Back in 1988, while going to school at the University of Vermont, and DJing at its radio station, WRUV, I was also interning at local rock station WIZN.
A couple times a week I'd drive the 45 minutes down route 7, from Burlington to their original studios in tiny Vergennes, Vermont. I'd hang out, work on the music library, help cut promos, file away playlists, basically whatever the full timers needed a hand with. I learned a hell of a lot, much of it thanks to a guy named Tom Van Zandt (file under: where is he now?), and even thought I might end up in broadcasting or the record industry after college. Anyone who had similar ambitions, and graduated in 1991, knows what that craptacular economic time did to crush any such aspirations. Finish college, go straight to work at the mall, do not pass Go, do not collect reasonable salary. Rough days.
But I didn't just learn a lot there; I also ended up with a ton of records and discs that 'IZN was sent, but would never play. Their classic rock format kept them from using most of the stuff I loved, and my collection was the only logical place to dump the promo vinyl and alt-rock cds. So I hardly volunteered for free... I got paid with the things that mattered most to me at the time. Some of the stuff ended up on my weekly shows at 'RUV, and sadly, most of it wound up melting into huge chunks of waxy black slag, but that's a whole other story. Thanks to a random box left at my parent's place, some of it survived, and I'll be sharing some of these old promos over the next few months.
So here's the first one: Every week for years, WIZN was sent a syndicated live recording on vinyl, courtesy of programs like the "In Concert" series and the "King Biscuit Flower Hour", which they'd broadcast once and usually toss. Occasionally, one of 'em would be by a band I was really into, and that's the case with these Mp3s of the Week: A 1988 live set by the Church, transferred over the weekend from the original vinyl to my computer. Enjoy...
