Lots of great music, news, and community creativity is on tap for KZSC's fall program schedule. We've got everything from Minimal to Metal -- and that's just our Monday lineup! Don't forget, the Fall Fundraiser that starts Tuesday October 11th - show us you care about creative community radio with a donation!
On September 7th, KZSC spoke with 1960s pop legends, The Zombies. It was hours before their show at The Catalyst that they visited our studios. Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone shared the story of the founding and dissolution of the Zombies and traced some of the impact that British jazz and choral music had on their songwriting and performing. Listen to hear that and a lot more!
The Golden Road's Art O'Sullivan moved to Santa Cruz to attend UCSC as an alternative academic experience, but the ocean, redwoods and counterculture kept him here. Upon first listening to KZSC, Art was drawn to the alternative music, talk and special format programming. He started programing The Golden Road on June 18, 1997 as a 30th anniversary celebration of the Monterey International Pop Festival.
On September 8th, Harvard University turns 380! So it is rather fitting that such a venerable institution would also have 8 decades of broadcasting under its belt. In 1940, the Harvard Crimson Network, WHCN, was one of America's first college…
Recently, it was my great pleasure to visit MIT's, 88.1, WMBR. It has three studios, AND contains, what has to be, one of the largest music libraries in all of college radio, with more than 100,000 LPs and a similar number of CDs in their library! WMBR's show, Pipeline! is celebrating 25 years of live & local rock music programming with a series of 13 shows, featuring 80 acts, Sept. 12th through Oct. 12th, 2016.
Sometimes a hole in your memory banks can really mess with you. It can be an unsettling feeling. Such was the case for yours truly on a long-overdue trip back East to see family. Turns out that, my hometown high…
Kurt Vile is almost a little too "hip" to be extremely outgoing during a performance, but that's why we love him, right? To quote one of my new friends from Alabama whom I met at Bonnaroo Music Festival, "Kurt seemed…
I'm getting ready to take on the beating sun in Tennessee. The Bonnaroo Music Festival is held annually at the Great Stage Park in Manchester, at the historic location of "The Farm", about an hour South East of Nashville. I am excited to represent KZSC at a large-scale event such as this one, and I hope you can follow my check-ins during the weekend! Tame Impala, LCD Soundsystem, J.Cole, The Internet, and many others.
Sunday May 29: KZSC Presents tropical psychedelic pop band, Sugar Candy Mountain from Joshua Tree, California. Playing with Santa Cruz's surf garage rock band, Jackie Zealous and San Francisco's psychedelic soul pop band, Luke Sweeney. "If Brian Wilson had dropped acid on the beach in Brazil and decided to record an album with Os Mutantes and The Flaming Lips, it would sound like this— featuring space-age sounds and far-out frequencies from the tripped out tropics," then you would have Sugar Candy Mountain. Hope to see you there!
KZSC has all kinds of great tickets still available during this Spring's Pledge Drive. You can get these tickets for less then you would pay at the door. We don't charge service fees! Check out these hot tickets, and click on the ones you want!
Spring is in the air and with all those new flowers in bloom, it's time for the KZSC Spring Pledge Drive! Between May 3rd through the 12th, we'll be reminding everyone that KZSC can't exist without the support of our listeners--that's you! Help us continue our nearly 50-year run and make a secure pledge by clicking here. It only takes a minute. Between May 3rd and 12th, you can call us at 831-459-4036 or 831-459-2811. Help us spread the word with #KZSCPledgeDrive!
KZSC is still all-abuzz from the exciting conference we just pulled off! We met more than 100 college radio programmers from all over California--sharing ideas and excitement to help us all sound better and better. The must-read radio blog Radio Survivor filed this nice write-up.
Visiting Austin for South by Southwest was a fantastic experience. Huge thanks to our friends Toni and Jeff Albrecht for allowing us to crash in their home for the week. Also a big thanks to Keith Rozendal and Lucy Rojas for helping us arrange the trip.
Friday’s keynote was incomparable, as the conversation between Houston legend Bun B and James Prince, founder of Rap-A-Lot Records and one of the most respected figures in the industry. Nikhil reports, that over the course of the conversation they reflected…
The morning began with a keynote address by Tony Visconti, a high profile record producer who has worked with countless artists. Visconti was extremely close to David Bowie, producing many of Bowie’s records, including the late artist’s final work, Blackstar…
We need to talk about Michelle Obama's biceps, and all of the other things that happened on Wednesday.
Tuesday was a blur… The day began with a midnight flight from San Francisco to Austin, TX. Followed by an Uber ride that got us to our beds by 6:00am, only to wake up for morning conferences. But we did it! Hello 90 degree Texas. Jesus take the wheel.
South By Southwest is the fastest growing music and media gathering in the United States. The festival is held yearly in Austin City, Texas, and KZSC is sending five intrepid reporters to bring you the highlights back from the mayhem!! The event will be so fantastic that Obama will be skipping Nancy Reagan's funeral to fly out! So stay posted to our blog from March 14th to 19th for coverage of the conference's exhibitions and music showcases.
KZSC is bursting with pride, for Closet Free Radio! They've been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Diversity Center Santa Cruz County. Closet Free Radio is the longest running radio show about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning issues in the country. You can count on CFR for a comprehensive stream of LGBTQ news, interviews, and entertaining commentary every Monday at 7 pm.
KZSC has shed many a tear in the last couple days over the loss of a legend. As Vonnegut would say, so it goes. In preparing the CMJ Charts & Adds for the week, I discovered this new B-side, "David Bowie Songs," released by The Spook School just hours before Bowie's passing. In addition to Blackstar itself, The Spook School's Try To Be Hopeful was one of our Top 5 Adds this week at KZSC.
It's pretty difficult for me to rank my favorites, but here are my personal top 25 favorite releases (albums, mixtapes, EPs) of 2015. It's mostly hip-hop since that's what I listen to most as hip-hop director here at KZSC! Please comment how I left off your favorite album (I know I probably did). It's hard to keep up with everything!