GaragePunk Podcast Network

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The GaragePunk Podcast Network is the leading social network, media center and blog portal for the garage punk, garage rock and primitive rock n roll MusicAL genres. With a strong international following the site receives an average of 18,500 hits per day and the associated Ning social network has over three thousand registered members. The Podcast Network has been producing regular podcasts since August 2005 and currently features twenty-six independently produced programs. It is also one of the few "Featured Podcasts" in the music category of the iTunes Podcast Directory.

History

GaragePunk.com was founded on June 16, 2001, by St. Louis (MO) disk jockey and promoter Jeff “Kopper” Kopp originally as the web home for his now defunct KDHX-FM 88.1 radio show, The Wayback Machine, and a discussion forum for fans of both the radio show and the music in general. The site soon became an important resource for a worldwide community of garage rock, rock ‘n’ roll and garage punk fans through its, now abandoned, extensive message board forum. In 2005 the decision was made to extend the site with an audioblog, an idea which eventually evolved into the production of podcasts;

“This was all done with two major goals in mind: First and foremost, we wanted to try to do more to expose the music that we think is good (as well as featured on my radio show) but that most people have never heard simply because they don’t seek it out, have never been exposed to it before, or can’t hear my show for one reason or another. Secondly, to encourage each and every one of you to support your local independently owned record stores, mail-order sites, and especially the indie labels that produce the vast majority of music featured here...” Jeff “Kopper” Kopp

The GaragePunk.com forums were shut down on January 18, 2008, and the majority of the site’s activities were transferred to The GaragePunk Hideout social networking application. The original GaragePunk.com now largely remains in order to distribute and archive the podcasts and offers a variety of GaragePunk merchandise. The Podcast network itself ceased to exist as of New Years Day 2010, owing to the birth of his son, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy. However, its programmes still continue independently.

The GaragePunk Hideout

The GaragePunk Hideout was launched in the summer of 2007 as a social networking element of The GaragePunk Podcast Network, and as replacement for the antiquated GaragePunk.com Forums, a phpBB message board. Hosted on the Ning platform, The GaragePunk Hideout allows music fans, bands, musicians, DJs and promoters to network by creating personalized profile pages, sharing music, photos and videos, and posting discussion threads, messages and blogs.

The Hideout also features a number of separate discussion groups which members may subscribe to individually. Separate groups are dedicated to a range of global geographical areas, various garage-punk subgenres, and to a range of other topics associated with the garage-punk scene such as B-movies, trash culture, photography, 'zines and radio shows, and rock ‘n’ roll graphic design. Other features include an events section for the promotion of club nights, concerts and other related events, areas for the pooling of member's photographs and videos, and an online chat room.

GaragePunk Podcasts

In mid-2005, Kopper, with the help and encouragement of Lo-Fi Saint Louis videoblog founder Bill Streeter, launched "GaragePunk.com Pirate Radio," recruiting show hosts from the GaragePunk Forums message board to produce radio station-style podcasts for the network. Within six months, the network had enough separate programs to begin posting new episodes on an almost-daily basis. The now renamed "GaragePunk Podcast Network" has been producing regular podcasts since August 2005 and presently features twenty-six independently produced programs. Mostly produced at home by individual music fans (a small number are offshoots of local radio and college radio broadcasts), the network mostly focuses on obscure garage rock, primitive rock n roll and garage punk but also extends to psychedelic rock, frat rock, proto punk, surf, R&B, rockabilly, swamp rock, broken blues, powerpop, punk rock, new wave/no wave amongst other related genres.

The overall aim of the network is to be the world’s premier destination for garage rock music online — old, new, underground or independent. The GaragePunk Podcast Network broadcasts this music to a large audience through the podcast medium, one that builds upon the traditional radio format which typically attracts a smaller local following.

The GaragePunk podcasts may be subscribed to as a whole, or each program individually, with new episodes arriving most weekdays. Many individual programs now have over 50 episodes.

The list of current active programs is as follows [as of October 2009]:

  • Apocalypstick!
  • Backseat Beat
  • Cheap Thrills
  • The Desperate Hour
  • Down & Out Down Under
  • Florida Rocks Again!
  • Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll
  • GaragePunk Surfcast
  • Get Drunk & Play Records
  • Hanging on for Mercy
  • Haunted Shack Theatre
  • Hot Slop
  • House of Wild Delights
  • Killed by [...]
  • The Mal Thursday Show
  • Mushi Mushi
  • Mystery Action
  • Nasty Grind
  • Out of the Vaults, Into Your Ears
  • RadiOblivion
  • Rock 'n' Roll [...]
  • Savage Kick
  • Sonic Nightmares
  • South Bay PORK Podcast
  • Way Past Cool
  • Wild Wild Sound

Sources

See Also

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