Get lost in a great online portal for New Age music. For more than a decade, the cassette hub Sounds of the Dawn has explored the infinite well […]
Listening Tip: The Stellar Offerings at Online Hub FSR
Although major stories on it are frustratingly rare these days, the vibrancy and range of community-run internet radio collectives delivering human-selected music in human-selected combinations makes that region of the curatorial world an essential engine of creativity and discovery. Our friends at dublab, to use the most obvious example, have grown the station to become an established hub and cultural driver that amplifies Los Angeles to the entire world. The expert selectors (ISC affiliates included) at NTS have inspired reissues and identified deep pockets of otherwise unheard music, and evolved to become a brand and label.
Four years ago, audio engineer Amy Fort channeled the restlessness of the pandemic and her Toronto, Montreal and Baltimore communities of music-minded friends to create Frozen Section Radio with the intention of gathering listeners, collectors and sound obsessives to share music. Countless COVID variants later, FSR has grown to include about 60 recurrent shows, produced a third-place listening experience in Toronto’s Kensington Market called Sunday Selects and collaborated on events in both Toronto and LA.
Sunday? Here’s the exquisite recent show Shadow on the Dial, which broadcasts ambient and quiet experimental works monthly on Sunday mornings.
Amy (QUELLE SURPRISE!) alongside FSR friends Sibylline Records and Jack Name will be spinning tunes at our Sound + Vision pop-up on Saturday, April 27 from 12-5pm, and @sibyllineshop will have what they describe as “a juicy pop-up table selling a selection of harder-to-find international records, some classic funk, punk, & jazz + a nice little swath of stone cold classix.”
In advance of the session, she took time to offer an overview of FSR’s mission and backstory.
On the the beginnings of FSR:
We started FSR during the pandemic with a small collective of Toronto/Montreal/Baltimore based folks as a way of drawing together an active community seeking music and music sharing beyond algorithms.
Seeing entities like NTS, Dublab, and The Lot thrive was certainly inspiring and helpful as a framework for the scope of what could be achieved in the internet radio space. When we began discussing the project as a group we pretty much immediately looked further afield at stations like Boone Area Community Radio and n10.as in Montreal, as we knew from the outset that our station would operate on a smaller scale that would (hopefully) grow organically. It really began from a collective desire to prioritise access and exploration. We have a good number of hosts who come to us with a great idea for programming and an ear for linking songs together with but limited experience. We are proud to be a community where that kind of growth in abilities and confidence can be supported.
Behind the scenes at Frozen Section:
We have a barebones but dedicated and incredible team. Our relatively low overhead and the grassroots sensibility about the operation allows us to focus on show pitches and put the music first instead of worrying about scaling up to meet any kind of metrics, self imposed or otherwise. We care a lot about the sharing element, quality and slow growth, which has really worked for us. We started the station with nearly 80 shows, and about 60 of them became recurring programs. We’ve maintained that consistently, as some shows drop off and new ones have joined in pretty equal numbers. It’s a labor of love, with a small, busy crew of artists running it, but that keeps the communication personable and the value of the work undeniable.
On FSR today and in the future:
FSR is about to turn three and we’re coming into our own. We’re now fully established as a Toronto based online station. We have hosts in other countries but the majority of the programming is Toronto based DJs and selectors. The station has become a real launching point for some hosts to build and develop their DJing identities. We’ve also recently been able to curate more live events, including a classic album hi-fi listening series called Sunday Selects in collaboration with Market Video in Kensington Market.
This year we’re working on increasing the number of live events and encouraging hosts to broadcast live (90% of our schedule is pre-recorded). We’re really excited for more collaborations, including the upcoming in-store with ISC. Tune in to other upcoming events with Standard Time, Market Video and Project Nowhere in Toronto and Sibylline Records in LA.
Frozen Section Radio on Mixcloud
Some FSR highlights:
QUELLE SURPRISE!
Last Saturday, 12pm ET
Amy invites you into a loosely thematic listening experience.
“different vibes each show. always with love.”
Island City w/ Graham Van Pelt
Fridays 12pm EST, Weekly
Graham’s been with us from the beginning. He programs his beautiful balearic/global/soul show from his home on Salt Spring Island.
Shadow on the Dial
First Sunday, 7am EST
Our first show to go routinely live. Stephanie plays ambient, folk, dream pop, alt country on her Toronto based radio show.
Personal Space
Saturdays Biweekly, 9pm EST
Maria DJs “Berlin after hours meets Turkish spa meets French lounge meets Japanese elevator. Ethereal groove type stuff with an international focus.
Gently Dragged
Third Saturday, 10am EST
Jess curates “Instrumental selections of library music and other bygone curiosities. All a bit slowed down, because everything else is too fast.”
Snack Time
Third Thursdays, 3pm EST
Chris chooses miscellaneous selections of soft punk, post disco, outsider tunes from downtown Toronto to take your ears uptown. “It’s snack time because you never know what you might get.”
The Love Block
Third Wednesdays, 9pm EST
You might find dub/left-field/downtempo. You might find something unexpected.
From hosts Andrew Ross & Linus Booth: “Snap the pieces together. All shapes and sizes. Create your imagination. There is no limit for you. The Love Block is a monthly music program.”
Electric Rabbit Radio Hour
Last Sunday, 7pm EST
Post-minimalism, free jazz, avant-garde doom, post-punk, abstract electronic, art-pop, new age selections. Hosted by Canadian musician, writer, producer, and audiophile Michael C. Duguay.