Four years ago, something very exciting happened in New York. My favorite alternative rock radio station of all time was born. I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it was. [Notice I'm writing in past tense here?] Not only were the on-air personalities fabulous and so connected to their fans but the music selection was amazing. 101.9 WRXP played great music and also introduced me to so many new artists and songs ~ it was always a candy store for the ears:
Soundgarden, Linkin Park, M83, Death Cab for Cutie, Alice In Chains, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Cult, Muse, Shinedown, Spacehog, AWOLNATION, Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Mumford & Sons, Audioslave, Jane's Addiction, Radiohead, Broken Bells, Beastie Boys, U2, Oasis, The Church, Foster the People, Kaiser Chiefs, Kings of Leon, Matt & Kim, Florence + the Machine, The Naked and Famous, Neon Trees, Phoenix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Psychedelic Furs, Regina Spektor, Trevor Hall, Two Door Cinema Club, Young the Giant...
Matt Pinfield, a former beloved MTV VJ, became their morning radio host and I loved listening to his stories and deep voice and laugh. Leslie Fram, the program director through most of the RXP run, was his cohost and she apparently knows everyone in the business and she impressed me as being the most positive and upbeat music host. The two of them were fantastic together and it made my hour-long ride into work in the mornings enjoyable ~ which was significant considering the traffic hell I was dealing with. As soon as I got to work, I'd listen to them on the internet.
Steve Craig came on at lunchtime and would play some Ramones and punk from his "punk trunk". I'm not a big fan of punk but it was an education and one I appreciated. I used to e-mail him all the time to play Oasis songs during the lunchtime request hour. I'm sure he got sick of me but he was always so generous with his replys and took his listeners seriously and always put us first. :-) Brian Phillips handled the ride home and had me laughing all the way out East. Paul Cavalconte hosted when I was driving around on the weekends and he had the smoothest and gentlest voice of them all. He always sounded like such a gentleman with a deep love for music.
When I moved to Virginia I was happy to be able to listen to RXP on the internet when I was at work. I missed it in the car and on the weekends but it was something, anyway.
Previously, 101.9 WRXP had been CD 101.9, a smooth jazz station. It was really good too and I'm sure the listeners who loved it were totally outraged when it died and was replaced by an alt rock format. As outraged as I was when WRXP died last year. Actually, it was murdered. Due to 'low ratings' which I think is total b.s. All these fantastic d.j.'s lost their jobs and scattered across the country at the whim of a corporation. A year later, 101.9 is back with alternative rock but without the original team so it's not the same. Very sad.
Last year, after I lost RXP and was so sad about it, I started looking around for a different alt rock radion station that also broadcast on the internet so I could listen to it at work. I found 99X in Atlanta. They seemed to mostly just play music and there didn't seem to be a lot of DJ interaction like there was on RXP but the music was really good! Guess what happened last week? Dead. Same cause of death: alt rock isn't appreciated by the corporate giants that decide on formats for their radion stations. I'm depressed.
I honestly have no idea where to turn now. Part of the enjoyment of listening to radio is having a connection with the DJs. That's why I avoid Pandora. Well, where to next?
Soundgarden, Linkin Park, M83, Death Cab for Cutie, Alice In Chains, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Cult, Muse, Shinedown, Spacehog, AWOLNATION, Foo Fighters, Arcade Fire, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Mumford & Sons, Audioslave, Jane's Addiction, Radiohead, Broken Bells, Beastie Boys, U2, Oasis, The Church, Foster the People, Kaiser Chiefs, Kings of Leon, Matt & Kim, Florence + the Machine, The Naked and Famous, Neon Trees, Phoenix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Psychedelic Furs, Regina Spektor, Trevor Hall, Two Door Cinema Club, Young the Giant...
Matt Pinfield, a former beloved MTV VJ, became their morning radio host and I loved listening to his stories and deep voice and laugh. Leslie Fram, the program director through most of the RXP run, was his cohost and she apparently knows everyone in the business and she impressed me as being the most positive and upbeat music host. The two of them were fantastic together and it made my hour-long ride into work in the mornings enjoyable ~ which was significant considering the traffic hell I was dealing with. As soon as I got to work, I'd listen to them on the internet.
Steve Craig came on at lunchtime and would play some Ramones and punk from his "punk trunk". I'm not a big fan of punk but it was an education and one I appreciated. I used to e-mail him all the time to play Oasis songs during the lunchtime request hour. I'm sure he got sick of me but he was always so generous with his replys and took his listeners seriously and always put us first. :-) Brian Phillips handled the ride home and had me laughing all the way out East. Paul Cavalconte hosted when I was driving around on the weekends and he had the smoothest and gentlest voice of them all. He always sounded like such a gentleman with a deep love for music.
When I moved to Virginia I was happy to be able to listen to RXP on the internet when I was at work. I missed it in the car and on the weekends but it was something, anyway.
Previously, 101.9 WRXP had been CD 101.9, a smooth jazz station. It was really good too and I'm sure the listeners who loved it were totally outraged when it died and was replaced by an alt rock format. As outraged as I was when WRXP died last year. Actually, it was murdered. Due to 'low ratings' which I think is total b.s. All these fantastic d.j.'s lost their jobs and scattered across the country at the whim of a corporation. A year later, 101.9 is back with alternative rock but without the original team so it's not the same. Very sad.
Last year, after I lost RXP and was so sad about it, I started looking around for a different alt rock radion station that also broadcast on the internet so I could listen to it at work. I found 99X in Atlanta. They seemed to mostly just play music and there didn't seem to be a lot of DJ interaction like there was on RXP but the music was really good! Guess what happened last week? Dead. Same cause of death: alt rock isn't appreciated by the corporate giants that decide on formats for their radion stations. I'm depressed.
I honestly have no idea where to turn now. Part of the enjoyment of listening to radio is having a connection with the DJs. That's why I avoid Pandora. Well, where to next?
No comments:
Post a Comment