John Schaefer

The World Cup finals are on Sunday. Spain will face the Netherlands. But do you care? If you’ve gotten wrapped up in World Cup fever this year, call us up and tell us why. Or if the vuvuzelas, crowded bars, and distracted co-workers are driving you nuts, tell us why you can’t get into it. Call and make your case for why it’s worth getting in to World Cup soccer, or for why you should avoid the whole production all together.

Plus, soccer fan, youth soccer coach, and host of WNYC's Soundcheck and New Sounds, John Schaefer, talks about why some people get into soccer and others don't. 

The year's only half over but the cream is already rising to the top.

A type of friendly-sounding Mexican dance music could be criminal, and is definitely deadly.

Think the blues are dead?  You may not be looking in the right place.

Musing on 100 years of classical music - about soccer. 

Both sides of the argument are right - where does that leave us? 

Let's not admit that Ghana's music is great until after Saturday's game.

John Schaefer, host of WNYC's Soundcheck, New Sounds, and a soccer fanatic, discusses the just-concluded US soccer game, where Landon Donovan's last-minute goal sent the US through to the knockout round.

John Schaefer likes the sound of this first-ever African World Cup

What's a record?  A question of authenticity vs artifice...

Sometimes a recording is more than just a document of a band's sound. 

OK, she's a computer, but is composer Emily Howell really all that different? 

WSM reached millions of Americans. John Schaefer was not one of them.

John Schaefer on what the world really needs: more soccer and more music.

Yeah, the show's over - but we're not done yet.

Robert Johnson: a deal with the devil or a mistake in the control room?

Why The Roots are the best thing on the late night talk shows.

We’ve done this annually on Soundcheck – offering a list of likely pop hits that seem to have been issued for the sole purpose of vying for the unofficial title of Song Of The Summer.