what comes around

Moving to a new place is weird cuz you don't know the streets...You don't know how to pronounce "Schuykill"; you don't know which food trucks will give you food poisoning..but most importantly, you don't know the RADIO STATIONS. It's unexplored terrain and it's frighteningly vast. Yeah, I know there's satellite radio and this new thing called the IPOD but AM/FM radio is so powerful because it's contextual. Coming from Los Angeles, I was totally spoiled by KCRW, which had the perfect mix of liberal news coverage and kick ass music. When I lived in Berkeley, I fell in love with KMEL and Energy 92.7. KMEL was your run of the mill top 40 hip hop station but on Sunday evenings they had this program "Street Soldiers" where reformed gang members would talk about their experiences. A lot of frustrated mothers and grandmothers would call in and talk about their children and grandchildren. It was just perfection. Oh god, a quick Google search has informed me that Street Soldiers was cancelled. F*** corporate radio! Well, Energy was an amazing dance station partial to electronica, house and techno. Imagine you're at a gay club. Then imagine it is playing the best dance music on earth. Then imagine you didn't have to pay a cover; you only needed to turn on the radio! It provided the soundtrack for many late night impromptu dance parties during my college years. A quick google search has informed me that ENERGY 92.7 HAS BEEN REPLACED BY A TOP 40 HIP HOP STATION. WHY?!! It was dubbed "the little gay station that could." But, I guess it couldn't...Ugh...okay I will try to continue writing but I'm pretty upset...RIP Energy...

Now I live in Philadelphia and I'm trying to get a handle of the radio stations. Of course there's the local NPR station that provides stimulating news coverage...and I've found a good station that plays only Al Green on repeat it seems. But the station I think I'm falling in love with? WKDU...A COLLEGE RADIO STATION. Yes, college radio... The dregs of music. Entire shows devoted to Hungarian synth pop and annoyingly obscure B sides. When I was a Berkeley student I avoided the local college radio station like the plague. The DJs were too knowing and I was a little hater. But now that I am older and wiser, man, college radio is the sh*t. Punk's not dead! F*ck the police! Yeah! I'm making up for lost time...