Over The Edge Radio Archive (Seeland 031). Negativland's live mix radio show "Over The Edge" has been the longest-running block of free-form audio collage in radio history. With Negativland's Don Joyce at the helm, the weekly show was broadcast from KPFA FM in Berkeley California from 1981 to 2015. His death on July 22, 2015 closed a very large and long chapter in the group's history.

Here is how Don and Negativland described Over The Edge in texts drawn from over three decades of promoting the show:

"OTE's weekly themed mixes are made live and spontaneously on the air from a variety of formats and equipment used to do live sound cut ups and collage while mixing, including the frequent use of the now long dead analog technology of radio broadcast cart machines. On each themed episode of OTE there is a plan and there is no plan. Existing within the parallel universe of the Universal Media Netweb, the OTE mix consists of found sounds of many kinds from many sources put together on the run as the continuous audio collage progresses, along with live electronics (often from our Boopers), live sound processing, and all sorts of reccuring themes, topics and characters. Some of the shows involve all of Negativland, while some involve others outside of our group who participate semi-regularly. Beyond those, there are regular solo show broadcasts by Negativland member Don Joyce, who is the FCC license holder and responsible for filling the radio slot each week. All in all, if you like Negativland, you will like these shows, no matter who is involved, as they all maintain a "Negativ" touch based on our live mixing techniques. OTE often employs “Receptacle Programming,” which means you. Phone callers are punched into our mix with no warning. Call 510-848-4425 to deposit your programming. When your phone stops ringing, you’re on the air. Don’t say 'hello'."

A good overview of Over The Edge, Negativland, and Don Joyce's legacy can be found at this link.

Don's detailed 1995 essay about "Over The Edge."

For an informative bio on Negativland's past, present, and future, try this link.

Besides Negativland's many studio recordings, over the years a small selection of Over The Edge shows have been carefully edited into CD releases, often with elaborate packaging, and can be found here.

For updates on what the group is currently up to try Negativland's Facebook page.

NOTE 1: This archive began in September of 2015 by posting 941 three-to-five-hour-long episodes of Over The Edge from Don’s own personal air checks. That's over 3200 hours of live radio. There are still gaps in this archive to be filled over time (especially the early years. The 2015 shows will go live soon), so please contact Negativland at ote@negativland if you have any shows that we are missing. When you do, put "OTE" in the subject line. Our spam filters are set on high, and anything not having that tag will be junked. We're figuring that spam robots are not yet sophisticated enough to understand this paragraph, so we should be safe for a while.

NOTE 2: Individual show descriptions found here are mostly written by Don, but if a show description is missing and you’d like to contribute one, write it up as a "review" of the episode and let us know that you posted it. We are working on new and better ways to search this archive, and if you have ideas about that, drop us a line. And if you are that person who listens to every single show up here, however many years it takes you, please tell us!

NOTE 3: From 1981 to 1985, Over The Edge was on Sunday nights from 2am to 7pm. From 1985 onwards, the show has been on Thursday nights from midnight until either 3am or 5am, depending on which week of the month it was. The show was never on for the first week of each month, which is why there are never 52 shows in any given year.

NOTE 4: Though Over The Edge and Receptacle Programming continues to exist, evolve, and is still broadcasting each week on KPFA FM, this archive consists of the episodes helmed by Don Joyce. Once we have all of 2015 up, it will end on the episode broadcast immediately after his passing, "There Is No Don."

"To create is divine. To reproduce is human." - Man Ray.