A Veterans Day Memory

It's Veterans Day, 1998. I'm interning at the BU radio station, WTBU, which means I get a half-hour of the "real" DJ's shift to play whatever songs I want. I'd been playing mostly Frank Zappa during my sets to counter whatever garbage the DJ had been playing for most of the show. Without even thinking, I grabbed The Lost Episodes and played FZ's "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted":



The DJ (his name was Paul) comes into the studio and says, "Real smart, playing that on Veterans Day."

I still don't see why not wanting to get shot in the foxhole isn't patriotic.

Alt-Rock Returns To Hartford Radio. Meh.

I live in Boston now, but my formative music-listening years were spent in the Hartford area. Some of my fondest memories of the time were driving around listening to Radio 104, the region's lone "alt-rock" station. (To this day, I still remember which street I was driving down when I first heard the Meat Puppets' "Backwater," [it was Montauk Drive] and Edwyn Collins' "Girl Like You" doesn't sound quite right when I listen to it anywhere except inside the confines of my 1992 Subaru.) And even when the station shifted towards Creed/Limp Bizkit mook-rock post-2000, it was still the best (if only) outlet for alternative rock in my town. Plus, I was reviewing concerts for the Hartford Courant after college graduation, and the bulk of the shows I wrote about were sponsored by Radio 104. The station helped me earn a good chunk of change. (Also, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider's syndicated morning-zoo radio show originated out of this station.)

A few years ago (2003?) I was at work on a Friday afternoon, and Radio 104 played "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at 4:55 p.m., then, without warning, became a hip-hop/rap station... despite the fact that the Hartford market already had a hip-hop/rap station. My concert review opportunities dried up almost overnight (though this was rendered moot when I moved to Boston), and the Hartford market had NO alt-rock station. Until this past weekend.

Radio 104 re-launched this weekend, as "fm 104one," and it's like the station never left. The playlist hasn't changed one iota since they changed formats 3 years ago. Here's a sample of songs that I heard (online streaming) on a recent Tuesday afternoon:

• "What It's Like," Everlast
• "By The Way," Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "Girls & Boys," Blur
• "Mr. Jones," Counting Crows
• "Headstrong," Trapt
• "Big Me," Foo Fighters
• "So Much To Say," Dave Matthews Band

Not a single one of those songs was released after 2003. It's a shame, because a ton of great indie/alternative/whatever music has been released in the past four years. (And of course there's plenty of interesting music from this '90s classic alternative era that they're ignoring as well. Surely the station could spare a few minutes for, say, Pavement's "Cut Your Hair.")

A friend of mine derisively refers to Connecticut as "The Land of Metal That Time Forgot," (the state's metal scene has thrived for years -- think Hatebreed), so I understand the station's hesitancy to get "too indie," to a constituency that doesn't have the ears for it. But knowing that other stations across the country -- L.A.'s 103.1 FM, San Diego's 94.9 FM, countless others across the nation -- successfully integrate modern indie (Rilo Kiley! Against Me!!) with the classic alternative stuff reminds me what a half-hearted return this is for one of the favorite stations of my youth.

Current listening: Dirt Farmer, Levon Helm