Mike Sauter
Vice President, Broadcasting & Host of Slacker RewindMike Sauter became a radio addict as a young child in Rochester, NY. He’s worked on multiple ends of the music world, including a job at a “High Fidelity”-style record shop, a gig spinning records at a bar, a brief stint sorting mail for A&M Records, and an even shorter attempt to be a music performer.
However, the majority of his life has involved playing music on the radio, starting in 1984 at his college radio station in Ithaca, NY. He was a long-time DJ at one of the pioneering alternative rock stations, WHTG/Asbury Park in New Jersey. Sauter started at WYEP in 2004 and held various positions, including Midday Mix host, music director, program director, and station manager.
Fanboy of: The Beatles
Memorable Interviews I’ve Done Over the Years: Joe Strummer, Beck, Suzanne Vega, Dave Grohl, Noel Gallagher, Jorma Kaukonen, Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Nicole Atkins, Billy Bragg, Paul Shaffer, Jewel, Peter Murphy, Violent Femmes, Richard Thompson, Guster, and Andrew Bird.
First Time I Ever Introduced a Band on Stage: Red Hot Chili Peppers/Faith No More in 1987 at a bar show!
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Before websites became a thing, WYEP needed a way to share information about its sometimes-complicated program schedule with the public. This need was served by printed program guides for several decades. -
The first song ever played on WYEP was “If I Needed You,” by folk and bluegrass legends Doc and Merle Watson, a cover of a Townes Van Zandt song. The recording was released in 1973 on the father and son duo’s "Then and Now" album. -
While WYEP has evolved over the years to be a music station with a general sound to it — a mix that is eclectic but still distinctive — the early years of the station were radically different. Every couple of hours could go in a sharply new direction, from music to talk and back again. -
As host of WYEP’s classic alternative rock show Slacker Rewind, WYEP's Mike Sauter is often playing tracks from 1994. Since we’re going to be playing all music from 1994 today for Decades Week, here are a handful of songs from that year both well-known and under-the-radar. -
Broadcasting live concerts on WYEP wasn’t new. In fact, we aired live gigs from around the community during the station’s earliest months of existence, including daily broadcasts from the Shadyside Art Festival on Walnut Street in August 1974. -
WYEP officially began broadcasting on April 30th, 1974. We're looking back at the first on-air transmission from the station. -
Working at a radio station like WYEP can bring the staff in close contact with many musicians, often leading to indelible special moments—although these interactions can sometimes end up awkward, embarrassing, or worse. -
Welsh musician Karl Wallinger has died at age 66. He was the key creative force behind the band World Party, releasing six well-received albums of new material from 1987 through 2000. He was also a member of the band The Waterboys, before leaving to form World Party. -
Anyone responsible for any public radio station is always looking for the next dollar to pay the bills. The pressure to raise money was, at times, particularly dire in WYEP’s first decade. -
Look back at early WYEP hosts: DJ 'Mad' Mike, 'Buck' Brice, 'Harry the Wire' Wagner & 'Big' Al SmithAs we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we look back at four early WYEP hosts and the shows they aired.
