This year, New York Public Radio’s annual fundraising event at Brooklyn Bowl on Wednesday, September 21 at 7pm will celebrate 40 years of “New Sounds” with John Schaefer and his incomparable contributions to the NYC music scene and beyond. Featuring performances by Brooklyn-based bhangra fusion group Red Baraat and tropical futurism band Combo Chimbita, along with a DJ set by Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan & Georgia Hubley, the fundraiser will support all of New York Public Radio’s brands, including WNYC, WQXR, Gothamist and WNYC Studios. Tickets available here start at $40 for general admission with options for VIP packages and bowling lane rentals with WNYC hosts. Guests will have the opportunity to mingle with a stellar line-up of on-air and podcast talent, hosts, producers, and staff on and off the lanes.

WNYC’s “New Sounds” is a cherished radio program at the helm of music discovery and gleefully free from the confines of genre, airing every night at 11pm on 93.9FM and wnyc.org. Since its inception in 1982, the show expanded to include a New Sounds Live concert series in 1986 and the innovative Soundcheck podcast in 2002, featuring live performances and interviews with a variety of guests, from Mavis Staples, Mark Ronson and Sheryl Crow to Chuck Klosterman, Norah Jones, Danger Mouse, and others.

Host and producer of “New Sounds” John Schaefer came to WNYC in 1981, where he was hired to read newscasts and introduce classical music, but soon found himself hosting a new music show that quickly became the on-air hub of the fertile downtown music scene. Schaefer has been cited by New York Magazine as one of "the people whose ideas, power, and sheer will are changing New York" and was honored in 2003 with the American Music Center's prestigious Letter of Distinction for his "substantial contributions to advancing the field of contemporary American music in the United States and abroad." 

He began blogging for WNYC while traveling with the New York Philharmonic on its historic trip to North Korea in 2008 and continues to blog at newsounds.org. When he’s not championing new music, international voices and obscure artists on air, Schaefer has written books and liner notes for more than 100 recordings, including those from Yo-Yo Ma, Ballaké Sissoko, and Terry Riley. He is also a regular contributor to the World Science Festival and the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center. On September 21, New York Public Radio will celebrate Schaefer’s invaluable contributions to public radio and the New York City cultural scene, with his limitless curiosity for music and commitment to boundless discovery.