RTP-area local music and culture

[jim.brantley AT gmail.com]

I don't know who Ken Friedman or Mike Woodard are, but I absolutely
agree that college radio *is* the magic spice in the Triangle.

When I moved from Raleigh (where in my house I could pickup only WKNC
and WSHA) to Durham (where I could then also pick up WXDU, WXYC, and
WNCU!), I had a hard time explaining to some people (mostly non-music-
obsessed people) why this made me so so so very excited and happy. The
disproportionate number of incredible radio stations we have in our
fair metro region contributes significantly to my quality of life.

As a musician, the preponderance of incredible local radio stations
has also shaped my ears (and thereby my musical taste) in a huge way.
I grew up in the Heart of the Triad, where from a young age I was
thankfully fed a steady stream of 90.9 WQFS (thanks Guilford
College!). However, it wasn't until I'd been listening to our Triangle
stations for a few years that my ears were truly no longer put off by
a playlist that goes: minimalist classical piece->Pavement song->art-
noise/musique concr=E8te piece->song by [INSERT LOCAL BAND]->strange rap
song->etc. (From this description you can probably tell that WXDU and
WXYC have been the most common settings on my dial.) It's hard to say
exactly what effect this has had on my music, but it has certainly has
had an effect.

(I should pause here to re-emphasize the fact that unlike in Raleigh
and Chapel Hill, I can pick up all of these stations in Durham - yet
another item on my as-of-yet-unwritten "things I like about Durham"
list.)

As a side note, I wonder what effect the internets will have on this
ear-shaping of up and coming musicians? For example, I now regularly
listen to WFMU (from Jersey City, NJ) over said internets. A kid
growing up today in the Triad (as I did a few years ago) now has
access to listen to our Triangle stations, as well as those from
anywhere else in the world. But I wonder if that kid actually will.
This is probably a pointless digression. Let us now take a moment of
silence to reflect on our thankfulness for local college radio in the
Triangle.

Jim B.

P=2ES. How nice it is to now be able to listen to Divaville (Sunday at 3
on WXDU) straight into Ross's show (Sunday at 5 PM). Similar to the
weekly Saturday treat of 8-track flashback (Saturday at noon on WNCU)
straight into the Funk Show (4 PM on WNCU), which now leads straight
into the Soul Show (Saturday night on WXDU)! I think I listen to the
radio like most Americans watch TV.


On Apr 5, 6:38 pm, ifo... AT yahoo.com (Chris Calloway) wrote:
> conformity at some historic church. within a year
> everything changed, and that was pretty much
> concomitant with the rise of college radio in both
> durham and chapel hill. i'm pretty convinced that is
> the magic spice and we can pretty much trace the good
> effects of both back to either ken friedman or mike
> woodard.