CHIRP: Chicago Independent Radio Project

Check out the Chicago Calling Arts Festival
Posted by Shawn C. on October 4, 2008 around 12pm

CHIRP loves the Chicago Calling Arts Festival
Posted by Shawn C. on October 4, 2008 around 12pm

CHIRP is proud to be a co-sponsor of the third annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival, running through October 12th.

The highly adventurous fest features Chicago-based artists creating performances with artists across the country and around the world. Performances range from music to video to dance and beyond.

Among the scheduled projects are a Chicago-based musician/composer collaborating with a composer from the Philippines, Chicago-based poets connecting over the radio with poets from Hawaii, and a Chicago-based musician collaborating with a British visual artist.

The Reader has a nice little write-up too.

So…weren’t you starting a new radio station or something?
Posted by Shawn C. on September 27, 2008 around 10am

Perhaps you’ve been wondering about this new radio station you’ve been hearing so much about from CHIRP. Well, here’s the skinny. We’ll be moving into our new space at the amazing Dank-Haus in Lincoln Square in October. But it’s not just a matter of plugging in a few pieces of equipment and going live. Our next step will be building out studios inside our space, and we’re thrilled to have two masters in that art handling the job for us — Bob Weston and Lee Diamond.

We’ll spend the next few months building the studios, installing and testing the equipment, setting up our streaming arrangements, and getting our great corps of DJs trained and ready to go. Then we’ll go live on the web at CHIRPradio.org. We don’t have a solid launch date, but we anticipate it being sometime between November and January.
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CHIRP at the Hideout tonight for Carrot Top’s Sweet 16
Posted by Shawn C. on September 24, 2008 around 6pm

If you’ll be at the Hideout tonight helping Carrot Top celebrate 16 great years in Chicago, be sure to drop by the CHIRP table and pick up a button or sticker to show your support for the future of community radio in Chicago!

Tonight’s lineup is:
The Handsome Family
Megan Reilly
Speck Mountain
Lys Guillorn

Showtime is 9PM. Tickets are $15, and proceeds benefit the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis.

Great opportunity for Chicago-area musicians
Posted by Shawn C. on September 17, 2008 around 10pm

CHIRP is proud to be a sponsor of the Future of Music Coalition’s “What’s the Future for Musicians” seminar taking place next Monday, September 22, at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

The seminar runs from noon-7PM (with a party following), and hits topics like health insurance, distribution, new technologies, policy, and more. If you’ve been wondering about how you can afford to be a musician and still be able to go to the doctor when you’re sick…how to best get your music out to an audience that will appreciate it…and what’s going on at the federal level that could help — or hurt — your career, this is a can’t-miss event!
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Friday night is CHIRP night!
Posted by Shawn C. on August 20, 2008 around 5pm

It’s a busy Friday night coming up for CHIRP, and we hope to run into you at a couple great parties!

First, from 5:30-10PM, it’s the 4th Annual Printers’ Ball, this year at the MCA. CHIRP’s own Dr. Drase will spin for part of the evening, while you have the chance to hobnob with writers from some of Chicago’s best publications, from VenusZine to MAKE to Stop Smiling, and over 100 literary organizations. Pick up free copies of a huge array of publications, and grab a CHIRP button or sticker while you’re at it.

And from 7-midnight, another great publication, GOOD Magazine comes to town to throw a party for subscribers, current and future, at Salvage One, 1840 W. Hubbard. Entertainment courtesy of Flosstradamus, Hollywood Holt, and Wily Joy, plus interactive fun like t-shirt making, book trading, and CHIRP –uh– raffling-off-of-tickets-to-great-upcoming-shows. Stop by and say hi! This event is $20, which gets you a subscription to GOOD, free drinks all night long, and invitations to future GOOD events.

Warblings and CHIRPs this Wednesday at Rodan
Posted by Shawn C. on June 16, 2008 around 11pm

This week, why not spend a chill Wednesday night at Rodan with CHIRP!

DJs Carrie Weston and Chris Widman spin some of the best electronic music at this benefit for the Chicago Independent Radio Project.

Things get underway at 10pm, with drink specials like $2 PBR and $5 ruby red Yachtsmans.

There’s no cover, but 15% of the bar will go to CHIRP, thanks to our good friends at Rodan. This will help us start our new online station later this summer, all while we continue to work to change the law so we can also bring a new broadcast station to Chicago.

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CHIRP is launching a new web station…and you can help!
Posted by Shawn C. on June 3, 2008 around 10pm

CHIRP has decided to move forward with its biggest project so far.

As we’ve continued with our efforts to make sure we’ll eventually be able to bring a brand new low power FM signal to Chicago, we’ve always assumed that the station’s webstream would be crucial. That’s why we’ve decided to go ahead and launch a web version of CHIRP radio. This station will be dedicated to great under-appreciated music across genres and eras, and will have a true commitment to Chicago’s diverse music and arts scenes. We hope to start it later this summer.

But we can’t start this new station without your help. We hope many of you will become founding members of CHIRP radio. You can do this in a couple of ways:
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What you can do to stop the Chicago Promoters Ordinance
Posted by Shawn C. on May 12, 2008 around 8am

The Chicago City Council has fast-tracked its new version of a measure first introduced last year to greatly impede independent promoters attempting to hold events in the city. Under the proposed law, independent promoters would have to acquire a promoter’s license at a cost of up to $2000 every two years, obtain liability insurance for every event thrown, even if the presenting venue already has liability insurance, be fingerprinted and background checked, and maintain extensive records of each event. The ordinance allegedly is intended to prevent disasters like the one that occurred in the E2 nightclub several years ago, but really would just put many small indies out of business.
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Nothing like the music biz…
Posted by Shawn C. on April 20, 2008 around 11pm

I just read Dan Kennedy’s book about working for Warner Music Group this weekend, and it’s simultaneously funny and depressing. The title ultimately ended up as ‘Rock On,’ but I’m more a fan of one of the names he listed in the appendix, ‘We Sit in Expensive Chairs, Guessing What Might Fascinate You.’

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