John Schaefer

When the first issue of SPIN came out in 1985, I was one of the magazine’s editors. The decision to put Madonna on the first cover was not mine, but I agreed with it – she was already a major player, and threatened to become “important.” Which she did. There’ve ...

When Greil Marcus first published his landmark book Mystery Train in 1975, American culture was something you could talk about as a single thing. We all watched the same menu of TV shows, and pop music was truly popular –- it seemed like everyone knew the words to “American Pie,” ...

Actually, only one type of TV theme song has really disappeared: The “explainer,” where the lyrics set up the story. Classic example: Gilligan’s Island (“just sit right back and you’ll hear the tale, the tale of a fateful trip…”). Some kids’ shows, like "Hannah Montana," still have something like ...

If I were running the Clinton or Obama campaigns, and had to pick a song that echoed the image each of them is trying to project, I’d tell Hillary to reclaim Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” from the Republicans who tried to co-opt it (against Petty’s wishes, apparently). ...

What is going on over in Williamsbeard? I mean Williamsburg. All these indie-rockers with their sudden facial hair… I’ve never seen myself as a bearded type, though I’ve idly wondered what it would be like. But unlike the hair on the top of my head, the hair on the bottom ...

When I started commuting to Manhattan to go to high school, I began to see my Queens neighborhood as sleepy, remote, and boring. That was (I hoped) not me, and not who I wanted to be. When I discovered this new style of music they were starting to call punk ...

The festival is all about live music, so here are some impressions of the live music I've seen:

Tuesday night. The opening party for the Music Festival is also the closing party for the Film Festival. It's at Stubb's.

Addictive TV is a ...

Leonard celebrates his 23rd anniversary here at WNYC! Two other longtime WNYC voices, Steve Post and John Schaefer, join Leonard to talk about life at the station over the years.

Weigh in: Tell us your favorite memories of the Leonard Lopate Show from over the years. Do you have a ...

The New York Philharmonic performed an historic concert in the East Pyongyang Grand Theater. WNYC's John Schaefer was part of the orchestra's entourage, and he hosted the concert broadcast. Now, Schaefer's baaaack. Don't miss what he had to say about the trip to North ...

Lorin Maazel, the music director of the New York Philharmonic, and John Schaefer , the host of WNYC's Sound Check and New Sounds, talk about the New York Philharmonic's trip to North Korea.

On WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show, Lorin Maazel, the music director of the New York Philharmonic, and John Schaefer , the host of WNYC's Soundcheck and New Sounds, debrief after the New...

Our North Korean handlers have been going crazy trying to maintain some semblance of order among the unruly mob that is the international press. But it turns out they will have the last laugh. At 7 am, room phones start to ring. Please pay your room and phone/internet charges between ...

So, after all this, what about the concert itself? Well, you can presumably hear it by clicking on the link to our broadcast of it elsewhere on this website (ed.'s note: our broadcast window has expired. Check the New York Philharmonic's site, which has full online audio/video of the event: ...

Day 2 starts just a few hours after a frustrating day 1 ends. Upon waking, no tech fairies have appeared to magically make connections work, though Larry Rock has been making reassuring noises in his emails to NY, which I'm cc'd on. The banquet room has been set up for ...

I don't know what I really expected from North Korea - I pictured it as a steely, grey, cold place: a bleak, barren land with people moving around in a combination of militaristic precision and cult-induced narcosis.
So when we flew in over a bleak, barren landscape with almost ...

Korean American listeners and Charles Armstrong, associate professor of history and director of the Center for Korean Research at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), weigh in on the Philharmonic's trip to North Korea. John Schaefer, host of WNYC's Soundcheck, calls in from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, ...

The New York Philharmonic arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea yesterday and it is making finnal preparations for its landmark concert tomorrow night. Soundcheck host John Schaefer is there and he joins us with his initial impressions.

Under other circumstances, the New York Philharmonic's performance here tonight might be a story unto itself. But with the orchestra leaving tomorrow morning, with its press corps in tow, for the history-making concert in North Korea, tonight is simply a prelude to the main event.