35000 Watts: The Podcast

We're talking a little bit of politics as we visit July of 1989, with the overly political commentary of Matt Johnson's The The and something much more abstract from The B-52s. Of course, it wouldn't be summer without a love song and Heaven 17 is happy to oblige with a classic from 1982.

It's the summer of 1989, and MTV's 120 Minutes was showcasing the latest from Morrissey and Bob Mould as they embarked on solo careers, while also taking a trip back to 1982 to feature a classic song from a "one-hit wonder"...but surprise! This song wasn't their hit.

The journey through the first decade of MTV's 120 Minutes continues as we take a look at May 1989. We rediscover one of our favorite videos of all-time with Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love , have some fairly serious disagreements about The Cult's Fire Woman and learn about a college radio icon that we all kind of missed, Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians . Plus a mystery song that might be one of ou...

On this episode, we talk about a UK band's lesser-known catalog and two American bands that helped define the sound of college radio and indie rock in the 1980s (and beyond).

On Sept. 24 2026, KSSU at Sacramento State University will celebrate its 35th anniversary, so we chatted with the co-founders of the station, Jim Bolt and Chris Prosio, to find out how two college students were able to get a brand-new college radio station off the ground.

In this episode, we revisit songs that fall into "possibly our favorite song of the 1980s" category...but we don't necessarily agree on which ones.

In this episode, we dive in to a 120 Minutes world premiere video that would go on to become a massive hit, along with a surprise twist from an influential band and blast of saxophone "madness".

We're continuing our journey through MTV's 120 Minutes by kicking off 1989 with a smash hit, an underground favorite and a lesser-known track from a trio of college radio favorites.

We wrap up 1988 with an all-time classic Christmas song and a couple of lesser-known artists who briefly found a bit of fame on 120 Minutes.

In this episode, we explore a soon-to-be breakout hit from a Dallas band, a UK #1 that is more performance art than song and an all-time classic from an iconic goth(?) band.

If you listened to a college radio station in the late 1980s, you probably heard at least one of these songs every day. Tune-in as we talk about three bands that helped define college radio and alternative music.

In this episode, we're diving into two of the most influential bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s - Pere Ubu and Joy Division. We're also dipping our toes into some 70s funk with an 80s twist: a cover of Get Down Tonight by Shriekback.

Our exploration of MTV's 120 Minutes continues into the dog days of 1988, featuring a pioneer of electro-pop, an all-time college radio icon and one of our favorite bands of decade.

In July of 1988, 120 Minutes served up a couple of American rock bands with classic videos and one Icelandic pop song with a bit of a dark story hidden in the lyrics.

Buckle up and get ready for possible whiplash as we run the gamut from quiet, contemplative folk to heavy-duty industrial, plus a fun video from an excellent mystery artist.

An eclectic mix of styles from our three choices this week, plus one of the most unlikely mystery bands of all-time just happens to be our mystery video for the month.

Our regular picks are all solid songs, don't get us wrong. But we'd be lying if we said the mystery song wasn't the star of the show this time around. You are definitely going to want to check this one out!

In this episode, we look at some lesser-known artists played on 120 Minutes in March of 1988, including our first "repeat offender". Will Keith be able to bring Scott and Michael over to his side? Tune in to find out!

In this episode, we dip our toes into the playlists of February 1988, where we find one of the architects of "shoegaze", a goth powerhouse and an early '80s classic one-hit wonder.

In this episode, we kick off our tour through 120 Minute's 1988 playlists, starting in January with three amazing artists who each represent a completely different genre of music.

We finish off 1987 with a couple of big name artists in Violent Femmes and The Smiths, along with a track from the unexpected later stage of Wire's excellent catalog.

This episode features a fun mix of styles, from the punk-meets-funk vibe of Fishbone, to the acapella stylings of The Housemartins and finally the lush electro-rock of Depeche Mode...plus a mystery song that you'll just have to hear for yourself.

Host Lisa chats with WUNH-FM alumni Ray Fournier about his time in college radio.

In this episode, we lean away from the more iconic artists on the 120 Minutes playlist and instead land on a couple contenders for "one-hit wonder" status and an influential band who never hit the heights that some of those that borrowed from them did.

Our interview series continues with a conversation between our host, Lisa and Charles Driebe, an alumni of the venerable WTUL-FM 91.5 in New Orleans.