Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
The Gazette is starting a weekly feature where we post a show from the student radio station WSRN. The shows are picked by the WSRN Board. You can find podcasts of all the student shows on WSRN’s site, or listen live online or on 91.5 FM.
Strokin’, named after a song by Clarence Carter, is a show by Andy Forrest ’12 and Michael Gluk ’12. They play “mostly funk, soul and r & b from the last 20-25 years or so,” according to WSRN General Manager Matthew Shen Goodman ’11. Forrest had this to say about how he got into the genres he plays on this show:
I first got into funk, soul, and r&b my senior year of high school and started listening to some of the more popular artists from the ’70s like Curtis Mayfield, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Parliament. At some point I started listening to Zapp, a popular electro-funk band from the ’80s. I became increasingly interested in the electro-funk of the ’80s because I was fascinated with the way that synthesizers and other electronic instruments began replacing the horn sections that were so common in the ’70s.
Last semester Dan Symonds (Co-Head of WSRN) asked me if I wanted to be a co-director of the funk/soul/blues department. I was happy to accept the position and had the goal of expanding the funk/soul/r&b library to include more ’80s electro-funk. This semester I hope to explore some other styles, particularly New Jack Swing. The most recent episode of my show with Michael Gluk ’12 features some of my favorites of the New Jack Swing style, which became popular in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
You can also download the mp3.
