WPRB Princeton 103.3 FM

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WPRB is a community-supported, freeform radio station. Our FM signal (103.3) serves central New Jersey, Philadelphia, eastern PA and the northern tip of Delaware. We reach a global audience at wprb.com.

Don't Back the Front

Jan 16, 2026 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM

Music

With Dana K

Xerox music is here at last! Don't Back the Front brings you DIY weird waves from the classic punk era through today. All with extra saxophone!

(Your DJ reserves the right to play indie pop)

HAPPY EARLYBIRTHDAY TO ME! LAST DBTF FOR A WHILE!

Tonight we're recreating a mixtape I made 21 years ago when I was a freshman in high school + late 70s UK DIY FAVORITES!

I will miss you all so much BUT I WILL BE BACK BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!

(bonus baby me)

8:02 PM		The Desperate Bicycles Don't Back the Front 7" 1977
8:08 PM		The Clouds Get Out Of My Dream Tranquil The Subway Organization 1987
8:11 PM		Minutemen Nature Without Man Double Nickels on the Dime SST Records 1984
8:12 PM		Mo-Dettes White Mice White Mice / Masochistic Opposite Mode 1979
8:16 PM		The Dukes of Stratosphear Vanishing Girl Psonic Psunspot Virgin 1987
8:19 PM		Echo & The Bunnymen Rescue Crocodiles Rhino 1980
8:23 PM		The Homosexuals Technique Street The Homosexuals' Record Recommended Records 1984
8:25 PM		The Vaselines Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam Enter The Vaselines Traffic Inc. 2009
8:28 PM		Mission of Burma That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate Vs. Matador 1982
8:38 PM		Count Five Psychotic Reaction Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1966
8:41 PM		The Desperate Bicycles I Make the - Product New Cross, New Cross Refill Records 1978
8:44 PM		Urinals Scholastic Aptitude Negative Capability...Check It Out! Happy Squid 1997
8:45 PM		Magazine My Tulpa Real Life Virgin Catalogue 1978
8:50 PM		Pavement Unfair Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain Domino Recording Co 1994
8:53 PM		Marine Girls Honey Lazy Ways/Beach Party Cherry Red Records 1983
8:55 PM		The English Beat Mirror in the Bathroom I Just Can’t Stop It Rhino 1980
9:04 PM		Brian Eno Needles In the Camel's Eye Here Come the Warm Jets EMI Marketing 1974
9:07 PM		Shop Assistants Safety Net Shop Assistants Chrysalis 1986
9:09 PM		The Sound Hot House 7" Korova 1982
9:13 PM		Swell Maps Spitfire Parade A Trip to Marineville Secretly Canadian 1979
9:16 PM		The Feelies Fa Cé-La Crazy Rhythms Domino Recording Co 1983
9:26 PM		Set Break: ----------------------------------------------------
9:26 PM		The Lines Not Through Windows Memory Span Acute 2008
9:29 PM		The Digital Dinosaurs The Sideways Man Angst In My Pants V/A Deleted Records 1980
9:31 PM		Scrotum Poles Helicopter Honeymoon Revelation RightBack Records 1979
9:33 PM		Happy Refugees Hamburger Boy Return to Last Chance Saloon Acute 2011
9:36 PM		The Tea Set Sing Song Cups 'N Saucers E.P. Waldo's Records 1978
9:37 PM		Disturbed Betrayed (feat. Josi Munns) I Don't Believe (feat. Josi Munns) - Single Jungle Records 1979
9:40 PM		Beyond the Implode This Atmosphere The Last Thoughts 7" Diverse Records 1979
9:41 PM		Bathroom Renovations Apathetic Hell The Potent Human EP V/A L'Aventure 1980
9:45 PM		Tronics Crush On You Love Backed By Force Basilica Ecords 1980
9:51 PM		Performing Ferret Band Howler Monkey Performing Ferret Band Conflict & Syncope Rec. 1980
9:58 PM		Dry Rib Alaska The Dry Season Clockwork Records 1979
10:01 PM		Walking Floors No Next Time No Next Time - Single My Death Telephone Records 1981
10:03 PM		Twelve Cubic Feet Hello Howard Straight out the Fridge Sealed Records 2024 Originally released in 1982
10:07 PM		Bona Dish Susan Says The Zaragoza Tapes: 1981-1982 Captured Tracks 2013
10:10 PM		The Versatile Newts Newtrition 7" Shanghai Records 1980
10:12 PM		Garage Class Terminal Tokyo Terminal Tokyo - Single Outer Reaches 2018 Originally released in 1982
10:15 PM		Sir Alick and the Phraser In Search of the Perfect Baby 7" Black Noise 1980
10:24 PM		Scissor Fits I Don't Want To Work For British Airways Taut? Tense? Angular? And Other British Rail Sandwiches Dubious Records 1979
10:27 PM		Dislocation Dance It's So Difficult Perfectly In Control EP New Hormones 1980
10:30 PM		Methodishca Tune LFD 7" Eustone 1978
10:32 PM		Indifferent Dance Centre Flight & Pursuit Flight & Pursuit - Single Outer Reaches 2018 Originally released in 1981
10:37 PM		To The Finland Station Domino Theory Domino Theory - Single Jungle Records 1981
10:41 PM		The Liggers Pretty Girl Unzipping The Abstract (Bands of the Manchester Musicians' Collective) MMC Records 1980
10:44 PM		The Desperate Bicycles Holidays New Cross, New Cross 1978
10:53 PM		Scritti Politti Messthetics Early Rough Trade 2004
10:54 PM		Scritti Politti Skank Bloc Bologna 7" St. Pancras 1978

