Radio from 1995 - Present

When I first started listening to the radio independent of my parents, say around 1995, Mix 105.1 was the way to go. I never really had a concept of what other kids were listening to, other than Alanis Morrisette, which is why I have never owned a Green Day's Dookie. (Note: Once I found out everyone loved Dookie I went down to CD World and gave it a listen. Is it enough to say that I still have (and will) never own a Green Day album?) Every Saturday morning at 10, Casey Kasem would go through the weekly Top 40, in order of course. I relished every poppy sugar-soaked chorus and every melodramatic over-distorted bridge.

As time wore on, my interest in the Top 40 did not diminish. In the car we'd listen to Billy Joel, The Beatles, and James Taylor, and I never resented my parents for exposing me to their music. In fact, I loved it. But every weeknight at 9pm, until I was about 14 (1999) I would head up to bed and put on Z100's "Interactive 9 at 9." People would call in and vote for their favorite song (New York's self-proclaimed #1 Hit Music Station), and I would almost inevitably fall asleep before #1 was announced at about 9:45. It's OK, though, because the next day when I listened to the Z, the same 9 songs were invariably played ad nauseum for 24 hours. I'm not all that convinced that there were more than 9 songs in the station's entire rotation. In fact, my reporter in the field, Mr. Adam Baker, works in an office space in which Z100 is still the standard fare for listeners throughout the day. He says that he has heard approximately four hours of that rubbish each day and of the Top 40, he thinks the station plays about 30 on a continuous random loop. According to his expert calculations, each song gets at least five or six plays per day that he hears. Looks like not much has changed in a decade.

Then, the fateful day arrived on which one Cliff Gerber got his driver's license (more than a year before the rest of us). Way back in 2001, the most alternative station on the radio in central NJ was G106.3. It served primarily the Shore area, but most of the time our reception was OK, and our ride to school was soundtracked by such indie-rock legends as John Mayer (during his 'Room for Squares' phase) and Jimmy Eat World. Actually, there were very few others. Some Foo-Fighters here, some Michelle Branch there, but really all we heard each morning during our 20 minute ride were three things: a long stream of commercials interspersed with 'No Such Thing' and 'The Middle.' Every day. Controlling the radio was new to us as newly licensed passengers, so it seemed excusable.

What is not so easy to overlook is that by the next year (2002 - 2003), when I was a senior, I should have already mastered the radio. Unfortunately, G106.3 was still the predominant alternastaion programmed into my presets. The same general alt-rock, the same entertainment news updates -- it was essentially just MTV on the radio. And the rest of the stations were no better. I simply reprogrammed most of my parents' presets into my first car (Buick Regal, circa 1992) without considering the following facts: one played oldies, one played classic rock (Q104.3 is still a staple of my radio experience), and the rest were either light rock or commercial pop. And, of course, all are owned by ClearChannel.

During my senior year of college, I took a photography course. The dark room TA's gave us a constant flow of NPR, and I'm sorry to say that aside form the occasional Car Talk, I had virtually no NPR experience. After hundreds of hours developing and cropping, dodging and burning, my love for NPR was planted, cultivated, and in full bloom.

It took me almost 22 years to discover the joy of public radio, and I haven't listened to a non-Q104 commercial radio station in over a year. Between 88.7 (jazz out of Newark), 96.3 (classical from ancient to contemporary), and NPR New York affiliate 93.9 WNYC (talk, music...the works) all of my bases are covered. Now the BBC World Broadcast has taken the place of Scott and Todd's asinine morning show, and my commute to work is filled with the joy of Ira Glass's This American Life podcast.

If you have never listened to this, I would say that no art has effected my life more over the past several months than TAL. It's honest and real and one of the most uplifting, heartwrenching, emotionally charged things I've ever heard. Perhaps what makes it so special is the precise and deliberate use of music throughout each presentation, but whatever it is, it is well worth listening to if you never have before (www.thisamericanlife.org).

WNYC gives me Brian Lehrer in the morning, Ira Flato presenting Science Friday for All Things Considered, SoundBites (which exposes me to a wide array of new music), and countless other consumerist-free, commercial-free programs that are entertaining without being gratuitously in-your-face like most sound-effect-ridden morning shows or afternoon shockjockfests. Of course there is something for everyone, but it's even more telling that it can be everything to so many (at least in terms of radio). Even though I sometimes feel like a twenty-two year old with the musical bitterness of a grandparent (not mine exclusively, but mine included -- and I'm not so sure she'd like Nine Inch Nails...or Jose Gonzalez for that matter), I am absolutely happy to admit that commercial Top 40 radio stations are not for me, and I'm a little ashamed that they ever were.