LEGENDARY RADIO COMEDY SHOWS RETURN TO THE AIR AFTER FORTY
YEARS WITH "THE FIRESIGN THEATRE RADIO HOUR" ON WFMU

LOS ANGELES -- Perennial and venerated surrealist comedy
group The Firesign Theatre, together since 1966 and still
touring, are about to have some of their most beloved radio
history recycled by freeform broadcaster WFMU (www.wfmu.org)

The New Jersey-based FM station and web-streamer, a haven
for music lovers and champions of the eccentric, eclectic,
and ephemeral, will be rebroadcasting sixteen hours of the
Firesign Theatre's radio work from 1970-1972, the years when
the group were performing their notorious Los Angeles radio
series The Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour, Dear Friends,
and Let's Eat.

WFMU will broadcast and stream "The Firesign Theatre Radio Hour"
Tuesday nights from 7pm-8pm, beginning June 15 and continuing
through the end of September.

The Firesign Theatre -- Philip Austin, Peter Bergman, David
Ossman, and Philip Proctor -- first hosted their own radio
series after the last run of the groundbreaking show Radio
Free Oz, hosted by Peter Bergman and various members of
Firesign between 1966 and 1969 on KFPK, KRLA, and KMET in
Los Angeles.

The Firesign's first self-hosted radio series was The Firesign
Theatre Radio Hour Hour, a two-hour weekly show that aired
Sunday nights on KPPC-FM, Pasadena, from January to July 1970.
Between September 1970 and February 1971, Firesign hosted the
weekly series Dear Friends on KPFK-FM, Los Angeles. Their last
self-hosted radio series on terrestrial FM was Let's Eat, broadcast
weekly on KPFK between November 1971 and February 1972, plus the
90-minute series finale Martian Space Party in March 1972.

Firesign's riff-based radio work was almost completely improvised,
and incorporated found texts, short scripts, and random music and
sound effects flown into the mix by their engineer The Live Earl Jive.

Firesign syndicated twelve episodes of Dear Friends and ten programs
of Let's Eat to underground stations across the U.S. in the 1970s
on LPs and open reels, which are today the rarest and most
collectible artifacts in Firesign's discography.

The material set for broadcast on WFMU, which all dates from 1970-
1972, has been extensively restored and remastered from the best
available sources.

Short clips from Firesign's Dear Friends radio series ended up
on a double-LP of the same name released by Columbia Records in
1972, and gave the language such indelible phrases as "Like worms
out of a hot cheese log", "I was a cockteaser at Roosterama", and
"Deputy Dan has no friends".

Select episodes of Radio Hour Hour and Dear Friends are currently
available for download from iTunes. More vintage programs will be
added on an ongoing basis.

A comprehensive reissue package of the complete broadcast history
of Firesign Theatre 1970-1972 is currently in production, with a
projected late Summer 2010 release.

This year, Peter Bergman resuscitated Radio Free Oz as a four-day-
a-week webcast, streamable from www.radiofreeoz.com.  The show is
co-hosted by David Ossman and features regular contributions from
Phil Austin and Phil Proctor.

The Firesign Theatre will be performing a series of live shows in
Portland, Eugene, Ashland, and Redding later this month, with
additional dates planned for Santa Barbara, Monterey, Marin County
and Hollywood's Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in late October.

For further details, visit the Firesign Theatre website at
www.firesigntheatrelegacy.com, or connect with the group at "It's Just
This Little Chromium Switch Here" on Facebook.  Be there or be square!

Hi-res promotional photos available at
www.firesigntheatrelegacy.com/pressrel/ 

Are you a machine that only answers no?
  -- Firesign Theatre