WXPN Radio

I’m visiting NJ & found this station in my car. Can’t believe how much I like it. I never want to get out of the car!

XPN Live at Noon, a Canadian group the Arkells and a group of local musicians playing a tribute in honor of John Lennon’s 75^th birthday. The Canadian band was a little rough due to the early hour, noon… but they were good. The Lennon tribute band was excellent. Nice facility at 30^th and Walnut just off the university district. Nice performing space with elevated stage, table seating for about 100, a large standing area in front of the stage and a full bar in the back. There’s also a balcony area but that was closed. A great musical treat, in a great facility provided by a great public radio station. It’s good to listen and support public radio!

Simply the best radio station I’ve ever encountered. Very good selection of rock music, with occasional theme days. The DJ’s are very good (especially David Dye of World Café), and play a wide range of music that doesn’t seem to fit into any one category, except that everything sounds great.

It’s a great radio station –Best in Philly for new and old music!

The best radio station in Philly, period.
They play an eclectic mix of new and old, local and worldwide, and upbeat to acoustic music. They play it, as long as it’s good. It’s non commercial so you don’t need to sit through 25 minutes of commercials every hour.
Great hosts and some cool shows thrown in. The «indie rock hit parade» is one of my favorites. If you’re a late night kind of person, Echoes is a great show as well.
Lastly, the WXPN Xponential Festival is one of the highlights of the summer.

This station has got to be one of the best in the nation, let alone Philadelphia. Their live music lunch hour every Friday is incredible. They offer commercial free programming and an independent format that caters to people with a more diverse musical background than most other stations. The quality of the content and the production level are superior to all of the commercial enterprises, which nowadays are merely jukeboxes. Contrary to popular belief, XPN is not a «college station» now, it has been re-​identified as a non-​profit entity that does not derive any of its operational funding from the university.

XPN is pretty much the only radio station that I want to listen to anymore. Far fewer commercials and constantly changing music (when compared to most other radio stations). I love Funky Fridays especially, but I don’t know many of the other shows. Most of the time, I enjoy whatever they are playing. World Café Live has had some really great live recordings of interesting artists.
I have found new artists through listening and have attended a couple of local band shows at the World Café.
The fund drives stink. 4 times a year the station basically becomes worthless to me. I stop listening and check back every few days to see if it is over, but it is the price that you pay to listen I guess. For those of you listening over the internet, there are extra stations that don’t play the fund drives and will just stick to music.
One problem that is more annoying than the fund drives. I get out of work at 7 pm most days and all I want to do on my way home is listen to some XPN. 7 pm on weekdays is Kid’s Corner = THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE! I usually catch the last 30 seconds of a normal song as I am getting into my car, then hear that damn kid’s music! (calm down) I guess it is good that they play something for children.

Definitely miss the days where the students ran the station and were on-​air. It’s much different now!

Yes, I’m a fan of ‘XPN and have been for many years. That being said I miss the days of yore w’/such eclectic shows as Diaspar and Crossroads. Since then they have become extremely commercial.
Glad to see the old shows such as Sleepy Hollow, Folk Show, Stars End, Blues show. Love the Free @ Noon; saw some great shows there. You have turned me on to a lot of fantastic music. Many Moods of Ben Vaughn & Sound Opinion are great new shows.
However; the move towards commercialism annoys me. You play the same songs repeatedly. Two months ago (around Grammy time) it seemed like every 5 min. I heard Adele or Bön Iver. Don’t get me wrong I love both artists but don’t need to hear them repeatedly in the course of a day. Currently I keep hearing the same new J. Mayer and Norah Jones songs (both of which suck) being played alot! How come when a new artist has a new release you only play ONE song from the CD? Does the rest suck so bad? Sometimes, yes But your dwelling on one song is the main reason I choose not to financially support XPN.