Chat is archived.

hi everyone!!

What up DK?

Hi Marcus!

i had no idea we had a crumb bum ID

george korein made it!

If it's your last show you damn well better not back the front

def do not back them

i wouldn't dream of it

ABSOLUTELY NOT TIME FOR SPECTATING

i better not catch you spectating

not me

Helloooo Everbody!!

Happy Birthday!

Ish

BDAY MIX TAPE !!!!! XCLLNT - - !!

Side B is all Green Day

Thanks everyone and HELLO!

(im not saying goodbye - as youll be back ) HAPPY BDAY + thank you for doing ALLLL your GRRRT shows

aww thank you! i'm going to upload some archival shows while I'm off!

She's making a tape, it isn't for you

cassette goodness

YAYYY thats xcllnt !!!! Thank you

Straight fire, as the kids say

Happy to be here with you tonight, but it is bittersweet. You will be missed, @Dana.

awww. shucks! thank you, chris!

Omg that school pic

I'm wearing the Sonic Youth shirt I got at their 2004 Electric Factory gig

This was a mixtape staple for me as well. From the rhino diy series? Or power pop? I forget

No way I'm hearing this twice in one week here. No complaints. :)

I discovered it on Rough Trade Post-Punk 01 which came out in 2003

Handclaps on this one are perfect

This was on one of my mix tapes. Crazy

One of my favorites to spin while DJing! Yoni always comes thru with the handclaps

Yeah, this is really a great. Interesting album. Paint it black ain't too shabby either.

I recently was doing some copy editing that depended on me h

Derg

Happy early birthday!! Legit had to pull off the side of McCarter Highway to type this. This is why i still tune in cause spotify or pandora could never have such animated and cool DJ’s playing a set

Depended on me knowing that "dark park creeping" is a mo-dettes song. The sentence made no sense if you didn't know that

Thank you so much TR!

Dana, my wife and I are very much enjoying your show! Singing along! We will miss you. Have a happy birthday and enjoy your time away!

Rob!! Thank you!

Oh yeah. Not every day you hear Homosexuals on the radio. So good.

Evening dana bash the front and cute high school yearbook image!

