Like our new format?

The blog is no longer so annoyingly small. Isn't that fabulous?

Also, we have added a Forums page, which can be accessed by the above link. Got something you'd like to talk about? Go for it! Dialogue, trialogue, for that matter--the soul of co-operation! Technical questions? Requests? Complaints? Comments in general? That's what it's there for.

You'll just have to create a username and password; it's as easy as pie (never quite understood that one, pie is not that easy--the crust is quite difficult to perfect, actually).

Google and Twitter versus Mubarak

Corporations are going to war now.

Is anyone else deeply disturbed by this?

The news is starting to read like a Robert A. Heinlein novel. In this instance, Google and Twitter developed a method for circumvention of Egypt's internet shutdown, at least as far as social media and mass communication are concerned, for the people of Egypt to use during the internet blackout imposed by their government.

While I think this is a laudable thing to do, it represents, along with Google's refusal to continue self-censoring in China, a change in corporate behavior away from their erstwhile more subtle methods (read: bribery, lobbying [read: bribery], and nepotism [the Japanese have a neat term for one form of it: amakudari, or 'descent from Heaven,' in which senior government officials take executive positions in the private sector after retirement. One might argue that the American way is more an 'ascent to Heaven,' given how many of our high officials have been or are ex-corporate CEOs and board members]).

This is new territory, folks. We must be vigilant.

Protest works sometimes...

Check it out. A small victory for the Egyptian people, but a significant one!

The Winter Beachparty Truckuzzi Classic was awesome, thanks to everybody who came by, and special thanks to Lee: without your Winterfresh, we couldn't have truckuzzied nearly as well!

Winter Beachparty Truckuzzi Classic tonight!

Come over! It'll be fun. I swear.

Ah, new blood...

Always nice to see some new shows! Last night went off well; props to our newest DJs, Mark Kloud and Sterling and Maura Smalley. Excellent job, you guys, we're glad to have you onboard!

Next week, we're having a little fundraiser here at the station, everyone's invited: it's our WTF Winter Beachparty Truckuzzi Classic! There will be beer, of course; a shot bar; pool for those who fancy shooting; booty dancin' all night; and, of course, the infamous hot-water Truckuzzi (we're so redneck it hurts)!

Just think, an enclosed bathtub the size of a truck bed, endlessly running over with fresh hot water, so steamy you can't see 2 feet in front of your face despite the fact that it's 10 degrees outside! LOVE IT.

Best part of it all: it's free. Donations accepted, of course, but if you don't have the dough, no worries! We just want you to have a kick ass time!

Bring a bathing suit.

We love you, Buffalo.

Radio Ellipsis!

News flash!

Premiering tonight immediately before Diversify (see previous post) will be episode 21 of a long-dormant Radio Ellipsis, a show formerly of WHLD AM 1270, which, unfortunately, has become a Christian station.

God is pissed.

Hosts Sterling and Maura Smalley have a way with words, applying wryly humourous inquiry to various innocuous-seeming topics (check out their blog, it's pretty funny--reference "sandwich impaired"). This week's show is entitled "Fads and Trends." We'll see what that means at 7pm--until then, TTFN!

Diversify!

Our new radio show, Diversify, debuts tonight at 8pm! An electronic counterpoint to Needles Numark's Soundscape on Monday nights, Diversify will showcase regional and international DJs with a mix of downtempo, dubstep, d'n'b, and abstract beats to kickstart your Friday night! Check out Mark Kloud's site for more information and for the show archive.

A great way to start off your evening!

New Shows!

We here at gloriously piratical WTF have been speaking to several new DJs about putting together some new shows! Fabulous, eh? Also, epithets are kind of fun aren't they? Especially when one is placed, counterintuitively, before the object thereby described (think Prometheus and Epimetheus).

Oh, right. The new shows. The schedule is probably gonna look something like this: Friday will likely contain our most structured broadcast evening, with shows at 6:30 (Storytime), 7 (a talkshow), and 8 (an electronic music show to play counterpoint to the ambient sounds of the Soundscape). Expanding at a measured pace we are! When we have a public venue, it will be easier to have regular shows. That day is coming, never fear.

Changes to the schedule will, as always, be posted to the sidebar to your right.

Funny thought: if these words are looking out at you, then that sidebar is at my left, isn't it? Or at least it is at this sample of my consciousness' left.

...

Good night!

Democracy...Later?

Yessir, folks, Democracy Now! has been slacking on making their podcasts available, which are usually up almost immediately after the show airs live (at 8 til 9 a.m.), so we have been having some trouble getting them to you at noon as usual. We will take steps to correct this problem if DNow! doesn't. No worries.

