Radio Free Wallingford

Wallyhood recently got a tour of the Hollow Earth Radio studios, located in the Latona Ave loft attic of the founders, Garrett and Amber. Hollow Earth is an Internet radio station, broadcasting an eclectic mix of music and interviews 24 / 7, but it’s Internet radio, so don’t bother adjusting your dial.

In early 2007, as members of the band Beast Please Be Still and frequent hosts of house concerts, they found themselves frustrated with the amount of great, interesting music out there that was simply never being heard by most people.

“There’s so much music that nobody hears on the radio, that never gets supported” Amber said, “so we thought it would a really cool thing to play that music that gets ignored, that the only other way you’d get to hear it is if you’re one of 10 people at a house show.” And Hollow Earth Radio was born.

Powered by over 60 volunteers, including a rotating crew of 35+ DJs, the station operates 24 hours a day / 7 days a week, mostly broadcasting live from the Latona studio. There’s no set genre, but the music tends towards a lo-fi indie pop fare, with a smattering of interviews, experimental and instrumental work. “We try to focus on local, not popular yet, something someone made in the basement,” Garret said.

“Or field recordings from the neighborhood, interviews,” Amber continued. “I’d love to do a neighborhood project collecting neighborhood music…I used to hear the bagpipes a block south, Yellow Hat Brass Band practicing around the corner, there’s a 10-yr-old playing violin down the street,” Amber explained, “wouldn’t it be great to get them all out on the radio?”

If you’re interested in volunteering or taking a turn at the tables, just let them know. Hollow Earth holds orientation on the first Sunday of the month at 2 pm, and can train you up to be a DJ in 3 months, and there’s lots of other interesting work reviewing some of the 30 – 40 albums they receive each week, uploading music, etc. They even received a donation of dozens of old reel-to-reel tapes that need conversion (one reportedly holds a recording of the conversations held in a bar in Vietnam during the war).

All ages welcome, Hollow Earth reports they once recruited a teenage hip-hop DJ, who was the most efficient multi-tasker they’d ever seen: “he was texting, chatting on Google Chat, giving a shout-out to his teachers, sending MySpace messages, taking calls and of course DJ’ing” like a pro.

So if you make music, play music, love music, whatever, get in touch. And if you just listen to music, listen!