Cassette Culture · Cassette Culture & DIY Music

Cassettes On The Radio: Underground Broadcasting

·25 min·2 clips

Tom Gibbs discovers Phil from Omega Ensemble died the week before he arrived with the cassette tape.

This episode explores how cassette tapes fueled a global underground music network through physical mail and radio. Hosts unpack a package of rare 1980s cassettes and flyers sent by label runner Steve Gears. The episode features interviews with key figures from the cassette scene, including artist Sandy Nice and label operator Rob Maycock. Sandy Nice launched the International Audio Communication compilation cassettes from Belgium in 1983 and hosted a weekly radio show on Radio Centraal for 17 years. Rob Maycock ran Mindscan Tapes from his bedroom, releasing music by international acts like American artist Treble King. Tom Gibbs of Infinite Expanse recounts using a 1989 letter to track down Phil, a member of the obscure Omega Ensemble. The Omega Ensemble appeared on the 1989 compilation tape "Premonitions," which Tom sought to reissue. Sandy Nice describes the cassette network as a "spider web," where a single compilation tape with twelve bands could generate twelve new connections and addresses. He explains that making ten tapes at a time involved no concern for profit, only communication. Rob Maycock details his DIY process: he duplicated tapes to order using a tape-to-tape machine and used photocopied, black-and-white covers. A clip from Sandy Nice's November 1989 radio show plays, highlighting the French label Outsize Distribution. A surprising moment is Tom Gibbs's discovery that Phil from Omega Ensemble had died just one week before his visit, after suffering from dementia. The episode reveals how a 1990 letter from Phil offered master tapes for use, exemplifying the scene's open sharing ethos. Rob Maycock recalls being inspired to seek out "disgusting" Power Electronics music after reading a review in the "Wild Planet" column of Sounds magazine. The physical package examined includes a flyer for "Psycho Oral Research," which promises "cassettes of meditative repetitive loops and noise for magic mesmeric moments." The hosts express genuine excitement while handling the physical artifacts, like a stretched, wonky photocopied flyer from Rob Maycock. The tone is nostalgic and investigative, blending conversational unpacking with oral history interviews. It is educational in documenting a pre-internet cultural system, with a narrative thread following Tom Gibbs's search. Listeners interested in DIY music history, analog culture, and the logistics of pre-digital networking will love this episode. Those seeking high-fidelity music discussion or contemporary industry analysis might find it too niche.

As heard by us

A grounded look at cassette exchange, radio access, and the networks that kept underground music moving.

Cassette Culture treats the cassette less as a format than as a loose network, moving music between fans, radio, and the mail. It follows Steve Gears' cassette-label work, Richard Talbot's route into Marconi Union with Jamie Crossley, and Tom Gibbs' launch of Infinite Expanse in…

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You want to hear how cassettes built a real network around non-commercial music.

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