35000 Watts: The Podcast

It's the summer of 1989, and MTV's 120 Minutes was showcasing the latest from Morrissey and Bob Mould as they embarked on solo careers, while also taking a trip back to 1982 to feature a classic song from a "one-hit wonder"...but surprise! This song wasn't their hit.

The journey through the first decade of MTV's 120 Minutes continues as we take a look at May 1989. We rediscover one of our favorite videos of all-time with Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love, have some fairly serious disagreements about The Cult's Fire Woman and learn about a college radio icon that we all kind of missed, Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians. Plus a mystery song that might be one of our favorite new (old) bands!

On this episode, we talk about a UK band's lesser-known catalog and two American bands that helped define the sound of college radio and indie rock in the 1980s (and beyond).

On Sept. 24 2026, KSSU at Sacramento State University will celebrate its 35th anniversary, so we chatted with the co-founders of the station, Jim Bolt and Chris Prosio, to find out how two college students were able to get a brand-new college radio station off the ground.

In this episode, we revisit songs that fall into "possibly our favorite song of the 1980s" category...but we don't necessarily agree on which ones.

In this episode, we dive in to a 120 Minutes world premiere video that would go on to become a massive hit, along with a surprise twist from an influential band and blast of saxophone "madness".

We're continuing our journey through MTV's 120 Minutes by kicking off 1989 with a smash hit, an underground favorite and a lesser-known track from a trio of college radio favorites.

We're continuing our journey through MTV's 120 Minutes by kicking off 1989 with a smash hit, an underground favorite and a lesser-known track from a trio of college radio favorites.

We wrap up 1988 with an all-time classic Christmas song and a couple of lesser-known artists who briefly found a bit of fame on 120 Minutes.

In this episode, we explore a soon-to-be breakout hit from a Dallas band, a UK #1 that is more performance art than song and an all-time classic from an iconic goth(?) band.