Hi Ossy! I was cute, though I didn't think so at the time!

Haha, felt that way for me in the high school days, at first!

Was this around the time you saw Burma for the first time?

i adoreeeeee echo and the bunnymen. I knew it was them just from hearing his voice I love his singing style

I was just watching the episode of 120 minutes where moby talks about checking out clint Conley's mom (in the retail transaction sense) at the pharmacy where he worked in Darien ct

I also thought it was paramore's hayley williams, at first from the banner!

also happy birthday

DK the number on DJ on WPRB. Thanks for the music and good times on your show. Take care and come back soon!

Happy birthday Dana!

Pretty sure I stole that rough trade shops comp when I worked at hmv

Thank you Marcus and TAndy!!!

And dandyandy!

A friend of mine did psychotic reaction at karaoke once which is a hilarious choice. I'm surprised karaoke places have it.

Oh I love that

The song that invented Cavestomp

My roommate Brian sang "Death of Pop" the last time we did karaoke. The DJ let him pull it up on youtube.

It was at this very normy bar and another one of my friends insisted we do "age of Aquarius" together and people were SO INTO IT

Ah that rules

Also featured in Drugstore Cowboy

Those would be grrreat karaoke-d

I might do karaoke for my actual birthday next week but the place I go to kind of sucks when it comes to selections!

You a

You make so!

Make it so

My three year old nephew heard me play ack ack ack ack on the radio a couple of weeks ago and requested it from me in the car later

It's a perfect toddler song

My boss says Pavement is for children

Pavement is awesome and totally for adults too

i'm a child

All children require vitamin P

that's cute, Commie!

He will also idly sing "hedi's head" to himself while playing

old ass adult here. i came running to the compy so i can type, omg love this song

Kleenex also good toddler music!

This show has been so nice

Yeah that one I've been playing him since he was an infant and he's repeated the EE EE since he was very little

Derek Jeter hits home run at last at bat before retiring and now DK leaves with this

No running colin, wprb not responsible for slip & fall claims

I really want to know what was on side 2 though

Ska?

he'll appreciate early music education, Commie

I will share Side 2. No ska.

Their first big hit in the US

Except for this!

Haha she types as she plays English beat

Mindreader commie

Made it all the way to Ferris Bueller

This has got the stepping stone chord progression almost

One of my favorite WPRB drive memories is of playing March of the Swivelheads while trying to get people to donate

the version of this on the dj food solid steel mix tape is extra amazing.

Had to change their name from "The Beat" because of Paul Collins

and yes commie steppin stone 100

My freshman mix would lean heavily on the SST catalog

Sup colin

Was the Eno cover done by Volcano Suns, Dana?

It wasn't! It was contemporary to 2004, I remember. At one point I knew it and forgot.

First wprb songs is a special memory. Mine were on pickitup with Don tonik around 2014. Then I remember hearing Laurie Anderson for the first time

I love that! I remember that show!

Shoppies after Eno! I could have put that on a mix tape if had I ever made one

First song "An Older Lover etc.." The Fall. 1983

hey ty!

I don't know how you do it DK. This is the exact song we would jam to back in the day. Every show you surprise me with a sound

I was flipping stations one day when I heard Ska punk on air. I couldn't believe my ears. Then, the dj said to call 6092581033. Later, my friends and I made factions of Don tonik fans and 'totally wired' Chester fans when we sat around the radio on Thursday nights

i can't name my first wprb song, but it was around 1986. lots of wall of voodoo back then

i loved the totally wired with chester.

God I love Wall of Voodoo

First thing I heard on prb was Terry Riley

love wall of voddoo too, and swell maps!