Wicked huge party the other day here at the ol' bunker. Having another soon, although it might not be here. It will be for fundraising purposes, and will be 5 bucks at the door, and will likely have some sort of crazy theme, and possibly involve bathing suits and a hot-water truckuzzi (if you don't know, ask!).

We'll keep you posted. We love you, Buffalo!

What the Frack?

The Buffalo News finally published an article critical of hydraulic fracturing. It's only been several years since the story broke.

Sigh.

Who's down for some Edward Abbey?

We love you, Buffalo, and we don't want you to get cancer.

Happy *hiccup* New Year!

I think that pretty much says it.

One step ahead of Big Brother.

The CIA has launched a taskforce to assess the impact of 250,000 leaked US diplomatic cables. Its name? WikiLeaks Task Force, or WTF for short.

The group will scour the released documents to survey damage caused by the disclosures. One of the most embarrassing revelations was that the US state department had drawn up a list of information it would like on key UN figures – it later emerged the CIA had asked for the information.

"Officially, the panel is called the WikiLeaks Task Force. But at CIA headquarters, it's mainly known by its all-too-apt acronym: WTF," the Washington Post reported.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/22/cia-wikileaks-taskforce-wtf



---- stop bitin, CIA!!

Merry Non-specific Celebration of Winter Goodwill

"Happy Holidays" is boring. If I wanted boring, I'd go to Wal-mart and watch the sweatpants.

Or maybe I'd do that for fun.

WTF news:

--There will be no big two-year anniversary party this year, we just didn't have time to organize one. Instead, we're going to start having totally sweet parties for every season, and it's only just winter (officially, although starting winter at the shortest day of the year makes little sense to me, much like starting summer at the longest--has anyone considered centering the seasonal turn around these solar turning-points?). So some time around the middle of February, when it's truly miserably cold outside and we're all sick of the cabin-fever, we'll be breakin' it down somewhere here on our beloved West Side. Stay tuned for more. Dianne?

--Yes, Tom, WTF needs a new computer. If anybody out there has a relatively newer Mac with Intel hardware they'd like to sell, drop us a line.

--Our Skype line has expired. We are switching to Google Talk, which is entirely free (we're cheap--details to follow at 11).

--Chocolate makes a great Christmas gift.

--So does genocide.

--Also bicycles.

...

Love ya, Buffalo!

Mixer Fixer and Other Silliness!

As you may have guessed from the title, the mixer is fixerd.

Sweet!

So now we can compress our signal again and broadcast at the level of quality you've come to expect (poor to mediocre? natch).

In solidarity with WikiLeaks, we are seeding the sitedump .torrent of all the secret government cables they released a few days ago--hop on Pirate Bay (or Demonoid if you have an account there) and grab those sweet, juicy files! The torrent itself will have "cablegate" in its name, and there are several versions from different dates. I figure there's probably more to read than the major newspapers have put out--perhaps things more useful on a grassroots level? We shall see, we the free!

One more note: our last.fm feed will be down until further notice, there's an error in the blogger gadget itself. We'll keep ya ... posted.

Mixer Woes

Hey ya'll,

You may have noticed some strange sounding audio artifacts (bass splatter, some staticky highs) during our recent FM broadcast weeks. We have a mixer problem that prevents us from using our compressor, and we're working on getting it fixed, but really it involves getting a new mixer.

We are poor.

So it might take a while. Bear with us.

In other news, despite some service interruptions, our schedule is currently as follows:

Monday: Soundscape with Needles Numark
Tuesday: The Eclectric with DJ Roman
Wednesday: The Mid-week Mixup with Francisco de Macoris
Thursday: DJ Mushmouth
Friday: (We're open to ideas, preference is toward a news-ish hour, remember News and Doom?)

Saturdays and Sundays remain sacrosanct, as our Bunker Manager must have time off sometime or he will surely murder again.

So, if you've got an idea for that Friday news/information slot, let us know, the email and other links are on the right-hand frame of this page.

We love you, Buffalo, and keep those local music submissions coming!

Ooh, and try Soundcloud! It's super useful for transferring and sharing large audio files!

Stuff and things

Thanks very much to the folks who have taken advantage of our flashy new "Donate" button and donated online, as well as those who came out to the WTF-fest/ Free Radio Fundraiser a couple weeks ago.

