John Schaefer has hosted Soundcheck since the show’s inception in 2002. He has also hosted and produced WNYC’s radio series New Sounds since 1982 (“The No. 1 radio show for the Global Village” – Billboard) and the New Sounds Live concert series since 1986.
Schaefer has written extensively about music, including the book New Sounds: A Listener’s Guide to New Music (Harper & Row, NY, 1987; Virgin Books, London, 1990); The Cambridge Companion to Singing: World Music (Cambridge University Press, U.K., 2000); and the TV program Bravo Profile: Bobby McFerrin (Bravo Television, 2003). He was contributing editor for Spin and Ear magazines, and his liner notes appear on more than 100 recordings, ranging from “The Music of Cambodia” to recordings by Yo-Yo Ma and Terry Riley.
In 2003, Schaefer was honored with the American Music Center's prestigious Letter of Distinction for his "substantial contributions to advancing the field of contemporary American music in the United States and abroad." In May 2006, New York magazine cited Schaefer as one of "the people whose ideas, power, and sheer will are changing New York" in its Influentials issue. He began blogging for WNYC when accompanying the New York Philharmonic on its historic (and apparently very weird) trip to North Korea in 2008 and continues to blog at soundcheck.org.
He is a regular contributor to the World Science Festival and the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center; he has also written about horse racing (Bloodlines: A Horse Racing Anthology, Vintage NY 2006) and was a regular panelist on the BBC’s soccer-based program Sports World.
Shows:
John Schaefer appears in the following:
River Whyless Gathers Many Musical Tributaries
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Bing & Ruth's Family Reunion for Cult-Classic 'City Lake'
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Weekly Music Roundup: Darker & Dirtier
Monday, September 26, 2016
Nada Surf Swells Its Sound
Monday, September 26, 2016
Dar Williams, As Cool As She's Always Been
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Weekly Music Roundup: Postcards From Home, Here, and the Hereafter
Monday, September 19, 2016
Bear's Den: Americana from Britannia
Monday, September 19, 2016
Cymbals Eat Guitars Has a 'Pretty Year'
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Sounds and Rituals of Mourning Take over the Park Avenue Armory
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Download: LPR Live Returns with Sarah Neufeld's 'The Ridge'
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Weekly Music Roundup: I Will Not Stop Singing (or Playing)
Monday, September 12, 2016
Parsonsfield: On Borders, Real and Imagined
Monday, September 12, 2016
Hockey Dad: Late Summer Jams from Down Under
Thursday, September 08, 2016
Fall Arts Preview: From Inuit Throat Singing to Bruce Springsteen
Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Weekly Music Roundup: Beautiful People
Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Music as Paint Colors: Making 'Swiss Army Man' Sing
Monday, September 05, 2016
El Perro del Mar: A Swedish Salty Dog Looks East
Thursday, September 01, 2016
