Radio Free Brooklyn (RFB) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that operates a freeform

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

radio station headquartered at 199 Cook Street in the

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Par ...

neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, NY. The station currently offers 78 original radio programs produced by members of the organization, including 63 weekly live broadcasts originating from their Brooklyn studio. The station also airs two syndicated programs:

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

and The BradCast.

Mission and philosophy

Radio Free Brooklyn’s stated mission is to give a global voice to local artists, residents, community organizers and other non-profit institutions by providing a commercial-free freeform Internet Radio platform.Radio Free Brooklyn"
Radio Free Brooklyn Official Website (c. 2016) All original programming is created by individual hosts, most of whom live and work in the greater NYC area, and has no restrictions or requirements imposed by the station. The resulting talk and music programming is an eclectic mix of talk and music with subjects such as local politics, LGBT issues, literature, and music. Radio Free Brooklyn also has a stated commitment to what they call the “three pillars” of their philosophy: Community, Discovery and Education. Co-founder Tom Tenney summed up their philosophy by saying, “the focus is on providing our community members with an experience in media creation/curation that is enlightening, educational, critical, creative and hopefully, joyful.”

History

Radio Free Brooklyn was launched on May 13, 2015, by Tom Tenney and Robert Prichard, both veteran producers of the NYC underground performance scene. Since that date, the station has produced 132 original shows broadcasting 24/7/365. For its first 30 months, Radio Free Brooklyn introduced new programming every six months, in May and November. But in November 2017 the station abandoned these 6-month "seasons" and now accepts new shows throughout the year on a rolling basis. All new hosts must first volunteer with the station for 3 months before being offered a permanent show.

Recognition

In February 2016, Radio Free Brooklyn was profiled by the

London Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fou ...

, in which writer Pete Naughton described Radio Free Brooklyn as “a glowing petri dish of creativity, variety, and counter-cultural energy.” The

Mixcloud Mixcloud is a popular British online music streaming service that allows for the listening and distribution of radio shows, DJ mixes and podcasts, which are crowdsourced by its registered users. In April 2018, Mixcloud announced that it raised $ ...

Online Radio Awards chose Radio Free Brooklyn as a finalist in the category, “Best Online Radio Station in North America” for both 2015 and 2016 On April 27, 2017, Time Out New York included Radio Free Brooklyn in their list of The Best Independent Online Radio Stations in NYC, and on July 28, 2017, Digital Trends listed the station as one of the 14 best Internet streaming radio stations."These are the 14 Best Internet Radio Stations for Your Listening Pleasure"
Digital Trends, 2017

Notable guests

Some notable guests that have appeared on Radio Free Brooklyn programs include:

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...

Robert Downey, Sr. Robert John Downey ( Elias Jr.; June 24, 1936 – July 7, 2021) was an American filmmaker and actor. He was known for writing and directing the underground film ''Putney Swope'', a satire on the New York Madison Avenue (Manhattan)#Advertising in ...

Spencer Tunick Spencer Tunick (born January 1, 1967) is an American photographer best known for organizing large-scale nude shoots. Since 1994, he has photographed over 75 human installations around the world. Life and career Spencer Tunick was born in Middle ...

Kosmo Vinyl Kosmo Vinyl (born Mark C. Dunk, 9 February 1957, England) is a former longtime associate and sometime manager for The Clash, as well as being associated with Ian Dury & the Blockheads and The Jam, three seminal English bands of the 1970s and 1980 ...

Mike Doughty Michael Ross Doughty ( ; born June 10, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and author. He founded the band Soul Coughing in 1992, and as of '' The Heart Watches While the Brain Burns'' (2016), has released 18 studio albums, live albums, and ...

Michelle Shocked Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston; February 24, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and received an award f ...

Anthony Haden-Guest Anthony Haden-Guest (born 2 February 1937) is a British-American writer, reporter, cartoonist, art critic, poet, and socialite who lives in New York City and London. He is a frequent contributor to major magazines and has had several books publi ...

Christian Finnegan Fletcher Christian Finnegan (born April 1, 1973), better known as Christian Finnegan, is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in New York City. Early life Finnegan was born in Albany, New York. He grew up in Acton, Massachusett ...

, Frank Conniff,

John S. Hall John S. Hall (born John Charles Hall, September 2, 1960) is an American poet, author, singer and lawyer perhaps best known for his work with King Missile, an avant-garde band that he co-founded in 1986 and has since led in various incarnations. ...

The Gregory Brothers The Gregory Brothers are an American musical quartet, specializing in comedy music and pitch correction through their YouTube channel Schmoyoho (). After the success of their songs 'Chrissy Wake Up' and ' It's Corn' in the summer of 2022, NPR re ...

