East Village RadioEast Village Radio

Frank Prisinzano, who runs restaurants in the East Village, started the station in spring 2003 by hauling transmitter gear onto the roof above Lil' Frankie's and broadcasting on 88.1 FM without a licence. The FCC put a stop to that, so it moved online and into a storefront booth at 19 First Avenue, where anyone walking past could stand and watch the DJ working. Mark Ronson had a show there for years, and the audience turned international. It closed on 23 May 2014, beaten by its licensing fees.

A relaunch with Dash Radio ran from 2015 to 2016, and the station came back properly in July 2024, on the same block and still refusing dictated playlists. Hosts are asked to thread connections between post-punk, free jazz, minimal techno, hip-hop, garage punk, reggae, dub and soundtrack music, on the argument that a playlist will never replace someone taking you somewhere.