Hello, friends! As many of you know, I have spent the past few months volunteering for the Chicago Independent Radio Project (aka CHIRP). This has been really exciting for me since it has given me the opportunity to use my experience in development, marketing and community building in an area that I am very passionate about...radio and independent music. While radio and the ways that we discover new music have changed over the years, nothing will replace the media of radio and an actual, live DJ on the other end selecting music that they are passionate about and sharing their musical experiences with the audience. In particular, within the community that I live...Chicago. 

Over the past year, CHIRP has turned me on to a wide variety of bands and musical styles. From local bands like Panda Riot to Africain synth pop. And beyond the music, CHIRP as an organization is impressive in the various ways it engages its audience and over 200 volunteers...yes, you read that right, TWO HUNDRED!!! No crap, but many of the volunteers I have worked with in this young and scrappy organization are more creative, thoughtful and talented than some of the not-for-profit "professionals" I have worked with. 

So...my request is really quite simple. FIRST - listen to CHIRP! You can stream online or, better yet, download the app and stream through your phone. The app is really impressive in that it allows you to mark songs as your favorite and even provides links for you purchase the music.

SECOND - if you like what you hear, I hope you will support CHIRP with a donation. At CHIRP, your donation will go a long way to help grow the organization and programming. As an example, in a few months, CHIRP plans to be broadcasting a low-powered FM signal on 107.1. There are also the numerous blogs that you can check out, podcasts as well as the excellent Factory Sessions. 

And if you support in ANY amount, I will share with you a Spotify playlist made up entirely of music that I was turned onto by CHIRP. So far, it includes Panda Riot (a Chicago shoegaze band), Parquet Courts (who I knew of, but rediscovered through CHIRP), William Onyeabor (Nigerian pop-funk), NE-HI (local band featured in the last Factory Session) and many others

Thanks for reading and I hope you start listening and supporting in any way you can!

Jim

Please make a gift supporting our spring fund drive so we can continue to bring you great music and events! Your gift will also help us launch our broadcast at 107.1FM.

If you would like to make a recurring donation or select a spring campaign thank you gift, please visit CHIRP’s main donation page to make your contribution (and don’t forget to enter the name of the CHIRP Volunteer or DJ in the “How did you hear about CHIRP” section so they can receive credit for your gift!)