Lumpen Radio’s 2024 Year in Review
2024 has been a meaningful year for Lumpen Radio. We are deeply grateful to our hosts, DJs, staff, volunteers, and listeners for all your support. Thank you for continuously uplifting and amplifying the voices, stories, and culture of our city and beyond.
This year, we launched 20 new shows, series, and partnerships, bringing an exciting mix of local and international content to the airwaves. From music shows like alluvia’s fluid, Jungle Excursion, Listening Device, Soultronic, and Love Supreme, to talk shows such as The Changes, Mouth on Mic, Dish with David, and Tech Scene, we covered a wide range of topics. Our multilingual programming, like Chit-Chat Cheer HKers (in Cantonese) and Xochipilli Radio (in Spanish), allowed us to reach even more listeners with varied perspectives. We also launched several limited series like Men I Have Ever Met, Entrelazadas in collaboration with Contratiempo, and Art Design Chicago Talks, exploring the intersection of art and community. Other limited series included How to Make a Scene, conversations about artist-run histories with artists from 80s and 90s Chicago, and Midway Atlas On Air, which featured conversations with Midwest art-run spaces.
Our Lumpen Specials highlighted artistic projects and social conversations, with shows like The Gospel Truth, LatiNxt 2024, Folded Maps, Fwd Museums, and Gaza Monologues. This year also included our in-depth coverage of the 2024 Democratic National Convention and 2024 Presidential Elections. During the DNC 2024, we brought insightful analysis, interviews, live reporting, and panel discussions with journalists, activists, and artists, featuring a nationwide collaboration “We Decide: America at the Crossroads” with WORT, WZRD, Pacifica Network, and WBAI. We broadcasted live protests, debates, and expert commentary.
We also dedicated our efforts toward community-driven projects like Neighborhood Audio Portraits, which invited residents from Little Village, Bronzeville, and Back of the Yards/New City to share their stories through audio collages. Our New Arrivals Mutual Aid project continued activating phones and providing support to newcomers via our oral history program, while our new collaboration with UIC and workers’ rights organizations helped empower individuals with mentorship in radio production, culminating in the monthly show Lucha por Tus Derechos Chicago. Important partnerships this year included Radio Nopal, a longtime Lumpen friend from Mexico City, and Juneteenth Productions, which brought their Change Agents podcast to our airwaves.
Two Lumpen Media leaders were honored this year with big awards – Founding Director and Lumpen Magazine creator Ed Marszewski was a named Leader for a New Chicago by the Field and MacArthur Foundations, and Lumpen Radio Director Stephanie Manriquez received a 2024 3Arts Award for her work empowering communities through storytelling. Their contributions continue to inspire and shape Lumpen Radio’s mission.
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this year. We look forward to continuing to share stories and grow together in 2025.
