Free Association is a free-form radio program and podcast hosted and produced by Brian Carpenter and broadcast out of WZBC 90.3FM Boston College. On WZBC, Carpenter hosted Free Association weekly from 2001-2006 as a part of the long-running No Commercial Potential weeknight series. Since 2010, he has produced radio documentaries on Raymond Scott, Sam Rivers, and sound design in horror films, and sporadically hosted shows with special guests. The Free Association podcast began in 2015 and includes three of the documentaries.
For archived interviews and documentaries, subscribe to the Free Association podcast on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can hear selected previous shows in their entirety on MixCloud.
radio documentaries
The Sound of Horror: A Study of Sound Design in Horror and Science-Fiction Film (2010)
Rivers and Rhythms: A Sam Rivers Retrospective (2012)
Imagination and Innovation: The World of Raymond Scott (2012)
Ennio Morricone: Magician of Sound (2020)
conversations
Michael Gira
August 2023
J. G. Thirlwell
July 2023
David Harrington
February 2022
Alan Licht
January 2022
Joan As Police Woman
December 2021
Marissa Nadler
November 2021
Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores
Oct 2018
Judith Berkson
October 2021
E (Gavin McCarthy, Thalia Zedek, Jason Sanford)
August 2020
Glenn Jones
May 2017
Russ Gershon
February 2017
Matthias Bossi and Carla Kihlstedt
August 2015
Alloy Orchestra
March 2016
John Vanderslice
July 2021
Damon and Naomi
October 2021
Ryan H Walsh
Jan 2019
Thalia Zedek
Sept 2018
Marissa Nadler
Sept 2018
Damon Krukowski
Aug 2017
Martin Bisi
May 2018