Cincinnati: the future of rock (and riots)
An Yngwie Malmsteen guitar lick rips through my computer’s speakers. Then the voice-over: “It’s a Guitar Center (fading into the background– “CENTER…Center…center”) clearance blowout!” The obnoxious commerical continues to screech about effects pedals, Yamahas, and other hot rock items. Mercifully, the commercial is short and the DJ is back on the air. He sounds like a DJ at any mainstream radio station, talking about station-sponsored contests and giveaways. “Alright folks, we’ve got the latest…” he says… “from The Shins.” Wait, what? This is not a college station. Not public radio. It’s Cincinnati’s 97X. Here are some samples from their heavy rotation list: Beulah, My Morning Jacket, Joe Strummer, Belle and Sebastian, The Wrens, +/-, and Death Cab for Cutie. I stumbled upon their internet stream while sampling some of iTunes (is this the most perfect piece of software ever created?) radio stations. Basically, once in iTunes, go to radio stations>alt/modern rock> and then almost at the bottom of the list is WOXY. Check it out. The last song they played was by a group called “Basement Jaxx” and featured Siouxsie Sioux. I think it was called “Cish Cash.” Have you heard this? SICK.
December 8th, 2003
Jay
Monday, December 08, 2003
Ahh man. Billy. 97x - immortalized in Rainman as Dustin Hoffman apes the radio ID: THE FUTURE OF ROCK N ROLL. Basically a necessity in mid 80s No. Ky. for anyone with tastes beyond, ya know, Smoke on the Water and other WEBN staples.
I fondly recall rigging an antennae for my marroon Fisher Boom Box just so I could fine-tune the staticky signal and hear Dr. Demento and the Budweiser 6-pack. A block of pre-Document REM brought to you by Budweiser in 1986. Pretty revolutionary. A harbinger of things to come…
Billy
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Yeah, I’ve made a few purchases. A new Bangles song called “Stealing Rosemary,” “Lost in the Supermarket” Clash, and some others. It’s too easy to find and buy songs and I can already see how it would add up quickly!
Hey happy belated birthday by the way!!
tommy
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
My initial thoughts on the iTunes concept were not very positive. But now I see how it can be a good resource for grabbing an odd song now and then. I’ll probably never use it, though.
BTW, My birthday isn’t until the 11th. We just celebrated early because Kim is going to be out of town for work.
Barron
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
I followed your link to Yngwie’s site and found out that he and Bay share the same birthday, June 30th. He’s gonna be thrilled!