Radio
Archaeology
By Peter Aaron
So
you’re stuck driving solo around the Hudson Valley early one
Saturday evening with a busted CD player. Uh-oh. Got satellite radio?
Yeah, we can’t quite justify that expense yet, either. This
means you have only local radio to keep you company. You poor thing.
Turn
it on and ip around, try to nd something listenable. NPR? Great,
but most of the time they don’t play music. Christina/ Britney/Jessica/Gwen?
Not if you’re old enough to drive to the mall by yourself.
How about the same damn classic rock you grew up with and still
get blasted with over and over again? Didn’t think so. But
what else is there? Easy listening? Mewling brown-suede singer-songwriters?
Mindless jam-band noodling? Hey, we’re trying to stay awake
here. Those soft-voiced soul-savers on the religious stations, the
ones that sound like HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey? Um, no thanks.
Keep spinning that dial, getting into the upper 90’s...
Wait,
what’s that? Some kinda crazy rockabilly tune. Hey, that’s
Charlie Feathers! No way—on the radio?! Next up: Sixties Jamaican
ska from Alton Ellis. Raw blues from Howlin’ Wolf. Unr eal.
And ther e’s mor e: Vintage French yeh-yeh pop from Francoise
Hardy. New Orleans R&B from Professor Longhair. Prewar string-band
country from the Carter Family. 1930s calypso. 1940s bebop. 1920s
hot jazz. Old-time gospel. African and Middle Eastern sounds. What
kind of amazing godsend program is this? Pull over and pinch yourself,
music lover—you’ve hit pay dirt: It’s WKZE’s
“Radio Archaeology.”
Hosted
by DJ, musician, and insatiable record fanatic Raissa St. Pierre,
“Radio Archaeology” has been heard at 98.1 WKZE every
Saturday from 5 to 7pm since May 2004. And it’s safe to say
there’s really nothing else like it on the regional dial.
CONTINUE...
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