The Vapors
Martha & the Muffins
Gary Numan
Thirsty Ear Live Radio Concert
air dates October 9th through 12th, 1980
The Vapors recorded in New York City
Martha & the Muffins records in Toronto
Gary Numan recorded in London
We don't know the original recording dates, and the air dates are spread over several days.
01 Announcer - Thirsty Ear Intro
02 Commercial - Dannon Yogurt
03 The Vapors - Somehow
04 The Vapors - Prisoners
05 The Vapors - Bunkers
06 The Vapors - News At Ten
07 Commercial - Dannon Yogurt
08 The Vapors - Waiting For The Weekend
09 The Vapors - Spring Collection
10 The Vapors - Turning Japanese
11 Commercial - Dannon Yogurt
12 Martha & the Muffins - About Insomnia
13 Martha & the Muffins - Echo Beach
14 Martha & the Muffins - Saigon
15 Commercial - Dannon Yogurt
16 Gary Numan - Me! I Disconnect From You
17 Gary Numan - Cars
18 Gary Numan - Remember I Was Vapour
19 Announcer - Thirsty Ear Outro
Here's the second half of that double-header I promised you!
Thirsty Ear was founded in 1977 by Peter Gordon as a company to market alternative music. He signed on 18 college radio stations in the northeast to carry one hour shows with a mix of live concerts interspersed with short interview segments. By 1980, he was distributing reels to 75 stations, and it was time to go national and move out of college radio. Dannon Yogurt agreed to sponsor the show.
There’s very little information available about the show. The initial list of 18 stations for the first broadcasts in 1977 was:
WFMU Upsala College (East Orange, New Jersey)
WRSU Rutgers University (New Jersey
WTSR Trenton State (New Jersey)
WAER Syracuse University (New York)
WRUR Univ. of Rochester (New York)
WHRW State Univ. of New York at Binghampton (New York)
WBFO State Univ of New York at Buffalo (New York)
WFHC Hofstra University (New York)
WRUV University of Vermont at Burlington (Vermont)
WMUA University of Massachusetts Amherst (Massachusetts)
WICH Wooster (Massachusetts)
WJUL Lowell Tech (Massachusetts)
WBUR Boston University (Massachusetts)
WTCC Springfield Tech (Massachusetts)
WUNH University of New Hampshire at Durham (New Hampshire)
WMEV University of Maine at Orino (Maine)
WPKN University of Bridgeport (Connecticut)
WNHU University of New Haven (Connecticutt)
College radio stations were low powered, with limited reception. College radio usually had a class D licenses for ten-watt radio stations. The broadcast range would be about five to seven miles around the antenna. The limited number of stations means there’s very few original reels, and the audience recording shows off the air was small. Currently on Guitars101 and SugarMegs, there’s only the Talking Heads Thirsty Ear show circulating.
I did searches on Billboard and on newspapers.com, and came up with a list of some of the shows that were broadcast.
Thirsty Ear College Radio Shows:
1977-04-xx Dean Friedman, My Father's Place
1977-09-16 Pat Metheny
1979-11-17 Talking Heads
1977-12-01 Horslips
1978-01-22 (air date) Graham Parker Palladium recorded 1977-10-22, six tracks, all same as the KBFH tracks, plus interviews
1978-04-16 Robin Williamson and his Merry Band
1978-12-07 Townes Van Zant Boston College, John Lee Hooker
1978-12-15 Albert King, John Lee Hooker
1979-xx-xx Gove Scrivenor, live from the Exit/In
Nationally syndicated shows sponsored by Dannon:
1980-09-13 Jackson Browne, John Hall, Bonnie Rait, and Graham Nash
1980-10-11 David Bowie Special (interview)
1980-10-11 Vapors, Gary Numan
1980-10-18 Bruce Cockburn
1980-10-25 Polyrock
1980-10-26 Joe Jackson
1980-11-08 Johnny van Zant, The Kinds
1980-11-22 George Thorogood
1980-12-11 to 13 Ziggarut
1980-12-21 Billy Joel
1980-12-xx Son of Stiff Radio Tour '80 Any Trouble, Dirty Looks, Joe "King" Carrasco, Equators, Ten Pole Tudor
I found references to other possible Thirsty Ear shows…which may be either college or national as there are no dates associated with them:
Andy Pratt
Angel City
Daryl Hall
Dixie Dregs
Fandango
Happy Traum
Joe Jackson
Larry Gatlin
Police
Spyro Gyra
I couldn’t find any live shows past 1980…but Thirsty Ear continued to produce radio specials and those may have had exclusive live content.
The company became a record label in 1990, and also managed 2.13.61, the label owned by Henry Rollins. As a record label, they continue to issue records, primarily jazz records, until this day.
This transfer was direct from the radio station reel, and provided to us courtesy of our pal, Sam Eliot’s Mustache.