Over the Edge Radio

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Negativland's live mix radio show "Over The Edge" is the longest-running block of free-form audio collage in radio history.

With Negativland's Don Joyce at the helm, the weekly show was broadcast from KPFA FM in Berkeley California from 1981 to 2015. Don’s death on July 22, 2015 closed a very large and long chapter in the group's history. The show continues to be broadcast on KPFA, alternately hosted by Negativland's Jon Leidecker and SubGenius affiliate KrOB.

 

A documentary by Ryan Worsley about Radio DJ and Negativland member Don Joyce, who took the idea of reshaping previously recorded words - in a pre-sampling age - and ran with it to an extent and depth never before heard, and never equaled.


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Here is how Don described Over The Edge in texts drawn from over three decades of promoting the show:

"OTE's weekly themed mixes are made live and spontaneously on the air from a variety of formats and equipment used to do live sound cut ups and collage while mixing, including the frequent use of the now long dead analog technology of radio broadcast cart machines. On each themed episode of OTE there is a plan and there is no plan. Existing within the parallel universe of the Universal Media Netweb, the OTE mix consists of found sounds of many kinds from many sources put together on the run as the continuous audio collage progresses, along with live electronics (often from our Boopers), live sound processing, and all sorts of reccuring themes, topics and characters. Some of the shows involve all of Negativland, while some involve others outside of our group who participate semi-regularly. Beyond those, there are regular solo show broadcasts by Negativland member Don Joyce, who is the FCC license holder and responsible for filling the radio slot each week. All in all, if you like Negativland, you will like these shows, no matter who is involved, as they all maintain a "Negativ" touch based on our live mixing techniques. OTE often employs “Receptacle Programming,” which means you. Phone callers are punched into our mix with no warning. Call 510-848-4425 to deposit your programming. When your phone stops ringing, you’re on the air. Don’t say 'hello'."

 
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More than 1000 complete episodes of Over the Edge are available at the Internet Archive! Over 4000 hours of OTE!… …

We’ve been working since 2015 to find and upload as many complete or near complete episodes as we can.


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Some episodes of Over the Edge have been turneD into a series of CDs

Available by mail order.

A good overview of Over The Edge, Negativland, and Don Joyce's legacy can be found at this link.

Don's detailed 1995 essay about "Over The Edge."

Besides Negativland's many studio recordings, over the years a small selection of Over The Edge shows have been carefully edited into CD releases, often with elaborate packaging, and can be found here.

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