From Podcast to Powerhouse: The birth of WRGS

a Big week for our WRGS family! Mike Ham, the unmistakable voice behind Greetings from the Garden State and the WRGS founder, was just profiled by NJ Radar. It’s a well-earned spotlight, and if you haven’t read it yet, you should.

It starts when Mike got laid off in October 2023. That moment sparked the idea for Radio Garden State.

“We just went for it,” Mike says in his NJ Radar interview. “No more half-in. We were ready to bet on ourselves.”

Since going live on July 1, 2024, WRGS has become a living, breathing frequency tuned to New Jersey. It's loud, sure—but it listens, too. And it invites everyone in. What started as a one-man podcast turned into a 24/7 platform for Jersey storytellin that is raw, real, and rooted in community. wRGS amplifies the voices and sounds that mainstream stations ignore. from local bands to local joints and indie record labels like ours, telegraph hill records.

Read the full NJ Radar feature here for a closer look at the leap Mike took and the legacy he's building. The whole piece captures why WRGS matters: because it’s powered by people who live and breathe this chaotic-ass state and want others to fall in love with it too.

Huge shout to NJ Radar, by the way. If you don’t already get your event information from them, start now. No corporate fluff, just the real stuff: theater, DIY, punk, festivals, and pop-ups you actually want to go to. You’ll find it before your group chat does—it’s just like WRGS, a platform that sees what we see in Jersey, and amplifies it without compromise.