Michael Tearson
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Michael Tearson is an American pioneer underground DJ, concert and special appearance host, author, recording artist and actor. Inducted into the Hall of Fame, 2016, awarded by the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia.


Biography

During May, 1967, while home from his first year of college, Tearson went to the "15 Below Coffeehouse" to participate in the talent show. "15 Below Coffeehouse" was located in Timonium near the Maryland State Fair grounds. Before his performance, a very young
Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
, age 19, made her appearance, taking the audience by surprise with her amazing voice and talent. Not getting noticed for his own performance, Tearson realized that he needed to make a change in his goals. He befriended Emmylou Harris, beginning a lifelong friendship.Michael Tearson Interview about his Life
Retrieved 29 May 2011
Tearson was married in August, 1990. Lynne, "the love of my lifetime” Tearson said in 2015, was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer a year after they met, in January 1991, and died at home in 1995 at age 37. As someone who has "coped much of his life with depression nd whodoesn't believe anyone is really
happy Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...
" per the report, Tearson also said, “That first year together was by far the best year of my life, a rare stretch of intoxicating happy."


Education

Tearson obtained a bachelor's degree in political science in 1970 from the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
. As an undergraduate Tearson had his first appearance on the air with
WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format sh ...
from 1967 to 1970. This was the very first FM Rock shift on WXPN; the show was entitled "The Attic". In January 1970, Tearson joined WDAS-FM Hyski's Underground as overnighter. Tearson has been a longtime member of "Broadcast Pioneers", and he has been involved with
FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...
in the United States since its infancy.


1970 to early 1990s

In June 1970, WMMR hired Tearson as a Music Director and weekend disc jockey. Tearson then moved into the late night personality segment in September 1970 and became a popular on air voice until 1976, reviving 'The
Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi ( ; ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system. This ...
Experiment' that had been begun at the station by Dave Herman in 1968.Scanlon, John
"Michael Tearson: Music never stopped"
''
Courier-Post The ''Courier-Post'' is a morning daily newspaper that serves South Jersey in the Delaware Valley. It is based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and serves most of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties. The paper has 30,313 daily paid subscri ...
'' ( Cherry Hill, NJ), October 8, 2015. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
Tearson returned two years later to WMMR in 1978 to the 10PM to 2AM time period as “Michael Tearson”. His specialty shows including “Psychedelic Psupper”, “For Headphones Only”, “The Import Show”, "Import/Export” and “Gorilla Theatre”. Soon after leaving WMMR, in March 1992 Michael Tearson started an on-air show at WXPN in
Philadelphia Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, which included a free-form hour-long segment called “The Attic”.


Late 1990s to early 2000s

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was very diverse in his expertise as a DJ, working to develop special programs for
WMMR WMMR (93.3 FM, "93-3 WMMR") is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by the Beasley Broadcast Group through licensee Beasley Media Group, LLC and broadcasts an active rock radio format. ...
with the “A to Z” broadcast and also redeveloped WMMR's live concert library in the WMMarchives. Both programs are still very popular at the station. He was also involved with WXPN ''"Late Nights"'', which was a diverse and imaginative late-night mix of music. Michael Tearson's studio in his home is called “LynTown Sound”, named after his wife who died from breast cancer on May 10, 1995. The week she died Michael Tearson had an on-air interview scheduled with the band
Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George, bassist Roy Estrada (both formerly of the Mothers of Invention), keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward in ...
and against the advice of many of his friends, especially Carmen Borrelli, he went on to do the show on Sunday May 14, 1995, before they appeared at Penn's Landing, in Philadelphia. Tearson is good friends with Little Feat and mentions in an interview with Geosound that they helped him through that difficult time with losing his wife. From 1994 to 1996, Michael Tearson produced and voiced “The Wall” which was an in-store radio broadcast, at one of their record store chains. In April 2002,
WMGK WMGK (102.9 FM, "102-9 MGK") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group and broadcasts a classic rock radio format. The broadcast tower used by the station ...
approached Michael Tearson with an offer to produce a segment for Saturday mornings from 6AM-8AM; it was called “Saturday Morning 60s Show”. From 1999 to 2003, Michael Tearson was adventurous; he was called Michael "Mad Dog" Tearson for a column he wrote on pro wrestling, entitled “On The Mat” for the Philadelphia Daily News. Tearson also writes for two magazines:
Sing Out! ''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960. Background ''Sing O ...
, a folk song magazine, and The Audiophile Voice.


