Surf culture from the cold-water inside.
Swell Season Surf Radio treats surfing as a whole life, not just a sport. From Rockaway logistics and cold-water sessions to board design, art, big waves, and Indigenous coastal history, it follows the people who build meaning around the lineup.
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Swell Season Surf Radio is a surf culture interview show with a distinctly Northeast center of gravity. It records in Manhattan, but the conversations are shaped by Rockaway, Long Beach, Bridgehampton, Montauk, Nor'easters, cold-water habits, and the practical compromises of adult surf lives. The tone is relaxed and deeply inside the culture. Guests are not reduced to highlight reels. They are given room to talk through where they came from, how they found the ocean, and why surfing kept rearranging their priorities. Jamie Meiselman's episode stretches from New Jersey cold-water surfing to early snowboarding, product innovation, Burton, Columbia University, and the everyday reality of choosing waves around work and family. Christopher Thomas Campbell's episode connects surfing with sculpture, board building, North Carolina, Wrightsville Beach, and the stubborn pull of a three-hour drive to the water. Pete 'Luigi' Shaw brings the show into heavier water. His story frames big-wave surfing as grit, expense, risk, paddle crews, and personal will rather than a polished sponsor narrative. The show is also interested in art as part of surf life. Ozzy Wright appears as an artist, surfer, and musician, while Jon Bocksel's episode follows lettering, print shops, sign painting, carpentry, and the value of forms made by hand. The Claudia Lebenthal conversation centers surf storytelling itself, especially the moments when personal struggle, racism, discrimination, apartheid, and representation become impossible to separate from the waves. The episode on The Inevitable Return widens the lens again, placing San Diego beaches beside Kumeyaay ancestral sites, military zones, atomic testing, occupation, and cultural reconnection through surfing. That range gives the show its shape. It is not only about performance. It is about place, memory, access, craft, identity, and the strange devotion that makes people chase imperfect waves for years. The interviews can ramble in the best surf-shop way, with tangents, jokes, gear talk, and small local details. Then they land on something much bigger. Swell Season Surf Radio suits listeners who want surf media with community texture, not just contest results or destination fantasy.
Made for: For surfers, makers, artists, and coastal-culture listeners who care about the people and places behind the session. It especially fits anyone drawn to New York and Northeast surf life.
What sets it apart: The show mixes local surf-community intimacy with wide cultural range, moving from Rockaway logistics to big-wave risk, handmade craft, visual art, and contested coastal history. Its strength is the long, specific interview rather than the quick surf headline.
Swell Season is surfy related radio station dedicated to covering a wide variety of surf related topics and perspectives. Our show is New York-centric focusing on the local surfers who make up this dedicated community of ocean souls. Swell Season radio shows are recorded at the NewStand Studio in Rockefeller Center. Listen to all our shows on these channels: Soundcloud , Stitcher, iTunes, Spotify & <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFWxjrg
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Swell Season Surf Radio treats surfing as a sport built from equipment, local knowledge, personal risk and contested coastal history.
Tyler Brewer follows surfing beyond the wave, using conversations with riders, board makers and artists to show how the sport is shaped by craft, risk and place.
This is where your surf obsession wanders into art school and comes back saltier.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Jamie Mieselman talks snowboard boots, a wave pool concept and finding time to surf.
Jamie Mieselman learned to snowboard on New Jersey golf courses, then went on to help develop early EVA midsoles for snowboard boots at Black's Snowboards. He was managing editor of Transworld Snowboard from 1992 to 1995 and later worked at Burton.
Surf stories lead to a conversation about personal connection and who sees themselves in the sport.
A book of surf stories gives the speakers a way into a question that reaches beyond the water: who gets to picture themselves surfing? Their attention settles on the connection between writer and surfer, especially Salima's piece about South African surfer Mikey February.
A sign painter talks letterforms, a costly truck painting mistake, and wanting to surf more.
Tyler Brewer talks with Brooklyn sign painter and gilder John Boxall about his affection for letterforms and how he entered the trade. Boxall recalls painting a barber shop truck in the heat without the right brushes or paint.
A Kumeyaay surfer's family story gives The Inevitable Return discussion its human center.
Tyler Brewer uses a short film about San Diego County's militarized beaches to ask what sits beneath the familiar image of surfing. The Inevitable Return looks at the ties between military technology, atomic testing and contemporary surfing.
Surf lineage, told by the people who lived it.
Surf gossip with teeth and timing.
Bill Simmons debates NBA tanking, MVP races, and movies with Zach Lowe and friends.
Zach Lowe and ESPN colleagues dissect NBA trades, cap rules, and roster fit.
Big Cat and PFT Commenter cover the NFL, March Madness, and NHL for laughs.
Ryen Russillo runs weekly NFL and MLB recaps with beat reporters like Jeff Passan and Mike Sando.
Chris Dennis discusses his work with Waves for Hope and the challenges of professional surfing.
Erin Meza-Ashley shares her journey of starting surfing later in life on the Swell Season Surf podcast.
Tyler Brewer interviews Jamie Meiselman, a pioneer in snowboarding and surfing who worked at Transworld Snowboarding, Blacks Snowboards, and Burton, about his journey through board sports and product innovation.
An interview with artist and architect Christopher Thomas Campbell about his unique surfboard designs influenced by edgeboard concepts.
Host Tyler Brewer introduces guest Pete 'Luigi' Shaw, a gritty New York surfer and instructor who chases big waves and pool thrills.
Matt Gove of Surfrider Foundation discusses the Williams Pipeline and its environmental impact.
An interview with Australian artist, surfer, and musician Ozzy Wright about his creative life.
Claudia Lebenthal explains why the Rel Sun story works because it becomes about breast cancer, not just surfing.
John Boxall turns hand-lettering into a “motion” that works like surfing and calligraphy.
["Tyler Brewer's Swell Season Surf Radio episode centers The Inevitable Return, a short documentary about military technology, atomic testing, and surfing on San Diego County beaches and Kumeyaay ancestral sites.", "Filmmaker Zachary Zazima says he started the film after moving to California about 12 years ago, seeing violence and hate speech in Los Angeles surf culture, and tracing wetsuits, wave forecasting, wave measurements, and surfboard materials back to military research.", "Shaluk says the story connects his Viejas Indian Reservation upbringing, his years in Hawaii, and Walter Monk's blunt line that the land is 'not your land.'", "The interview also points listeners to Shredding at the Historic Sunshine Brooks Theater in Oceanside on Friday, July 25 at 8 p.m., where the film screens alongside other work about surf culture, access, and identity."]
Host Tyler Brewer introduces freelance content creator John Cohen, a champion of Northeast surfing for over 20 years.
Tony Caramanico shares his lifelong journey in surfing, from catching his first wave at age 13 to becoming an East Coast Hall of Famer.
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