Greasy Kid Stuff

DJ’s Belinda Miller and Hova Najarian began Greasy Kid Stuff in 1995, broadcasting in the New York/New Jersey metro area on freeform radio legend WFMU. Directing WFMU’s anything-goes aesthetic toward an imagined audience of 5- to 10-year-olds, the show soon struck a chord with punk-generation moms and dads casting about for alternatives to Raffi or Barney. Over the years, Greasy Kid Stuff has gained a national reputation and widespread acclaim. Author Neal Pollack ("Alternadad") has called it “the best kid’s radio program of all time” and They Might Be Giants recently wrote and recorded a song in honor of the show. Based in Portland since 2004, Belinda and Hova continued to produce Greasy Kid Stuff remotely for a couple of years, running the show from their home and sending a live feed to WFMU’s Jersey City studios through the phone line. In 2006, they launched a local version of Greasy Kid Stuff, which airs Saturdays, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., on 94/7 Alternative Portland. Belinda and Hova have hosted Greasy Kid Stuff dance parties at the Children’s Museum, Powell’s City of Books and PICA’s T:BA festival. They are currently the resident DJ’s for Portland’s “Baby Loves Disco” series at the Crystal Ballroom. While the kids’ music world has blown up both commercially and artistically in recent years, Greasy Kid Stuff remains at somewhat of a distance from the movement it helped to inspire. Part of the reason is Belinda and Hova’s steadfast refusal to draw a distinction between “kid” and “adult” music. Much of their programming is actually a recontextualizing of music not originally intended for an audience of children. They have released two CD compilations for Confidential Recordings — "Greasy Kid Stuff: Songs From Inside the Radio" and "Greasy Kid Stuff 2: More Songs From Inside the Radio" — available online at CD Baby or Amazon.