We'd like to show our appreciation for receiving donations, so, anyone who donates $5 or more will receive a laminated spoke-card to stick in your bike wheel. Anyone who donates $15 or more will receive a T-shirt with a WTF stencil. Some shirts have various designs, others are plain. We're working on getting some screenprinted.

Also, there are two events coming up that we want you to know about:

Thursdsay, November 11th 8pm
Frack-action Fundraiser @ Nietzsche's
Community speak-out against Hydro-fracking.
(What is hydro-fracking? A drilling process that results in toxic water, air and soil in exchange for a little bit of natural gas. It's devastating areas around the US and is coming here to Erie County [unless we stop it]! For more information: nyrad.org, shaleshock.org, marcellusprotest.org)

This is important folks. The amount of pollution caused by Fracking is unbelievable. In fact, it's so toxic that after contamination you can SET YOUR TAP WATER ON FIRE! Come and find out what's going on in our community around this LIFE-and-DEATH Issue.

Bloodthirsty Vegans, Glass Hero & Fudgy Chewy will be performing.


Monday, November 8th 8pm
local artists Julie Byrne and Ginger James will be opening for Minneapolis duo Raccoon Raccoon. (myspace.com/mocksyringa, myspace.com/raccoonraccoon)

No $ required. Donations encouraged and greatly appreciated.

This is a house show at Speakeasy. (On Baynes, just north of Breckenridge. Look for groups of bikes, humans, or a candle-lit porch.)

ciao for now

Ain't no nation...(©Nobody's Art Center)

Well, that was fast.

Dig that "Donate" button!

Our goal: $2,000. This will purchase:

• a new transmitter, with both more power and better electrical efficiency, allowing us to use the current setup for mobile applications (at cost of about eleven hundred dollars)
  
• professional DJing software, for a more consistent and effective programming schedule (at a cost of about 250 dollars)
• a newer used computer, so that our brave DJs no longer have to curse with frustration at our outdated equipment (at a cost of about 500 dollars)
  

Coming soon: the WTF store! We'll have shirts, bike and skateboard stickers, and other WTF-related artwork. We'll keep ya posted, Buffalo!

Happy Halloween!

It's been a lovely cold autumn day, the air is sweet and crisp, the leaves have rattled and fallen against the gale, and we here at FRB are recovering from the various bacchanalia of the weekend!

Our fundraiser last week was a success, netting us just over one hundred dollars in donations which will be put to good use paying our electricity and internet access fees. Several individuals inquired regarding alternate methods of donation--we're working on that. There will be a "donate" link here on the blog soon, so that you, our magnanimous benefactor, can conveniently support and help upgrade the station you love.

Special thanks to DJ Mushmouth for the tacos--invaluable fodder for a rough morning in the bunker!

Elections Tuesday--might I recommend a write-in candidate, our very own Mr. Richard Phittswell? Dick Phittswell for ... well, whatever post. It doesn't really matter. One sock puppet is as good as another.

Taking urine donations for the victory celebrations.

Clean pee only, thanks.

Love ya!

WTFfest aka Free Radio Fundraiser

We love you Buffalo! Help us love you better!

We've been going for almost 2 years, and all from the contributions of just a handful of people. For the first time we're asking the community to lend a hand to keep us going and growing. It's going to be a hell of a show. We might even have some sweet merch, too.

Saturday, October 23rd
Filigree's Gallery and Boutique
1121 Elmwood Ave. (& Forest)

performances by:

The Gentleman (we'll see what we get)
Ginger James (rust-belt folk-rock)
The Socialites (what you see is what you get)
Jack Toft (freaky-deaky spoken word/awesome rap)
and Jeff Repeater (Bit crush, chip tune -electronic goodness)

*update: local linguist Zev will also be performing

Doors at 6pm
Show starts at 7pm SHARP!

All for the low, low price of $6!

spread the word! See you there!

Ping and the Online Distribution Guide

Our illustrious benefactor, Richard Phittswell, has joined Ping. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, Ping is Apple's new music-centered social networking (read: marketing) site. Sort of similar to last.fm, of which Dickie Fitz is also a part. The site is a bit n00b yet, not as full-featured as facebook or last.fm, but it looks promising as a way for small independent artists to get their music spread around in the vast and profitable world of the iTunes Store. Not our thing, really, capitalism, but for our local artists, we this do.

We love you, Buffalo, and we want you to succeed.

Also, we want you not to freeze in the coming months. It's gonna get miiiighty cold.

So, if you're looking to take advantage of the huge and still-burgeoning online market, read this little guide, and let us know when you're on and we'll link to you and keep the network growing.

Love,
isadore