Poetry and Radio
I put my poetry up in my blog because then I don’t have to worry about whether it is “good enough” to go in our poetry section, which has some standards.
Those who are reading this to get a feel for my writing, let me just say that I am not strictly a poet. Of course I am not strictly a programmer either, but that hasn’t stopped me from playing with the occasional code.
In fact, those who are reading this website to evaluate me or my writing should probably just skip this whole blog altogether.
Anyway, it’s that time of the month again, when the bountiful halls of NPR become an old beggar with a bag and pointy stick. That is, it is fund drive time, and my normal happy home of 90.9 WBUR on the radio dial has become guilt-inducing stories of little blind boys who are cured by a small contribution to NPR. This casts me out into the vast sea of weird noises and pop music that seems to be most radio stations. This is the time when instead of listening to the news on my evening drive I listen to a little station here in the Boston area called 88.9 WERS, aka Emerson college radio.
WERS is commercial free, a rarity in any medium now-adays, though of course can you find this refreshing lack of commercials here at biggerboat as well. During the evening WERS plays reggae, which I personally am not a fan of and would only listen to during the aforementioned “special time” of NPR avoidance.
During the morning, though, WERS really shines. While I drive to work in the morning, I get to listen to folk music, often live, on “The Coffee House”, the morning show. This in my opinion is much better than Howard Stern. And I find great pleasure in finding a space where no-one is really trying to sell me something, where I also get to listen to novel and independent music. Sure, sometimes it takes some effort. But sometimes I discover a new favorite artist, like the easy to misspell Tom Brosseau. And the women who do the morning shows usually have very melodic voices.
I highly recommend all four of you who read this listen. Just don’t tell anyone else, or it will become so popular they’ll sell out. Already the ads are creeping in. Recently, the Coffee House was brought to me by Tower Records.
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