Ken Freedman is general manager of WFMU, a freeform and independent radio station. He co-hosts the conceptual comedy program Seven Second Delay with Andy Breckman, as well as hosting his own freeform radio program on Wednesday mornings. He is the co-founder of Congera, a public benefit corporation. Freedman hosted his first radio program in 1976 as a DJ at Highland Park High School station WVHP. He served as station manager of WCBN-FM, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor's freeform outlet, where he marked the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan by playing Lesley Gore's "It's My Party " for eighteen consecutive hours. Freedman joined WFMU as a DJ in December 1983, and succeeded Bruce Longstreet as general manager in August 1985. At the time, WFMU was licensed to and owned by Upsala College, and based in East Orange, New Jersey. In February 1986, Freedman launched a program guide/zine called LCD, featuring work by many internationally known writers and artists, including Nick Tosches, Jim Woodring, Drew Friedman, Gary Panter, Harvey Pekar, Dan Clowes, Tony Millionaire, and Chris Ware. In November 2007, The Best of LCD: The Art and Writing of WFMU, was published by Princeton Architectural Press. It was compiled and edited by longtime WFMU radio host Dave "The Spazz" Abramson. In 1989, Freedman successfully fended off a challenge to the station's license from four rival broadcasters, who claimed that WFMU was broadcasting above its legal power limit. In 1992, he founded the non-profit organization Auricle Communications, which purchased WFMU's license from Upsala in 1994. These actions allowed WFMU to survive when the college went bankrupt in 1995. A core strategy for the station was to embrace the World Wide Web, launching its website in 1993, streaming its broadcasts full-time in 1997, and archiving most broadcasts from 2000. Under Freedman's management, annual donations to the station grew from $50,000 in 1983, to $750,000 in 1999, to over $1,800,000 in 2012. Freedman has made it his mission to keep up with digital technological developments and how they impact radio. "I keep abreast of new technology mainly from my children and their friends, as well as the youngest generation of programmers and superfans at WFMU," he explained in a 2018 Radio World interview. Freedman pioneered the use of direct licensing for broadcasters, obtaining alternative copyrights and waivers to address restrictions placed on broadcasters by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In 2007, Freedman built on these direct licensing activities and founded WFMU's Free Music Archive, an open source library of copyright-cleared music and audio which launched in April 2009. Freedman has served on the board of public science and technology company New Brunswick Scientific Company and was a board member and technology advisor to National Federation of Community Broadcasters. He has spoken and presented at conferences sponsored by The Future of Music Coalition, National Public Radio, the Integrated Media Association, the Audio Engineering Society, O'Reilly Media's Newsfoo Conference, The Awesome Foundation Summit, the University of British Columbia and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. In 2013, Freedman initiated the creation of a suite of software for broadcasters, journalists and online publishers known as the Audience Engine. In 2013, he began performing stand-up comedy and has performed acts at the New York Comedy Club, the Broadway Comedy Club, the Greenwich Village Comedy Club and other venues in New York, New Jersey and San Francisco. In 2019, he made his television acting debut as a walk-on in the series Russian Doll.
Personal
Freedman is a resident of Hoboken, New Jersey. He has been married to Harriett Lewis since 1987. They have two children, Harry and Daisy. Ken's brother, Samuel G. Freedman, is an author of several books, as well as a religion columnist for The New York Times, and a Professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. Their sister Carol is the founder of Carol's Creative Chocolatez.
