Taking a quick break away from the Greater Downtown series (continuing on Monday) to rave a bit about the recent disturbance in the force called KPIG radio.
Back when I first moved to San Francisco, in 1980, I was astonished at all the great radio stations. KFOG and KMEL were both playing a lot of eclectic AOR (album-oriented-rock), and KJAZ just completely knocked me out with its jazz programming. Community-supported radio pioneer KPFA was also a great source of interesting music from out of the mainstream.
But the all-time greatest radio station in the Bay Area was KFAT. It was hard to tune in, but it was worth the static and hiss. It had an unbelievably comprehensive record collection, knowledgable DJs, and a passion for mixing it up.
That station eventually morphed into KPIG, which has kept the old-school "underground radio" tradition alive. Based near Santa Cruz, they still have real live DJs who pick out their own music based on whatever they want to play. They take requests, mix in weird audio clips, comedy bits, and listener comments left on their answering machine. It's radio insanity, in a good way.
And now, it's in Chico. Broadcasting at 96.7 on the FM dial, it replaced some boring corporate format hip hop station. It just went live this week, and it is now the favored preset on every radio I have any control over. It has replaced KCHO, KZFR, KVMR, and everything else for the foreseeable future. I expect it will be the same for a great many people in Chico, and our cultural consensus will be forever altered because of it. I have heard a lot of music I've always loved and haven't heard for years. I'm also hearing a lot of great music I'd never heard before. It's like being hooked up to an IV drip of hip.
It's also a stone gas to hear the traffic reports. They'll be going on about the long backup at the maze, the overturned big rig on 17, the injury accident in the East Bay, etc., then say "...and in Chico, everything seems to be moving along just fine..." Traffic reports in Chico; so not done.
Long squeal the pig!
About Me: From commentary on local politics to critiques of art and culture to random philosophical musings, my occasional observations are a Dog's Breakfast of media criticism that is sometimes surprising, sometimes unappetizing, but always colorful.
I would like to contact Alan Chamberlin. Old schoool aquantiance from Columbia, Missouri
Rosemary--
I tried to reach you at the email address you posted with, but it bounced back. If you're strill tracking this site, please email me directly at axon@axonometrix.com
I look forward to catching up with you!