Origins

Free form's roots developed in both commercial and noncommercial settings. During the mid-196os, noncommercial community stations were developing across the country, following the lead established by Pacifica stations in California, New York, and Texas. These stations depended heavily on low-paid (often volunteer) programmers whose anti-establishment agendas rejected the tight structure of most corporate, commercial media. At the same time, commercial FM was still in its infancy, and disc jockeys were encouraged to experiment with longer segments and album cuts. Free form developed amidst these experimental venues, catching on quickly among community stations and some commercial FM stations-albeit late at night and on weekends.

Free form most likely originated at WBAI in New York City around 1963-64, with three different deejays: Bop Fass (Radio Unnameable), Larry Josephson (In the Beginning), and the following year with Steve Post's the Outside. Soon, it spread to other stations, notably Pacifica stations KPFA in Berkeley and KPFK in Los Angeles, and privately owned KMPX in San Francisco. KMPX's general manager, Tom Donahue, is often credited as being the driving force behind the "underground radio" movement. Although he did not invent free form, Donahue nurtured it and allowed it to grow from a program shift to an entire format (although anti-format might be a better term).

Style

Free-form programmers featured everything from cutting-edge musicians such as Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead to comedy routines from W.C. Fields and Jonathan Winters. Indian ragas and classical music were heard back to back. Shows started late and ran overtime. Guests wandered in and out of control rooms, sometimes speaking on air, at other times just being part of the scene. Disc jockeys pontificated on the day's topics, their delivery styles ranging from chats with listeners and studio guests to rambling, witty monologues-often within the same program. Interviews and announcements regarding the counterculture and antiwar protests peppered broadcasts increasingly as the 1960s wore on.

Free form's deliberately anarchistic and undisciplined sound was, in effect, a form of participatory theater and gained a considerable following within the counterculture. Listeners called in to programs and were often heard on the air, rallies were announced (and broadcast), and listeners met at live remotes and events sponsored by stations (such as WBAI's 1967 "fly in" at Kennedy Airport, organized by WBAI free-form host Bob Foss).

Challenges to Free Form

The popularity of free form reached its peak between 1965 and 1970 and ultimately waned for three primary reasons. Ironically, once established through the success of free form, commercial FM became bound by the same tight formats that defined AM. Also, leaders among free-form disc jockeys, notably WBAI's Larry Josephson, grew weary of underground radio and moved on to other pastures. And the counterculture movement that nurtured free form eventually evolved beyond its communal sentiments. As the movement splintered into subgroups focusing upon sexuality, gender, race, and ethnicity, free form gave way to specialty shows on community radio and to the newer, more professional "public" stations affiliated with National Public Radio (NPR).

The 1980s were particularly difficult for free form, as community stations and NPR affiliates began programming more syndicated programming and professionalizing their sound, especially following NPR's near bankruptcy in 1983. Severe internal battles over station control were sometimes waged, with the fate of free form hanging in the balance. Proponents argued that free form was a unique means of expression that the new professionals simply failed to understand. The latter charged that free form's time had passed and that free form appealed to only a tiny fraction of the potential market. Despite such challenges, free form continued to survive at some stations, albeit most often during the late-night hours where it had originally developed.

Contemporary Free Form

Among the community stations and a dwindling number of public stations that still program it, free form has taken on an air of sanctity, hearkening back to the good old days when community radio was central to the underground movement. Yet without a symbiotic cultural context to fuel and inform it, contemporary free form lacks the immediacy and connection with the public that it once held. As such, free form has become a much more personal medium among disc jockeys, and a successful program is one that has smoothly combined a wide variation of sounds reflective of the programmer's moods and inclinations at the moment. Whereas 1960s free form was jarring and often disturbing in its quirky juxtapositions, contemporary free form is more often about flow and seamless segues.

Besides community and public radio stations, most college radio stations also program free-form music to some extent, although the preferred term is "alternative radio." College radio programmers, however, typically lack a historical awareness of free form and have little concept of its cultural implications. Also, college radio's alternative programming is rarely as diverse as free form heard on community and public stations.

Free form's most recent manifestation is on the internet. Community, public, and college stations increasingly broadcast via the web, and some internet-only stations-often the efforts of individuals working from home-advertise themselves as free-form radio. The internet is also an important meeting place for free form enthusiasts, whose web pages and chat groups provide means of sharing information and ideas.