Irwin Chusid

Irwin Chusid (born 22 April 1951, Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality and self-described "landmark preservationist." His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history that I know don't belong there and salvage them." Those "things" have included such previously overlooked but now-celebrated icons as composer/bandleader/electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, Space Age Pop avatar Esquivel, illustrator/fine artist Jim Flora, various outsider musicians, and The Langley Schools Music Project.

Since 1975, Chusid has been a DJ on free-form radio station WFMU, where he continues to host an unpredictable and idiosyncratic weekly program. Prior to that, he worked briefly at WPKN radio while a student at the University of Bridgeport. In 1988, he served as a comedy writer for author/humorist Tom Bodett's syndicated radio series, The End of the Road.

His journalism has appeared in Mojo, The New York Times, Film Comment, Mix magazine, New York Press, Pulse and other publications.

In the late 1970s, Chusid was one of the first DJs to regularly air recordings of Jandek, The Shaggs, Lucia Pamela, and R. Stevie Moore on the radio. In the early 1980s he programmed a weekly segment entitled The Atrocious Music Hour, which featured recordings from such non-musical celebrities as William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. This sub-genre was eventually chronicled by Rhino Records on their Golden Throats series of albums, for which Chusid authored liner notes. These compilations contributed to Shatner's revived celebrity, albeit with overtones of self-parody.

Between 1997-2002 Chusid was the co-host (with Michelle Boulé) of the Incorrect Music Hour on WFMU. From 2005 to 2007 he programed 72 hours of vintage Calypso, Soca and Mento on a feature entitled Muriel's Treasure.

In 2004 Chusid curated Interesting Results for UK's Sonic Arts Network, a CD-publication of DIY music with cut-out figures of the featured artists.

He has lived in Hoboken, New Jersey since 1992.