Our Story

From Our Musical Roots to Free Form Album Rock

TheRoots.fm was created by a group of aging rockers who were active participants in early FM broadcasting and the power of the 1960s and 70s  music that changed the world. We called our format Progressive FM Rock, which later morphed into Album-oriented Rock. Later the big radio conglomerates, record companies and consultants took over,  forcing out the original creators. We know because we were all there on the front lines.

The suits replaced the DJs with computers and the musicians with drum machines. Creativity was replaced by corporate profits, five hundred song playlists,  and endless repetition. They call it Classic Rock.

The original creators are back in charge at TherootsFm. The original musicians, DJs, programmers, and engineers put the band back together. We may be a little older and grayer. But we brought our 37,000-copy album collection. And we plan to play every one of them. We call our format Free Form Album Rock. Listener-supported and 100% commercial-free. Welcome back to the music that changed the world.

We have changed a few things this time around. First of all, NO COMMERCIALS. Nobody wants to hear twenty-plus minutes of commercials every hour. Audiophiles will notice how much clearer we sound than today's FM radio or streaming services. You will never hear an MP3 file on The Roots, just uncompressed WAV and FLAC high-resolution source files. And yes, we still play vinyl.

Listen to The Roots for just one day, and the joy you experienced while listening to this incredible music for the first time back in the 1960s, will reboot your brain and take you back to a better time.

Mission Statement

The Roots FM is a 501C3 non-profit organization operated by Your Musical Roots.  We are a community streaming service available worldwide.  Our studios are located in the KETC TV PBS building in the Grand Center Arts District in mid-town St Louis, Missouri.  The Roots FM offers a wide variety of music programming, including live broadcast concerts and information on community activities and events.  We are dedicated to "saving the music" and committed to serving as an outlet for the abundant creativity that lives in our community.

The Roots FM relies on tax-deductible donations from individuals and underwriting from businesses and organizations for our operating revenue.  We greatly appreciate all of our supporters and are committed to delivering programming with a local flair to our community and beyond,

Questions?  johns@therootsfm.org

Roots-Studio-sm

Our first studio in 2016...check our old analogue gear!

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Our second studio in 2020, unfortunately they sold the building and we had to move again.