If I could give this radio station zero stars, I would not. The only reason being that there are a select few programs I would keep. The rest of the programming, deejays and upper management should be rolled up into a ball and thrown right in the garbage.
XPN likes to tout itself as a hip, alternative music station offering musical diversity that can’t be found anywhere else. What it actually is is a collection of uninspiring deejays who spend each day playing lifeless selections from wishy washy singer/​songwriters then begging for donation money during every break between songs. The station holds fund drives every quarter, begging for listener support through monetary donations while claiming that the entity is in such financial jeopardy that its very existence is at stake.
As I’m writing this review, I just switched on WXPN figuring now would be an appropriate time to listen. They’re in the middle of a fund drive and Bruce Warren, whom I believe is the station’s program director, is trying to guilt listeners into giving them money. «It’s just pennies a day, $ 12.00 a month. I think you can afford that to pay your radio bill. » Really. Several times over the last couple of months, I’ve heard spots on this station informing listeners that they can now leave money to the station in their wills. To discuss will and estate planning listeners are given a phone number at the station to call. I find this pathetic and down right creepy.
As far as what is salvageable at WXPN, there are a few programs that hold true to what should be expected of a public, college radio station. Sleepy Hollow is a great way to slowly wake up on both Saturday and Sunday mornings with deejays Keith Brand and Chuck Elliot playing eclectic, mellow sounds from such diverse genres as jazz, classical, international and film scores. Deejay Robert Drake is also a keeper. When he’s not filling in for other on air personalities, Drake has a show called Land of the Lost which concentrates mainly on the 80s underground scene. Very entertaining. On weeknights from 7 — 8p.m. Kathy O’Connell has a great show for children called Kids’ Corner. An educational show where kids get to call in and offer their opinions and stories. If WXPN wants us to buy into it being a member supported, public radio station it should offer more creative shows like these.
I first listened to WXPN about 30 years ago when I was in my teens. Back then, the station was pretty much what it claims to be now, a college radio station offering cutting edge, underground programming. Today, the same three weekday deejays who have been behind the microphone for at least the last 20 years are trying to sell listeners on the cutting edge attributes of wimpy performers like Dar Williams, David Grey and old heads like James Taylor and Jackson Brown. Pretty sad.
Here’s a suggestion for WXPN. Create less of a need for listener support by firing the pros on the dayshift, bring back University of Penn. student deejays and get some young blood in that program director’s position. Until then, I’ll be up the dial listening to a real college radio station like 103.3 WPRB from Princeton University. XPN can learn a thing or two from them.

I could not love WXPN more if I tried. Upon moving to Philly, I turned my radio on and started unpacking boxes. There was no other station playing actual music, so I landed on 88.5. I don’t think I turned the radio off for days. I wake up to XPN, I get dressed to XPN, I listen to XPN while I work, and I blast XPN and dance around my room. It’s exactly what a radio station should be. Other radio stations don’t come close.
The best part is that I’m always learning from them. Whether it’s engaging interviews with intelligent people, or introductions to new music and new artists, I get so much out of the station. And I’m proud to be a member. All members get treated equally no matter how small your donation, and I know that any amount helps them stay excellent.
The XPoNential Music Festival in Wiggins Park, Camden this year was outstanding. Who would’ve known Camden was nice? And the artists appreciated being there and all thanked XPN for playing their songs when no one else did.
There is one small downside that I am able to overlook, but which annoy my boyfriend incessantly. Those the fund drives. I understand the need for them, and they are what spurred me to become a member, but they do get old quick. Problem is that XPN is smart and plays their best music during the drives. I keep it on, tune out the talk (I’m used to that from listening to crappy stations my whole life), and rock out. Nothing but love for you, XPN.

