Does anyone out there listen to FM radio anymore? I do pretty regularly & I love it. Besides the commercials, that is. Side note before I start (front note?): last night as I was listening, every ad during one of the commercial breaks offered a free commodity. Free laptop, free info tape, free book, free postage... draw your own conclusions. On with the show...
Growing up, 93.1 WXRT blared in my dad's van every morning & it continues to be my favorite station. It's got a great mix of the new alt-pop singles & older classic tunes, all of which are well organized and presented by the DJs. Lin Brehmer (possibly my favorite mainstream media employee in the country & definitely the best MC for Chicago's WingFest) continues to provide eclectic musical choices as well as totally Chicago-biased sports & music humor each morning. New(ish) XRT DJ Jason Thomas plays a variety of tracks & specifically delves into B-sides & lesser known tracks from many notable bands. FYI Claptrappers... Lin controls the morning commute & Jason the evening, so I'm primarily an "in-the-Subaru" listener of the Frequency Modulation.
Besides the quality DJs, WXRT also provides a bevy of awesome shows. Blues Breakers, The Big Beat, The Eclectic Company, New Noise at 9, Local Anesthetic, and the syndicated Little Steven's Underground Garage are all incredibly robust & worthwhile listens. In some ways, these shows are an analog answer for those people that aren't terribly inclined to use the web's many music reference/ suggestion applications. New, obscure, foreign, live - all forms of hidden gems get airtime during these sets. Also, there are podcasts for some of these shows available on WXRT's website, though they are limited and intermittent. Little Steven's Underground Garage is badass & archives can be heard online here.
If you are in the Chicagoland area, put down the digital music player every now & again and tune in to XRT, you won't regret it. Well maybe you will, but you'll probably get over it.
Do you listen to music on the radio? What stations do you like? Why?
Growing up, 93.1 WXRT blared in my dad's van every morning & it continues to be my favorite station. It's got a great mix of the new alt-pop singles & older classic tunes, all of which are well organized and presented by the DJs. Lin Brehmer (possibly my favorite mainstream media employee in the country & definitely the best MC for Chicago's WingFest) continues to provide eclectic musical choices as well as totally Chicago-biased sports & music humor each morning. New(ish) XRT DJ Jason Thomas plays a variety of tracks & specifically delves into B-sides & lesser known tracks from many notable bands. FYI Claptrappers... Lin controls the morning commute & Jason the evening, so I'm primarily an "in-the-Subaru" listener of the Frequency Modulation.
Besides the quality DJs, WXRT also provides a bevy of awesome shows. Blues Breakers, The Big Beat, The Eclectic Company, New Noise at 9, Local Anesthetic, and the syndicated Little Steven's Underground Garage are all incredibly robust & worthwhile listens. In some ways, these shows are an analog answer for those people that aren't terribly inclined to use the web's many music reference/ suggestion applications. New, obscure, foreign, live - all forms of hidden gems get airtime during these sets. Also, there are podcasts for some of these shows available on WXRT's website, though they are limited and intermittent. Little Steven's Underground Garage is badass & archives can be heard online here.
If you are in the Chicagoland area, put down the digital music player every now & again and tune in to XRT, you won't regret it. Well maybe you will, but you'll probably get over it.
Do you listen to music on the radio? What stations do you like? Why?
XRT is really the only FM music station I listen to regularly. I'll usually listen on my way home from work when Jason Thomas is on, and I find he often comes through with some good tunes.
ReplyDeleteBut if XRT didn't exist I probably wouldn't listen to FM radio.
I will say, though, around Christmas time, Q101 plays the top 101 songs from a particular year from the past 10 years or however long it's been around. So each day has a new year. I always try to catch the years around when I was in 8th and 9th grade. Every song is pretty much awesome.
Lin Brehmer is awesome. Could not agree more. He is smooth and the producers of his show always have insightful sound clips, bumpers, etc to really engage the audience in whatever song and whatever era they may be playing.
ReplyDeleteBut I like me some Silvio more. Little Stephen's Underground Garage has gotta be the best late night show on in Chicago. Where else can you hear Frank Zappa on the radio anymore?
I'm with you guys...if there was not XRT I would never even turn my radio on.
I just listen to NPR until something really shitty comes on, then I turn it to XRT. I try to listen to recorded music as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, last night's guest on "The Eclectic Company" was Claptrapped erection-fuel Andrew Bird. He played a variety of tracks including from his new album as well as many (surprise!) eclectic tunes from many times & places. Of note: Elephants are Sycophants
ReplyDeleteMy attenna on my car is broken off so I can never really listen to FM radio. In fact I can't even recall the last time I listened to the radio. Luckily I can directly connect my Ipod so it doesn't even matter because FM radio is pretty much crap. XRT is the only somewhat decent station, but they also play a lot of crap like the Fray.
ReplyDelete