2000s

Tearson started at Sirius Radio (Sirius Folk Town) in July 2004-October 2005. He was also the main producer and voice of "The Bob Dylan Radio Hour" which aired twice on Sundays. Tearson moved to "Sirius Classic Vinyl", March 2006-November 2008 which he broadcast Monday through Friday in the afternoons.
Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merger ...
was also interested in Michael Tearson and picked him up to work on "Deep Tracks" in November 2008.


2010s and beyond

In July, 2011 Tearson released ''"Stuff That Works"'' which was a collaboration of friends that pulled together to create music that Michael Tearson called "A Philosophy". An interview by Jonathan Takiff from ''philly.com'' on August 24, 2011 captures the enthusiasm of this project that was a dream come true for Tearson. Tearson was also interviewed by Jim Six from South Jersey Newspapers. He tells Six “The ... CD 'Stuff That Works' is named after a Guy Clark song that isn't even on the album.” Tearson mentions all who contributed to the CD, which are
Tom Hampton Tom Hampton (born July 25, 1965 in Savannah, Tennessee) is a multi-instrumentalist, sideman, session musician and singer/songwriter. In April 2020, he joined the country-rock band Poco as guitarist and vocalist. Biography Tom Hampton (born July ...
,
Andy Kravitz Andy Kravitz is an American drummer and percussionist, audio engineer, record producer, and songwriter. He has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, winning several. He lives near Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California. Early life Andy Kravitz w ...
,
Fran Smith Jr. Fran Smith Jr. (born July 17, 1952) is an American bass guitarist and vocalist, best known for his 30-year gig with the Philadelphia-based rock group The Hooters. Smith has also maintained a career as a recording artist in his own right, as well ...
and
Rob Hyman Robert Andrew Hyman (born April 24, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player, producer, and arranger, best known for being a founding member of the rock band the Hooters. Early life Hyman started taking piano lesso ...
of
The Hooters The Hooters is an American rock music, rock band, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1980. They combine elements of rock, reggae, ska, and folk music. The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid-1980s du ...
, Ted Estersohn, Jay Davidson, Laine Walker Hughes and Lauren Hart. An appearance opening for
Chris Smither William Christopher Smither (born November 11, 1944) is an American folk/blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter. His music draws deeply from the blues, American folk music, and modern poets and philosophers. Early life, influences and educat ...
to support the ''Stuff'' album was to be the first time Tearson performed music in public since he sang and accompanied himself on the guitar at the Rathskeller at
Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...
in 1971. On October 09, 2011, Kevin Riordan of the Inquirer writes about Tearson's ''Stuff That Works'' CD release. He interviewed Michael at his home studio, discussing the songs that are on the CD. Michael had said "The best compliment I've gotten about my album, is that different people pick wildly different songs as their favorite." Since April 2002, Tearson produced the weekly 1960s-themed morning show for WMGK, using his expertise and knowledge of
pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
,
psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...
,
blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...
and
folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
, all which can be found in Tearson's private record library, located at LynTown Sound Studio. On January 15, 2013, WMGK canceled the show. At iRadioPhilly in April 2013, Tearson was planning another revival of 'The Marconi Experiment' and "conducted a nostalgic phone interview" with his 1968-70 predecessor on the show, Dave Herman. Six months later, Herman was arrested on federal charges of soliciting sex with a 6-year-old girl. In May 2014, while held in a Newark, NJ, jail to await trial, Herman, 78, died of an aneurysm. "It was massively disturbing and shocking," Tearson said of the allegations. "It just did not compute with the man I knew." On July 20, 2015, Tearson announced he had departed Sirius/XM Radio after 12 years on the air, soured by corporate tinkering with his program. Tearson was working with George Manney at Philly Pop Music as the narrator and executive producer for Manney's documentary on Philadelphia's diversified musical community. The project is on hold following the death of Manney in December 2015. At Tearson also continues to contribute to Radio That Doesn't Suck and at iRadioPhilly, Philadelphia's Internet Radio Community on the Plateau channel.


Discography

*July 2011, Michael Tearson released first CD, "Stuff That Works". **Produced and engineered by Andy Kravitz at Sound and Vision Music Productions, Collingswood, NJ. **Co-Produced by Michael Tearson and
Tom Hampton Tom Hampton (born July 25, 1965 in Savannah, Tennessee) is a multi-instrumentalist, sideman, session musician and singer/songwriter. In April 2020, he joined the country-rock band Poco as guitarist and vocalist. Biography Tom Hampton (born July ...
Tom Hampton
Retrieved 30 July 2011
*October 2013, "Ruby's Greatest Hit"


Filmography


References


External links



November 26–December 3, 1998 *
WMGK Shows
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tearson, Michael American male singers Living people Singers from Pennsylvania American talk radio hosts Sirius Satellite Radio Radio personalities from Philadelphia 1948 births American male writers