Inner Cities 1 (1991). Alvin Curran /the delights of bay area radio/

Last Sunday's Chronicle reports the local classical radio station KDFC, better known by its ad slogan "all comatose, all the time," was third in overall ratings, ahead of even KCBS news radio (let alone the alternative rock Live 105 which was 20th). This probably means they are raking in the cash which means they have no incentive to change their programming which ultimately means terrestrial FM radio has little or no interest for me.

To survey the alternatives, for a month, I relived my youth by listening to Max 95.7 aka "seventies, eighties, whatever" but enough with the pop nostalgia, even if I remember more songs than I care to admit. After too much Philadelphia Freedom, time to move on...

Then, I switched to the local reggaeton station. For those who are unfamiliar, this is a beat-heavy Spanish dance station.  Songs and DJs are mostly in Spanish and the traffic report sounds like this to my ears

".................280..............Menlo Park..........McArthur Maze.............Burger King"

I did enjoy the morning call-ins for about a week, even if I couldn't ascertain the subject most of the time. But eventually, it was time to move on to KDFC.

Nothing interesting. Nothing. I would occasionally be surprised by some movement from a concerto from some fourth-rate 19th-century composer; after all those years reading Fanfare, if I can't recognize the names, they must be obscure. Regardless, the overall effect was still soporific.

I don't really understand this. Even today, I listened to Alvin Curran's Inner Cities 1, played by Bruce Brubaker. This is simple music and yet it has some life and vibrance. I don't think I am that hard to please; I can listen to this repeatedly despite what Curran himself says about it:

IC 1, written as a birthday gift for Ernstalbrecht Stiebler, is composed on a single A major chord in first inversion supporting a one note melody on "A." When this gets boring the music "modulates" to a 3 note melody over a 4th chord.

And yet, reggaeton is more satisfying than what I hear on KDFC. In any case, I've now migrated to the Stanford and Foothill Junior College stations. This also means all music and artists I've never heard before but if it leads to discovering fun stuff (as it has in the past with say, Family of God), I'm good, for awhile anyway...

Comments

[richard friedman]

The current state of affairs with bay area radio stations is worse than abysmal. So bad that I removed the FM tuner from my sound system and replaced it with Igor, the music server...a revived old iMac connected to my DSL network with access to hundreds of internet stations via Live365, the BBC Radio 3, and others.

The only local radio programs playing new music worth listening to are on KALW 91.7. Namely, Sarah Cahill's THEN AND NOW, Sunday nights 8-10p, and my own (of course), MUSIC FROM OTHER MINDS Friday 11p PT. Each week's MFOM program is available for streaming for the week following broadcast via http://rchrd.com/mfom/mfom.m3u. Current program includes Evan Ziporyn's PONDOK (played by Sarah!), Lucky Mosko's INDIGENOUS MUSIC, and part 4 of Cages MUSIC OF CHANGES.
http://rchrd.com/mfom/

(Couldn't resist the shameless self promotion)

[Les]

I have such fond memories of KFJC. I listened to them all the time when I was a teen. I remember being 14 years old hearing "Lecture on Nothing" for the first time. I had no idea what it was, but it made me just stop everything and listen to. They played stuff that mind-blowing all the time. I used to stay up late to listen to noise music at like 2:00 AM. And surf music on sunday afternoons. (Almost) every genre of music that I like now, I first heard on KFJC. They were the best radio station ever. Hopefully, they still are.

[Cujo]

My sentiments _exactly_.
The low end of the dial is where it's at. KFJC, by the way, is still broadcasting strong at 89.7 fm and the internet (see our music reviews!) at www.kfjc.org.

-Cujo, KFJCer (you quoted me for your Unanswered Question entry!)