When I was in college, my secret passion was working at the college radio station. I never wanted my own show – I just wanted to intern with all the cool DJ’s, so that is what I did.
Every Friday afternoon I would run from some fraternity’s afternoon happy hour to the radio station on the third floor of the student commons. Sometimes I made it on time and sometimes I did not. Once, when I was having way too much fun and completely forgot, I heard an announcement come out over the radio “Would Sarah the Dancing Intern please report to the station.” That became my radio nickname and it stuck.
What I loved about working there and hanging out with the hippest dj’s was learning about all this MUSIC that was out there that I had never heard of. Hearing the latest from REM or Tears for Fears or 10,000 Maniacs (boy amd I dating myself) or The Cure or The Smiths was like pulling back the curtain on a world a I never knew existed. I discovered the power that music has to open my eyes and open my world.
Fast forward several years and I lived in Memphis. Once again I sought out the hippest source for music in a town re-knowned for giving birth to legendary talent. And I found it in the strangest sort of set up I’d ever seen. Community supported radio that was not Public Radio a la NPR. This was grassroots radio of a unique kind and the name of the station was, and still is WEVL. (If you don’t know what a weevil is, look it up.)
Here, you might hear blues one hour, African music the next, gospel the next, Celtic the next – a mishmash assortment put together by the disc jockeys, the station management team and the community that supports it. A truly unique music find.
So, rather than mess around with Satellite Radio, I just go to http://wevl.org/ and live stream whatever is on. Let’s see…if I hurry I can catch the tail end of “Through The Cracks” – a Contemporary folk, alternative country, adult rock and everything in between show that’s been on the air for 10 years. Won’t you join me?