Sofia Rei Sofia Eugenia Koutsovitis, known professionally as Sofia Rei, is an Argentinian vocalist, songwriter, producer, and educator. A classically trained mezzo-soprano, Rei's influences include South American folk styles, jazz, pop, new classical and ...

Annie Finch Annie Finch (born October 31, 1956) is an American poet, critic, editor, translator, playwright, and performer and the editor of the first major anthology of literature about abortion. Her poetry is known for its often incantatory use of rhythm, ...

Les Bohem Leslie "Les" Bohem (born 1951) is an American screenwriter, television writer, and former bassist. He is the son of screenwriter Endre Bohem. Biography Bohem played bass in the 1980s with the pop groups Sparks and Gleaming Spires. Bohem's writ ...

Myq Kaplan Myq Kaplan (; born October 7, 1978Myq Kaplan
at

Charles Busch Charles Louis Busch (born August 23, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and drag queen, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote and starred in his early plays Off-off- ...

, Kalmia Travers of

Rubblebucket Rubblebucket is an American art-pop and indie-rock band from Brooklyn, New York. The primary members are musical couple (now separated) Annakalmia Traver and Alex Toth. Formation Alex Toth (trumpet, band leader) and Kalmia Traver (vocals, saxoph ...

, You Bred Raptors?, Soul Inscribed,

Irka Mateo Irka Mateo is a Taino Dominican singer-songwriter and world music artist. Career Her artistic sensibility incubated in Spain, France, Brazil, Canada, the United States and her native Dominican Republic. In the late 1970s and early 1980s she ...

Lane Moore Lane Moore is an American stand-up comedian, author, writer, director, actor, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist living in New York, New York. Career She is a former writer for ''The Onion'' and ''The Onion Book of Known Knowledge: ...

, Cinema Cinema,

Battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

Computer Magic Danielle "Danz" Johnson (born February 20, 1989), known professionally as Danz CM and formerly Computer Magic, is an American musician and producer based in New York City. She is a singer, songwriter, composer, music producer, DJ, and the founder ...

Savoir Adore Savoir Adore is a pop-rock group duo from Brooklyn, New York City, United States initially consisting of Paul Hammer and Deidre Muro. In 2014, Deidre Muro left the band while Hammer worked with a guest vocalist. Hammer began collaborating with La ...

, Cassie and

Maggie MacDonald Maggie MacDonald (born 1979) is a writer, playwright, and musician who lives in Toronto, Ontario. Early life and education MacDonald grew up in Cornwall, Ontario, where she became active in the local independent rock music scene. She put on sh ...

Kevin Allison Kevin Allison (born February 16, 1970) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and storyteller. He is perhaps best known as a writing and performing member of the comedy troupe The State, and appeared in their 1993-1995 MTV sketch comedy series '' ...

, Ken Johnson,

Diet Cig Diet Cig is an American indie rock duo that formed in September 2014 in New Paltz, New York, United States. The band consists of Alex Luciano on guitar/vocals and Noah Bowman on drums. Their first studio album, ''Swear I'm Good At This'', was rele ...

, Ben Curtis,

Josh Ruben Joshua Benjamin Ruben (born June 30, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, director, and producer. He has directed the comedy horror films ''Scare Me'' (2020) and ''Werewolves Within'' (2021), both of which were filmed near his hometown in the Hu ...

, Ben Newman (of DIIV), The East River String Band,

Veronica Varlow Veronica Varlow is a burlesque dancer, pin-up model, actress, producer, and performance artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She was the owner of the former internet boutique Danger Dame, which specialized in clothing inspired by burlesque, cabaret ...

Reverend Jen Jennifer Miller (also known as Saint Reverend Jen and Reverend Jen; born July 24, 1972 in Silver Spring, Maryland) is an American performer, actress, writer, painter, director, preacher, and poet residing in Manhattan, New York City. In 2002 ...

, John Jastremski,

Davi Santos Davi Santos (born 1 February 1990) is a Brazilian-American actor, best known for his role playing List of Power Rangers Dino Charge characters#Sir Ivan of Zandar, Sir Ivan, The Gold Ranger on the television series ''Power Rangers Dino Charge'' a ...

, Jessie Woo, and

Billy Magnussen William Gregory Magnussen (born April 20, 1985) is an American actor. He has been featured in the films ''Into the Woods'' (2014), ''Birth of the Dragon'' (2016), '' Game Night'' (2018), and '' Aladdin'' (2019), and has had supporting television ...

References

External links

* {{Radio in New York City * Internet radio stations in the United States