ABOUT

The News Blimp was a syndicated radio news feature created in the 1970s as the emerging free-form FM radio format pushed aside stuffy classical music stations.  This was the time of George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say on TV”.  So the young hippie-types programming these rock stations bumped up against the Federal Communications Commission.

Wielding the power to revoke operating licenses and shut down broadcasters, the FCC dictated not only what COULDN’T be said on the radio, but also what HAD to be said, that included a percentage of airtime for news and public affairs.  All radio and TV stations had government licenses to operate “in the public interest.”

In that era, radio news as heard on the dominant AM dial, was an hourly cutaway to a station’s “news director,” who typically read tele-typed reports from the major press agencies along with local sports news, all produced with the reverb level set on overdose — the antithesis of cool FM radio.

A pair of radio rebels (see Interview With Our Founder) developed a new way to make the news interesting for rock radio listeners.  They interviewed experts on then-outsider topics like the environment, the underground economy, and home computers.  They mixed those interviews with snippets of popular songs and contemporary comedy to create densely produced, short, informative and entertaining audio features that met the FCC’s news and public affairs requirement.  

The Progressive Radio Network was born.

The News Blimps from the Progressive Radio Network were written and produced by a cadre of producers, writers, journalists, and music lovers working within a nondescript outdoor lighting factory in the South Bronx while the borough was being consumed by arson.  Outside producers from across the country would also contribute regularly. 

This website contains dozens of News Blimps — unheard for nearly half a century.  We hope you enjoy “news you can dance to.”

— Ben Manilla and James Wynbrandt

January 2021