Dates

• Existence: May 12, 1967 - October 9, 2017

Biography

Michelle Boule delighted in sharing her love for Outsider Music with listeners to her radio programs: The Bad Music Hour on Public Radio Station KCUR and the Incorrect Music Hour on Community Radio WFMU.

In a 1992 interview with Brain McTavish for the Kansas City Star, Boule explained the appeal of the bad music she featured on her shows, “It’s always put out in a very sincere way. The ambition of the performer always exceeds their talent, which is always best for our show. It invokes an automatic embarrassing response out of the listener.”

Boule launched the Bad Music Hour in 1992 when guests scheduled for the Walt Bodine Show failed to show. She commandeered the airwaves with selections from her personal library and The Bad Music Hour was born. The erudite, Sean Smith soon joined in the fun as cohost. Originally aired every other week the program became a weekly favorite on KCUR. Smith and Boule regularly took it to the streets with programs at local libraries.

After The Bad Music Hour ended in 1996, Boule joined forces with Irwin Chusid on the Incorrect Music Hour for “a misguided tour of musical outsiders, bumbling celebs, no-hopers, corporate anthems, pop-eyed zealotry, uber-patriots, insufferable kids, Third-Eye Lounge Crooners, and a whole range of Frankentunes.” Boule and Chusid continued their collaboration until 2002. Boule moved to Florida where she passed on Oct. 9, 2017. Boule’s sister Marie and her brother Arthur “Kip” Boule donated the tapes of The Bad Music Hour to the Marr Sound Archives in 2022.

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