You never forget your first Loafass show, either. You guys crushed it, colin

lol, thanks mang

Anybody remember the US Festival in 1983? It was Wall of Voodoo's final show.

there was also lots of feelies on wprb in 86. some stars burn bright forever i guess

Lots of Feelies on WPRB in 2026 too

Yep they are in the canon

there is a solid chance i've watched that on the internet david

my first wprb song was something by dan deacon in 2009. i was driving home through skillman and i'm pretty sure lizbot was the dj

Related: the first time I ever paid attention to WKDU was somebody playing Neubauten and announcing it in a complete monotone and it blew my mind

Only covers of that song I can think of are elf power and volcano suns

@dana, was the cover of Needles by Suicide Romeo? Michael Goodstein played them on FMU in 2007.

gotta be comfy

My first LJ post was about cookies

Great story! Good tunes!

conspiracy of pants

I first became aware of WPRB in the 90s and there was some dude who played really cool obscure country. I've asked here before if anybody remembers who that was, but at least the time I asked, nobody knew who I was talking about. I know he had some kind of side gig DJing at some bar in Northern Liberties. Anyone know who I'm even speaking of? Anyway, that was my first exposure to WPRB.

This always makes me think of you cause you tipped me off to this record being $10 at Molly's!

I remember that day well!

I remember a Montclair record store called Crazy Rhythms. I guess they're gone now.

First memorable song was a track by the artist "Frankie Rose and the Outs" on DJ Maria T's show "Her Jazz". Made the "journey" from Bucks County to Prex and got 2 of her CD's.

@David on Bloomfield Ave. I bought "Dance Craze" and "New Traditionalists" there

I remember hearing Frankie Rose and the Outs on WPRB around that time! Maria T is a legend

Dana: we had very similar tastes in music

...I'm generally ok with almost anything from Slumberland records..

I'm multi-tasking my radio listening tonight and another station just played something from Swell Maps' 1980 John Peel session.

Good choice!

Digital Dinosaurs... incredible 💥💥💥

yes! crazy rhythms was a nice little shop!

Dana k playing the hits!

Famous Logs in History covered this recently and that is a surefire way to win my heart

@alan parsec I'm always trying to lure maria back

One of the first songs I remember hearing on WPRB was "Dying of Boredom" by the Princeton band The Disturbed. I doubt it was the same Disturbed we just heard though.

I forgot when my first actual exposure to PRB was, but my first memory was from 2018 or 2019 when I came across the station in my dad's car. Whoever was on was talking about the various breeds of cows for a long mic break lol

I do remember that same night during the 2021 spring drive when I became a monthly sustaining member during Mike's show. I was just driving into work and I think you had either DJ Esoterica or Commie Francis in the studio with you!

The 2021 drive was NUTS!

I think we were still recording from home and were cohosting via Zoom that year!

Haha of all of the bands to overlap

DEVO Peek-a-Boo! is the first song I remember, playing behind the mic breaks on a June 2021 edition of Don't Back the Front. I tune in from wherever I am in the country in my van with my cat. Became a sustaining member Spring 2024, during DBTF, and you read my cat's name on air. Good times, heaps and heaps of gratitude.

Those few years of combined studio and remote DJing were some of the best imo

Aw Larry that makes me so happy!

Speaking of maria t we had to pre record our co-hosting that year and I made a sound board of her going "yayyyy" etc for when donations came in

HAHA

Those were wild years and it made for some pretty wild radio. I think people were going stir crazy with the pandemic. I know I was.

that drive still kinda feels like not that long ago. having the cat's name read on air is epic.

That was also when people really started using this chat so every single show had an active chat box going. It really helped save away the loneliness during lockdown

Drat. I had checked "Today's Schedule" on the home page and it said nothing of Commie broadcasting.

I think it was 2021 that I had the final show and closed out with blitz "new age" and was singing along at the top of my lungs in my attic by myself

Unfortunately that schedule doesn't update for subs

in 2022 I had the final show and ended it by singing Lido Shuffle over the air with my roommate Brian

Yesss I remember that well

I think 2021 I had changed my name to Boz Scaggs in the chat and couldn't figure out how to change it back for several months

That too

People were definitely a little insane because of the pandemic. I know I was.

