UD professor’s musical passion leads to podcasting, television

Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Art Jipson, associate professor of sociology at the University of Dayton, is passionate about local music. His enthusiasm is palpable to regular listeners of his weekly radio show, “Your Tuesday Afternoon Alternative,” from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on WUDR-FM (98.1/99.5). This year, that devotion expanded to include a new podcast and a television project.

In late January, Jipson launched the podcast, “Uncool Music Conversations with Andy and Art.” His co-host is Andy Hunt, a UD graduate and former WUDR DJ currently working on his Ph.D at Ohio University.

“It’s two nerdy music fans who are radio DJs who also write about music professionally and academically,” Jipson said. “We wanted to create a podcast that’s interesting and fun and exposes people to great local music, but also good music that goes under the radar. The mission is to talk about music and show our passion for it.”

Some episodes feature in-depth talks between the cohosts and others are interviews with guests like singer-songwriter Amber Hargett. Recent topics include controversies and music scenes.

“Maybe our passion will encourage people to listen to more great music or go out and support those bands,” Jipson said. “Hopefully, they’ll buy a cool T-shirt, a CD or music download. Streaming is great but we encourage people to move past it and buy music to support those musicians. It is critically important because the revenue most artists make on streams can be so low.”

Jipson, also known as Dr. J, recently became on-air host of DATV’s long-running monthly program, “Dayton Music Scene.”

“I have real difficulty saying no but all these projects are related,” he said. “It’s all an effort to find different channels so people can experience great local music. It’s another outlet for this same musical mission. I felt like if I’d feel bad if I didn’t at least try the TV show.”

Recent guests include Shannon Clark & the Sugar, Toxic Nobility, Oh Condor and Nick Kizirnis.

“It’s all volunteer and the crew are great,” Jipson said. “I’m the third host but they’ve been doing this show since 2016. It’s probably going to be a lot more work than I expected but the whole team has embraced me. They’re very kind. There was no concern that I’d help coordinate, produce and help book bands. We pretty much have the full year booked. We’ve got everything from hard rock to singer-songwriters to folk to country to alternative. It’s really important to showcase that diversity, which is one of the strengths of Dayton.”

More info: anchor.fm/uncool-music-conversations, www.wudrflyerradio.com, datv.org.

Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.

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