WFMU: Why? Because we have to.

November 29, 2010 7:32 PM

Keep WFMU Aloft! [SLYT / MetaFodder / Helium Huffing / Absolute Zero Freezing / Suffocation in Deep Space]

Previously [1 through 42].

On December 8th, 2010, WFMU Station Manager Ken Freedman will try to raise $180,000 for WFMU by attaching one balloon to his lawnchair for every $1,000 raised. When 180 balloons have been attached, he shall float above WFMU's World Headquarters in Jersey City, NJ. You can pledge ahead of time, during, or afterwards at WFMU's website at wfmu.org. All donations are tax deductible.

Tune-in Wednesday morning 8-Dec from 11-Noon or call +001.800.989.9368.

(I am in no way associated with WFMU and I suspect this post will be flagged and sequestered but ... there ya go.)

posted by ZenMasterThis (32 comments total)

Kinda torn on this ... I know this is not the best idea for a post here on the Blue, yet on the other hand, I absolutely love wfmu. Mudd Up! is probably responsible for more than 50% of the new music I've picked up in the past year or two.

This probably would work better as a post-post, especially if they succeed and there's a video of him floating in his balloon chair.
posted by mannequito at 7:39 PM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

Who doesn't like music?
posted by ovvl at 7:41 PM on November 29, 2010

I regularly give to WPKN community radio in Bridgeport, CT. With the exception of 1.5-2 full-time paid positions, the station is run by volunteers with one main transmitter and a transponder for a total annual bill of about $200k. I suspect WFMU is a similar deal.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:48 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I would throw five bucks their way, but then I wouldn't be a millionaire anymore.
posted by Simon! at 8:03 PM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

No delete! Good cause! Stet! (Coincidentally, I swung by the blue right after pledging them my love some money.)
posted by scratch at 8:17 PM on November 29, 2010

I am loving the idea of Ken rising above New Jersey. Thank you for posting this!
posted by vjpdx at 8:40 PM on November 29, 2010

run by volunteers with one main transmitter and a transponder for a total annual bill of about $200k. I suspect WFMU is a similar deal.

WFMU runs on volunteerism, and contributions. But they operate on a somewhat grander scale than that, I believe. You can find their financial info on the website. Ken does an annual State of The Station podcast that is a kind of share-holder's meeting.

Metafilter and WFMU are the two brightest stars in my media content consumption, and they both have also led to real life encounters with great people.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:01 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Mudd Up! is great and they keep playing my music, so I should throw them some support for supporting me.
posted by cloeburner at 9:03 PM on November 29, 2010

The problem for me is that people who have done this with lawn chairs have disappeared without a trace.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:07 PM on November 29, 2010

Mudd Up! is great and they keep playing my music, so I should throw them some support for supporting me.
posted by cloeburner

Yeah, you should. And I should too. You could send them some autographed vinyl or something like that, and they could use it as a DJ giveaway during the upcoming fund-raising marathon.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:10 PM on November 29, 2010

I guess I could send them an autographed copy of Sing Along with Mitch!
posted by cloeburner at 9:35 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the only website I ever "frequented" before MetaFilter was WFMU's. They opened my ears to realms of music I'd never dreamed of, searchable and listenable; it was like I'd found the true meaning of the intarwebs for a while back in the late 90's/early 00's. I tolerated RealPlayer for years because that's how some of their stuff had been archived.
posted by not_on_display at 9:44 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I am proud and a bit freaked out to admit that I have listened to WFMU for 30 years.

Wow, Ken Freidman got old!!
posted by Skygazer at 10:32 PM on November 29, 2010

So did I, actually.

Anyhow, I wonder if this whole balloon chair idea is WFMU's idea of a retirement plan. I have a pretty good idea who that might be too.
posted by Skygazer at 10:53 PM on November 29, 2010

Hello, Breckman. You evil, evil man.
posted by Skygazer at 11:24 PM on November 29, 2010

I have no idea who Andy Breckman is, but this was great.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:49 AM on November 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

I have no idea who Andy Breckman is

He created a little television show called "Monk," and I think previously "Rug Rats."

All through his meteoric rise, and later, fall, after the cancellation of "Monk," he has managed to come back to New Jersey weekly and complete his obligations as the host of a live call-in show, together with Ken.
posted by StickyCarpet at 1:33 AM on November 30, 2010

I don't know man, they canceled night people. that was uncool.
posted by dong_resin at 4:35 AM on November 30, 2010

oh, hey, look it's back. nevermind.
posted by dong_resin at 4:45 AM on November 30, 2010

I have always thought that Seven Second Delay would cause Ken's death.
posted by R. Mutt at 5:13 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I met Ken last summer, very nice guy and very down to earth.
posted by wheelieman at 5:44 AM on November 30, 2010

Just donated. Not very much, because I never actually listen... doesn't quite come in to where I live in Brooklyn, and it's not quite work-friendly enough to listen to during the day. Also, I'm poor. But I am living in a much better world because WFMU is in it and they are welcome to $15 of my money.

Thanks for this post.
posted by Erroneous at 6:21 AM on November 30, 2010

My memories of WFMU will always be of the broadcast room in the basement of one of the buildings at Upsala. (Yes, fmoo started out as a college radio station, but they wisely bailed before the college disintegrated.) If I was quiet and behaved, sometimes a dj would let me sit in and watch the magic of radio. (I spent a lot of my childhood ranging over that campus.)
posted by Karmakaze at 7:07 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've probably spent more than half my waking hours over the last few years listening to WFMU, or to music I learned about from WFMU, or floating in a lawn chair over Jersey City. I wish I could contribute an entire balloon.
posted by moonmilk at 7:35 AM on November 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

"Metafilter and WFMU are the two brightest stars in my media content consumption..."

Agreed!
posted by electricsandwich138 at 7:47 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: A bright star in your media content consumption.
posted by wcfields at 9:51 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have a gut feeling that all $180,000 will have to be handed over to the Coast Guard, in payment of the SAR mission that brought Ken back from floating out over the eastern seaboard.
posted by BobFrapples at 11:23 AM on November 30, 2010

It's a fact!
Once upon a time, the most awesome music program I'd ever heard on radio was from WFMU. Then I moved away.
posted by Goofyy at 12:07 PM on November 30, 2010

So very many good memories of WFMU. From '89-94 as a young'n in New York I listened to the station constantly, would occasionally call in to be a goofball. Once jammed on air with Daniel Johnston, playing harmonica while he sang "Oh Susannah".

I collected my fair share of t-shirts as swag for donating and in the late 90's- early aughts, after I left NYC, I found them alive on the web and would have fun donating from remote places and hearing them mention it on air. (Imagine the days when it was still a novelty that someone would listen to music over the web, nevermind donate).

Freeform radio at its best and I pulled out my wallet and donated before I made this post and you should too. Seriously.
posted by jeremias at 3:21 PM on November 30, 2010

Breckman continued to do "Second Second Delay" throughout the run of "Monk." Ken is my hero.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:06 AM on December 1, 2010

Once upon a time, the most awesome music program I'd ever heard on radio was from WFMU. Then I moved away.

Yes, but then the Internet happened. My own personal FMU slogan is "Streaming audio is the best thing that ever happened to WFMU." Needs no explaining to this audience here.

Which reminds me: To me, FMU and Metafilter are very similar in that they are both large, close-knit communities of people who've never met in real life. (Mostly.) I wouldn't recognize my favorite DJs in the supermarket, and I certainly wouldn't recognize most of you fine people. And yet.
posted by scratch at 8:52 AM on December 1, 2010

Live Webcast of the Flight of the Station Manager
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:57 AM on December 8, 2010