, and thank you for listening!
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesWand, E|G|O, Toupee, and House Sounds Perform at The Empty Bottle on Sept. 21st!
“Rockin’” is the not quite the right word to describe what will be happening on Sunday, September 21st at the Empty Bottle. With Wand sharing the same space with Chicago bands E|G|O, Toupee, and House Sounds, the psychedelic/noise/punk/pop smorgasbord on hand doesn't really have a word. It’s more of an attitude, a righteously kick-ass stance, if you will. You’ll have to be there to understand. CHIRP Radio will be there, too. Stop by and say hi. Get your tickets here.
SKaiser writesCheck Out These Pictures from the Active Transportation Alliance Four Star Bike & Chow Event!
The Active Transportation Alliance – aka Active Trans – organizes events like the Four Star Bike & Chow to support their work of promoting a safe and active environment for walkers, bikers, pedestrians and transit users.
“Active Trans is Chicagoland’s nonprofit advocacy group with more than 7,000 members, 20,000 campaign supporters, and 30,000 annual bike event participants supporting our work to make it better and safer to get around communities and neighborhoods around the region,” Ethan Spotts, Deputy Executive Director for Events & Marketing said.
The Bike & Chow event also provides an opportunity for local businesse to connect with communities, while people experience "new" parts of Chicago, try new foods and meet new people.
The mission of Active Trans is to make bicycling, walking and public transit so safe, convenient and fun that we achieve a significant shift from environmentally harmful, sedentary travel to clean, active travel. They advocate for transportation that encourages and promotes safety, physical activity, health, recreation, social interaction, equity, environmental stewardship and resource conservation.
Amanda Roszkowski writesCHIRP Radio welcomes Yuna to the Old Town School of Folk Music on September 19th!
In a relatively short period of time, Malaysian singer-songwriter Yuna has been able to make the jump from her homeland to conquer the American market. She blends contemporary pop, acoustic folk and soulful R&B to create a sound that is universally appealing and effortlessly chic. Her soulful and engaging vocals have been compared to the likes of Feist, Adele and Norah Jones.
Her self-titled debut album in 2011 was produced by Pharrell Williams and she hit it big with “You’re your Life.” Now, she is making her Verve Records debut with Nocturnal, which includes tracks like “Falling,” produced by Robin Hannibal of Quadron and the soup-pop group Rhye: the effervescent, as well as 10 other co-produced original tracks.
CHIRP is sponsoring her show this coming Friday, September 19 at 8pm at The Old Town School of Folk and Music. We hope you got tickets because the event is sold out! It appears the word has “got out” about how amazing she is.
Dylan Peterson writesCHIRP Radio Features Director Dylan Peterson on What Makes CHIRP Go
Chicagoans are notoriously proud of their hard work ethic, so a volunteer-run community radio station like CHIRP has pretty much always been inevitable. What makes CHIRP run is a bunch of self-motivated lovers of A) music and B) Chicago. Sure we live in different neighborhoods, have different tastes and personalities, but when it comes right down to it we are a collection of people that want the best for their city when it comes to music, and we're willing to put in the work for it.
In the department I run at CHIRP, Features, we're eager to interview bands not merely because of a sense of journalistic duty, but because we sincerely want to talk to the artists who are creating the art that moves us on a personal level. We're enthusiastic, and it shows. When one of our interviewers has a podcast posted on the CHIRP website, Soundcloud, or on iTunes, that interviewer shares the link on their twitter and Facebook with exclamation points, joyously tagging the radio station that made their conversation possible.
When Katie Owens interviewed The Orwells, when Alli Klein interviewed The Lawrence Arms, when Alex Dziura interviewed Metronomy, when Cher Vincent interviewed Majical Cloudz, when Blake Burkhart interviewed ...Trail of Dead, and when I interviewed The Growlers (listen this Wednesday night at 8:45 for that one), you can hear it in our voices. We love music, and we love talking music. Especially when we're talking about it with the musicians themselves.
My proudest moment as a CHIRP volunteer (so far) came this year when CHIRP won runner-up for Best Local Music Podcast in the Chicago Reader's annual Best Of Chicago reader's poll. For me, this was a special sort of affirmation. It proved that the work I do with CHIRP does not go unappreciated, and that I really do have a community of people around me that cares as much as I do about Chicago's music scene. Chicago will always be my home, but not simply because it's the place where I grew up. Chicago is where my music community is at, and I never feel more at home than when I'm listening to a good song. And I've never felt this more than during my time with the Chicago Independent Radio Project.
Live. Local. Independent. And always eclectic. Support CHIRP Radio with your tax-deductible contribution!