CHIRP: The Chicago Independent Radio Project

Cameron Gray writes

10+2 Reasons I Love Community Radio

A few explanatory notes up front. First, since 1990 I have never had a functioning CD player in my car for a complete year, hence a two decade dependence on radio. Second, I adore the intimacy of community radio – it feels like a friend is talking to me and inviting me into her world; this brings me great and unrivaled comfort. Third, if you have idiosyncratic taste in music you’ll take what you can get when it comes to new stuff to buy. Because of this, I’ve always had a pad and a pen in my car in case I get lucky and need to write down albums and bands. So: 10 transformative experiences from two decades of listening to community radio.

1. Interstate 95 between Philadelphia International Airport and Philadelphia proper, afternoon in spring 2001, WPRB, 103.3 (Princeton, NJ). After three years of unsuccessfully trying to source the sample on the first track of Tortoise Remixed, a wiseacre plays the Steve Reich tape loop from which the sample was taken. I am ecstatic with this information, but nobody has ever cared. Yes, you got to feel the blues.

2. East side of Manhattan, night in December 1991, WNEW, 102.7 (NYC). In a misguided attempt to decide if I would like Rockefeller University for grad school, I drive there. It must have been shortly after 11 PM, the slot for Vin Sclesa’s Idiot’s Delight show. I hear a band I had never heard, Luna, playing live in the studio. Dean Wareham sings Anesthesia, this is less than a year after he departs Galaxie 500. I adore the song and memorize the band’s name. Strangely, their debut album Lunapark appears in a short story by J.G. Ballard from the early 80s.

3. 41-B Main Street, Cranbury, NJ, Christmas night of 2000, WPRB, 103.3, (Princeton, NJ). John something plays his standard 24 hours of Christmas show. I am enthralled. So enthralled that I elect to stay up until 5 AM to see what he will play. I am moderately disappointed when I request a Pansy Division song that is, um, holiday-themed, and am told this violates a station rule. I am confused by this but I let it go.

4. The wrong side of the tracks in Charlottesville, Virginia, afternoon in 1993, WTJU, 91.1 (Charlottesville, VA). A DJ graces my afternoon with an extraordinary cover of Angel from Montgomery. Recorded live in the WTJU studio in 1991, this version has the John Prine vocals delivered by a Southwest Virginia bluesman and the Bonnie Raitt vocals delivered by Dave Matthews. This was recorded before Dave Matthews was signed, back when he played Tuesdays at Trax and regularly on the downtown mall. This is a hard song to find. Bonus question: who is singing alongside Dave Matthews on this track? And why is it not Koko Taylor?

5. Interstate 40 outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1:15 AM, April 1996. Driving straight from Denver to Tucson, Arizona through the night, I begin my westward trek across New Mexico around 1 AM. I stop for coffee and cigarettes and wonder whether my rental car can go faster than 60 mph. Back on the road, the second song I hear is from The The, Time Bomb. In two decades of listening, this is the only time I have ever heard a The The song on the radio. I smoke two cigarettes in a row to celebrate.

6. Charlottesville, Virginia, winter 1998, WTJU, 91.1. I leave Charlottesville on Halloween night, 1997, handing over the reigns of the coveted 3-6 AM slot, Tuesday mornings, to the best man in my wedding. He develops a loyal following amongst bakers arriving to make bread. This group requests the same Pansy Division song every week for three months at 5:30 AM on the dot. Curiously, the requested song never changes. Horny in the Morning. Indeed.

7. Princeton, NJ, a two-week stretch in the afternoons, spring 2000, WPRB, 103.3. For reasons that I never satisfactorily ascertain, one DJ discovers early recordings from a distressingly raw Indiana band led by John Cougar Mellencamp at the age of 19. I don’t know what to say about this. Ever watched a car accident develop? J.G. Ballard got this one right, and how. For the literati out there, see the short piece covering Jacqueline Kennedy, a beautiful, embryonic version of the work that resulted in the film Crash.

8. Pasadena, CA, summer 1991, ? I don’t recall the station, but I fondly recall a young lady with a sultry voice saying something about Baja California. I am so smitten by a song that I pull over to fully appreciate what I am hearing. The song is Into the Groove(y), a stellar effort on the Ciccone Youth album. See also: Rough Trade compilation with a Flaming Lips cover of the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army. A decidedly poignant critique of GW Bush on the track.

9. Evanston, IL, winter 2008, WNUR, 89.3. I have a hankering for Sonic Youth. Despite having everything they ever released, I am completely at the mercy of the radio. By a twist of fate, the DJ elects to throw Kool Thing at me. It is about 7:35 AM. The day goes well because of this and only because of this.

10. Germantown, MD, spring 2004, 8:30 AM in my buddy’s garage. We are doing mosaic art and drinking beer. He plays me a live take on the Howard Stern show, Dave Grohl with an acoustic rendering of Everlong. I don’t know Dave Grohl, but I spent dozens of nights at his club on U Street in Washington, D.C., The Black Cat. No matter how many times I listen to this song, acoustic or electric, I fight hard not to cry. I get very frightened that something I love will go away and not come back.

11. [Honorable Mention] I did not hear this one on the radio, it’s on a fairly obscure KCRW 89.9 Live on the Air compilation, version X. Beercan. On a related note, I saw Beck’s grandfather’s luminous Hershey Woman here in Chicago a few weeks ago. Maybe creativity’s in the genes.

12. [Bonus Question:] DFW seemed to me to be making a veiled reference to some DJ, perhaps an amalgam, through much of Infinite Jest. Thoughts on whether the character has a flesh-and-blood mirror? Perhaps the time is ripe for Brief Interviews with Hideous Rockstars?