WXPN is a good station, but I liked them much more when they relied on school kids for on-​air talent in the mid to late 1980s. The format was raw and anything could happen… and usually did. The play list (there was no play list) was eclectic. Frank Sinatra could be followed by Frank Zappa. Lots of flubs and interesting pronunciations of names of local streets and locales by obviously own-​of-​town student deejays, hopefully on their way to broadcasting careers of some kind, but probably not ones in front of the mic.
Today, it’s kind of like top 40 Alternative Radio during the morning and evening drives. When they feature an artist, they often play one track to death.
I wish the station would can Michaela Majoun, the morning deejay, or encourage her to move on. She is still on the same kind of narcissistic kick since she started there TWENTY-​ONE YEARS AGO (!!!). I suppose I will never forgive her for playing Steely Dan’s «Daddy Doesn’t Live In New York City No More» the morning after ⁹⁄₁₁. Classy, Michaela. Three thousand dead New Yorkers and you make a stupid joke about it. I know she is not an idiot, so I guess that means she is just a thoughtless jerk.
Thank God for David Dye, Dan Reed, and Helen Leight, my favorites. David is an encyclopedia of music. Helen has been one of my favorites going back to the 1970s when she was at the old WMMR in their golden era. Dan has this very cool in-​depth knowledgeable and laid-​back approach to music. In addition, he has a great rapport with the very funny, dry, and sharp lady who does traffic reports, Lauren Valley. They play off each other so well, it’s almost like Kate and Spence… almost like they have a kind of on-​air mid-​life platonic-​romance thing going.
Also love their Saturday and Sunday morning shows, Sleepy Hollow, where the format is quiet and eclectic and romantic and fun.

I can’t say enough good things about WXPN. I’ll try to keep this short and sweet and to the point:
After listening to XPN, I’ll never go back to commercial radio. Tacky DJs, tacky advertising, hearing the same 5 songs over and over? Ugh who are they catering to here? XPN is dedicated to their audience — providing quality programming that is diverse and exciting. XPN is also dedicated to highlighting new music (and local music) — which is HUGE.
The on-​air personalities are great, play great music (I may not always share their taste, but I can still appreciate it) and make it known how much they care about music! It will sound corny, but I’ll say it anyway — I feel a kinship with these people.
All of the events are fabulous — XPN Free At Noon, XPN presents at various venues in the area, the summer festival …
Just when you think it can’t get any better, become a member. If you don’t already know, a high percentage of their operating budget comes from members and donations — which is kind of incredible. Besides knowing that you are supporting this wonderful thing, members get tons of perks too. (Movie tickets, first dibs on Free At Noon reservations, and so on.)
When I love something, I try to find my way to get involved — that’s just my style. After volunteering with WXPN I love it even more. They are a tightly run ship over there, and with lots of volunteering under my belt I appreciate that.
Thanks for being the BEST, WXPN!

Been a listener since 2006. They’re hit and miss nowadays, though.

Best source of music in Philadelphia.

I think calling WXPN a college station is a misnomer. It is a station for 40 – 60 yr olds that historically has skewed from pop music/​Top 40. I listened to it when I was at Penn and it wasn’t really college music even then. It seems like the music has barely changed from then (some 20 years later). The World Café still features some of the same artists, and if not the same, at least very similar. XPN seems stuck in time.
That said, I do like a lot of the music, a mix of blues, folk, vocalists, indie-​adult contemporary. Just kind of sad that Penn’s college station doesn’t represent the musical tastes of its students (for the most part).

Probably the best radio station in the area. They do offer a variety of music, like Blues night on Saturdays. And funky Friday is another time they focus on one genre of music. Although, I am no fan of funky Friday.
But, they tend a little towards not taking a lot of risks with the music during the week. They used to play more stuff you could not find anywhere else.
Now they are kind of stuck in a funk with AOR.
They are a public radio station for be ready for lots of funding drives.

Listened to XPN alot growing up and in college. Nowadays it just doesn’t cut it for me, but for a college station it’s pretty well run.
For real.

Hands down the best radio station in Philadelphia. Don’t miss ‘World Café’, Funky Fridays, Free at Noon concerts, or the yearly summer XPoNential music festival (this year was amazing).
The music is mostly diverse, the station is commercial free and listener supported.
Also check out their World Café Live concert venue, and restaurant.

This five star update is dedicated to XPN Free at Noon. I mean how in the hell can you go wrong with a radio station that hooks up your easily acquired chance to hit up a live recording for free every week? I certainly couldn’t go wrong with it when I saw the Meat Puppets a week ago!
It’s been going on for 5 years and it has managed to bring in a lot of big time acts. other than the Meat Puppets they have recently bought in acts like Peter, Bjorn, & John, White Rabbits, and They Might Be Giants! For free and recorded live! So the next time you find that your going to be free on a Friday afternoon you best jump on
.
I’m also going to give a shout out to my friend Andre who hooks up Y-​Rock on WXPN with some awesome music every week!