Mucho Kudos to Mike Lupica for being there when everything technical was going bad on occassion during the pandemic..

...and Jon Solomon picking up mail at the Mother Ship..

@dana, was the cover of Needles in the Camel's Eyes by Suicide Romeo? Michael Goodstein played them on FMU in 2007.

Oh! Chris! That doesn't sound familiar but I'll check it out.

I loved Michael Goodstein's show!

@Dana after an advanced search, I got nothin' else

Happy birthday and enjoy the time off, Dana!

Thanks Mr. Otter!

I also remember the Boz Scaggs days fondly

back in the early days i would make these mix tapes of recorded songs off the radio on my sony boom box. i had like 14 volumes of staticy songs with the first 15 to 30 seconds missing from most songs.

wprb, wtsr and kdu mostly. 86-88 mostly

i sure wish i had any of them. all got recorded over, car cooked, or lost.

12 ft³ wOw

I think all of my old mix CDs are beyond redemption. They lived in my car for 15 years.

lol, i car cooked cds so good the film would start to flake off them. cheap cdr's were life.

...and here's another pandemic memory when Dana's hair wasn't quite so red: https://playlists.wprb.com/WPRB/pl/13922264/Don-t-Back-the-Front?layout=1

Nice

Impressive pic. How many episodes of the original series did Andorians appear in anyway?

Ok, that DIY set was insane. Best 30 minutes of radio I've heard in 2026.

@ David: I think only once..

Jeffrey Combs played one in Enterprise!

Oh man. That playlist...if it was possible for me to feel MORE nostalgic tonight.

Dana: I found the playlist with your Xrayed foot, but I'll leave that one out..

Tuning in late, looks like a great show from the playlist!

This is the aforementioned 2022 pledge show: https://spinitron.com/WPRB/pl/15912619/BUSTIN-OUT-POST-PLEDGE-HI-NRG-DANCE-PARTY-WITH-DANA-K-FT-STUDIO-54-S-ESOTERICA-FT-DR-BRIAN

I need to use that Silk Degrees image more often

Hi Chris! Thank you!

C Monster, it would be interesting to hear yr tapes from 86-88!

YEAHHHHH that pledge show was a blast @ Dana!

Rereading the chat just makes me giggle. I'm so glad they're all saved for posterity.

chris, i wish they were still with me, now only a memory, but a good memory

From lake Geneva to the Finland Station

West End Girls

"To The Finland Station" was a book. That I have not read.

i saw some pics of indifference dance center and was hoping to find some live footage out there, but only the few live photos.

That was wild

Domino Theory?

Yas

This show became fixed on my radar when I discovered it last year. I await your return, and thank you for bringing the goods every week. Have a great break and see you later!

This is a link to the full mixtape playlist if you're curious about Side B: https://www.artofthemix.org/mix/117186/

Thank you so much, Chris! That means a lot to me!

So goodbye yellow brick road Where the dogs of society howl

Gonna missyou DK

Thanks for the show(s) this season, see you in the summer! Unless there's a surprise sub at some point 👀

chris b, there is a don't back the from mixcloud with vintage shows if you need to get your fix during the sabbatical.

Getting to the gig! Starting tomorrow night!

Safe travels home and sweet socks birthday dreams and well earned vacation til summer, dbtf!!

cheers and happy bday, dk! see/hear you this summer!

thanks everybody!!!

Dana: Thank You and have a Happy Birthday! 🎂 🎉 🎊 🎈 🎁 🥳 & bcnu!

Great set. <3 from DE. Come back soon!

speaking of old english things, what do old chips (french fries) do when they get together.....................they ketchup

Thanks for all the good tunes, Dana K? Happy Birthday and looking forward to the next time you fill in.

I mean !!

Alright Catsup Monster

C Monster: Why are crows black?? It's because of the Crowmasones..

🤣

THX DANA!