''Sound Opinions'' is an independent radio

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

and

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. It focuses on the discussion of music genres, history, artists and albums. It airs weekly on over 150 public radio stations nationwide and is syndicated though the

Public Radio Exchange The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a non-profit web-based platform for digital distribution, review, and licensing of radio programs. The organization is the largest on-demand catalogue of public radio programs available for broadcast and internet ...

. It is also available for download and streaming worldwide as a podcast. The show is hosted by

Jim DeRogatis James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American music critic and co-host of '' Sound Opinions''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'', '' Spin'', '' Guitar World'' and ''Modern Drummer'', and for ...

and

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

and features interviews with musicians and industry figures as well as dissections of classic albums and musical movements. Kot and DeRogatis also review recent record releases and share under-the-radar albums they call "Buried Treasures." ''Sound Opinions'' is an independent production, produced by Alex Claiborne and Andrew Gill. ''Sound Opinions'' was adapted for television by WTTW in Chicago.

History

''Sound Opinions'' began life as a regular feature on Ed Schwartz's overnight program on WLUP-AM in 1993 featuring then

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

music critic Jim DeRogatis and Bill Wyman who was the rock critic for the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'' at that time. It was then given its own time-slot on Sunday afternoons following the ''Sunday Funnies'', a comedy program hosted by Brian McCann. In 1994 it moved to

Q101 Q101 may refer to: * Archive Series No. 2: Live in Chicago Q101, a live broadcast 'studio' album released by Violent Femmes in 2006 * CKMQ-FM, Merritt, British Columbia, Canada * KQDJ-FM, Valley City, North Dakota * WKQX (FM), an alternative rock ...

. The show ended in 1995 when DeRogatis joined ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''. It was reincarnated on

WXRT WXRT (93.1 FM), also known as XRT and 93-XRT is an adult album alternative (AAA) radio station in Chicago, Illinois. For many years, their slogan has been "Chicago's Finest Rock". "Chicago's Home For Music Lovers" has been used as its slogan si ...

with Kot replacing Wyman in 1998. In 2005 after 354 shows it moved to

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Financed by corporate underwriting, government funding and lis ...

. It was distributed nationally by

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

and was also available as a

. On July 1, 2010, the program switched distributors from APM to the

, a web-based distribution outlet for public radio programs, the first ongoing series to leave one of the big three satellite-delivered public radio program distributors for PRX. On June 15, 2020, WBEZ announced that it would end its production deal with ''Sound Opinions''. As of September 1, 2020, ''Sound Opinions'' has existed as an independent production based at

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

. They fund the show through ads, sponsorships an
donations

Message board

The Sound Opinions Message Board, also known as "the SOMB," attracted music aficionados. Its users, or "SOMBies," discussed music, the Chicago scene, pop culture, politics, and occasionally their personal lives. Annual "Best Of" lists were also regularly compiled. While it is no longer in operation, there is
''Sound Opinions'' discussion group
on Facebook that serves a similar function.

References

External links

*{{official website Audio podcasts Music Internet forums American Public Media programs Chicago radio shows 1993 radio programme debuts

History

Message board

References

Further reading

External links