Daniel Schwartz

I love radio! I’ve been a devoted radio listener since I was 8 and my father and I built a crystal radio for my bedroom back in Chicago. It had a twenty-foot antenna stretched up the walls and across the ceiling, and it rocked…

Growing up in Chicago, I was privileged to be exposed to a wide variety of music at an early age, thanks to a musically curious family and great Chicago radio. Some concerts that changed me forever: The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Elvin Jones (The Brown Shoe!), Pharoah Sanders, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (1969, Ravinia!), Mahavishnu Orchestra (1972, Northwestern U!), Oregon, Weather Report, Sun Ra and his Arkestra (Halloween, 1982, Philadelphia!), Talking Heads (1980, Cherry Hill NJ!), Codona, Peter Gabriel…Ok, I’ll stop now. And there were certainly many great concerts that I can’t quite remember, well, you know why.

I became a big fan of college and alternative radio and hosted regular shows on WXPN, University of Pennsylvania’s radio station in Philadelphia (anybody remember Diaspar and Star’s End?). After a hiatus involving a 30-year career as a scientist, I decided it was time to get back into radio and what better place than KSFR?

The Magpie specializes in music that defies genre, the stuff that music retailers can’t figure out how to market. Eclecticism, virtuosity, sincerity, vision, and depth are the hallmarks of the music I love and share with my listeners. Oh yeah, and rhythm, lots of rhythm.

email: dschwartz@ksfr.org