Every show starts with the ’70s! We’ll rediscover forgotten rockers, revisit unfairly maligned disco beats and replay power-pop favorites. Next: plenty of new releases, occasional live bands and more. Don’t let the nickname confuse you.

October 25, 2023: My annual Punk / Post-punk / Power Pop / New Wave WNYU Throwback Show! Week four of our HELLRAISER FUNDRAISER!

Listen to this show:  Pop-up player!

It's one of my favorite shows of the year!

As the 1970s turned into the 1980s, as one of the most exciting environments for independent and underground music took hold across New York City, the flagship weekday music program on New York University's radio station, The Afternoon Show, was largely a moribund and unimaginative attempt to emulate the big commercial album rock stations of that time.

But early in 1980 Hofstra transfer student Sal LoCurto arrived at the WNYU studios atop the Loeb Student Center with a vision: play all of the exciting new indie/punk/underground music that was coming out in the US and UK, and present it in a style that was closer to a Top 40 station than a traditional rock station: no more than two songs in a row without a mic break, and the breaks themselves would be short: announce the songs, maybe mention an upcoming concert, and get right back to playing more music. No more rambling mic breaks from a DJ who sounded like he just woke up. Plus, the bulk of the music played on the show had to be pulled from a special locker stocked with the latest US and import releases; bands like The Doors and Led Zeppelin were banned. Thus the New Afternoon Show was born.

Sal had support from Vin Montuori, the student General Manager and from a couple of forward-thinking DJs currently on the Afternoon Show, Gary Cee and Naomi Regelson. DJs who did not stick to the new format — and yes, this was a format, not free-form — were taken off the air and replaced by newcomers eager to play and support all of the great music and bands coming out at the time. Those newcomers included Sal himself, Mike "Pablo" Dugan, and yours truly.

I'd spent a good part of my high-school years listening more to Boston-area Top 40 stations than album rock stations, and was also into a lot of punk/power-pop/etc., thanks in large part to my high school friend Jimmy Mack. Playing all of that great music and presenting it in an exciting manner that matched the tenor of the music itself quickly won a large listenership. You can read about this in more detail in this 2014 article by fellow WNYU alum Tim Sommer.

I'm incredibly proud of the time I spent at WNYU — it was a magical era, and a magical time to be on the radio in New York City. I'm also extremely humbled every time I encounter someone who remembers the show fondly 40+ years later. Today's show is an attempt to re-create, to some extent, the sound of those early '80s shows on WNYU, and share that sound with listeners who weren't able to hear those shows back in the day.

And, yes, this is part of WFMU's October HELLRAISER fundraiser, which is drawing to a close! I hope you'll show your support for my program and for WFMU by making a pledge! If you've already pledged, THANK YOU! Your support is greatly appreciated, especially if you're a SWAG FOR LIFE pledger.