It’s been forever since I’ve written here. Lots going on.
That said, I’ve had za delightful couple of days listening to independent radio. Yesterday, the local high-school radio station: WIQH. Today, Exponential Radio from WXPN.
It’s so much fun being delighted. I’m glad this type of radio still exists.
Tomorrow: Eclectic24.
Spotify is great. Really.
But, I still love college (and high school) radio more. If you haven’t tried them out:
Exponential Radio is the HD2 channel of WXPN, the radio station at the University of Pennsylvania. The main feed is pretty good too. Funky Friday plays in the kitchen on Friday nights; XPN2 plays all day Saturday.
Eclectic24 is the HD2 channel of KCRW, out of Santa Monica. It’s a lot weirder than XPN2, but vastly fun. Eclectic24 plays in the kitchen all day Sunday.
WIQH is the radio station from my very own local high school. I’ve taken to listening to it the last couple of days, and it’s a really good mix.
Fred Clark has been writing his Slacktivist blog for a long time. He is always thoughtful. You should out his work.
Now that I’ve started the site up again, I have a couple of series I’m going to try to keep running. The first one is “Fan Mail.” In an ongoing effort to make the web less of a cesspool, I’ll occasionally put some fan mail out into the world.
Today: The Number Ones series on Stereogum, written by Tom Breihan.
Breihan has been writing up every song that has hit number one on the Billboard charts, starting back in the fifties. I look forward to reading the new entries in this list every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Now, we’re up to the early 80s, back when Casey Kasem reigned and I have first-hand memories of listening to these songs on the radio.
I Love Rock and Roll ruled the airwaves in fourth grade.
Eye of the Tiger was the first 45s I ever bought.
Today’s entry: Jack and Diane was off one of the first records I ever owned. The first track off American Fool was Hurts So Good, immediately followed by Jack and Diane. That’s a pretty impressive one-two punch.