Despite the research I did, the host I chose upon leaving GoDaddy, a company called Name.com out of Denver, could not keep a handle on its e-mail servers.  To make a long story short, every e-mail server they put me on was blocked by one major service or another.  In a world where Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail/MSN/Live, and ISP-issued accounts still rule the day, this was unacceptable.  I gave them three chances and each one went sour (all accompanied by other screw-ups that I am leaving out in the name of brevity).  On Monday afternoon, when Name.com offered me the choice of either waiting 72 hours to get the server I was on off of the BellSouth blacklist (keeping me from being able to e-mail my mother) or just get a refund, I was out of there faster than prunes go through an AARP meeting.

My new host is based in Durham, North Carolina and has the oddball name of A Small Orange.  Yes, GoDaddy seemed like a strange name at first years ago, too.  I just I hope that, unlike GoDaddy, “ASO” stays true to its principles and good corporate citizenship in addition to providing good service.  I already feel very comfortable with ASO so I hope this is the last I have to write about any downtime for at least a few months until there might be another burp when I transfer my domain registrations away from Name.com (those are locked in as there is a waiting period after a transfer and I already just took those away from GoDaddy’s clutches).

Stuff like this is why I always caution people not to move to just any Web hosting service.  Even those of us that think we know what we’re doing can get hosed.  This is especially true as people trying to be re-sellers of a company’s hosting services flood search engines with phony review sites that make a company look wonderful even if one enters the term, “Company X sucks” (thus explaining why I am not putting any links in this entry…I want it to be clear that I’m not selling anything).

As with Name.com (thank goodness!), make sure the company has a 30-day money-back guarantee (ASO gives customers 45 days).  This gives people a fair opportunity to see if a hosting company lives up to its promises and delivers on good service.  In addition, just like anything that has to do with computers and/or the Internet, always make sure to have a site’s files fully backed up every time a change is made.  One never knows when it might be time to bail on a moment’s notice.

14 College Stations join IHeartRadio streaming roster

For those that do not fully understand what this means, IHeartRadio is the mobile device app put out by Clear Channel, the company that many like me believe is ruining radio in North America.

Now, let me step back here and look at the potential good that could come out of this especially since @radioinsight linked to a story at MarketWatch with quotes from Clear Channel stating the 14 stations added now are only the beginning of bringing college radio to IHeartRadio.  As is well documented in some of my previous posts plus even more so in other places on the Web, college radio is in big trouble.  Some very well-known institutions have sold off their licenses, more are considering doing the same, and some colleges have seen such a drop in interest that they have simply just handed their license back to the FCC.  Getting such outlets on IHeartRadio could possibly usher in a renaissance of college radio as they would get much more attention and donations especially since mobile apps appeal to a younger but generally more affluent demographic.

However, knowing reality and what has already happened to college radio in my home area of Los Angeles where their close proximity to the major record companies has corrupted many of the the stations’ true independence, I worry.  First of all, dealing with Clear Channel is dealing with the very entity that is killing off locally-focused, wide-playlist radio all over the United States along with thousands of jobs which brings up some interesting morality questions to say the least.

Second and perhaps most importantly, it now gives Clear Channel “live or die” power over these stations.  It is certainly solely up to Clear Channel as to whether or not a college station remains available on IHeartRadio.  Let’s say that the quality of a college station dips for a semester (as will happen as its disk jockeys come and go).  Perhaps even more threatening, what if a host takes issue on the air against something Clear Channel supports or even the company itself?  The pressure Clear Channel could bring to change a format or individual host in the face of a threat to remove the station from IHeartRadio would be immense in this era of shrinking college budgets which shows no end in sight as conservative political pressure will continue well after the economy finally but inevitably improves.  Being dropped from IHeartRadio could be the excuse any money-hungry college dean needs to sell off his school’s license to be another NPR drone or, worse yet, another frequency churning out the religious K-LOVE feed.

At this early stage, I am not sure what to think about this personally or how I will let it affect what is linked on my Radio page.  In the first batch of 14 college stations being added to IHeartRadio, only KGRG-FM, the groundbreaking “alternative” station that serves the Seattle area, would be in my cross-hairs for removal.

Then again, would it be correct of me to blame KGRG-FM for joining forces with Clear Channel?  After all, who made the decision?  The students?  The program director who might also be a student?  The professors that oversee the program?  The administration?  The Board of Directors?  In any of those cases, is that any different than the few other mega-corporate-owned stations I leave on my list as I do believe they are still worthy?

At this point, I will stand pat with my list but keep a close eye on the situation.  After all, it would probably take some time before Clear Channel would start throwing its weight around and there’s a lot of great programming on these college stations that will be added to IHeartRadio.  Still, I cannot help but listen to my inner Peter Parker and feel my spider-sense tingling that this means big trouble down the road.

KoHoSo.us Opposes SOPA, PIPA, and OPEN

Yes, I am well aware that GoDaddy has issued a public statement rebuking their support of SOPA.  However, they have yet to truly put their muscle behind it and, frankly, it smells just like everything else that has infected the bad side of corporate America over the past 30 years or so.

In many ways, I hate to leave GoDaddy.  I have been customer of theirs before KoHoSo.us was born in July 2005 and even prior to their first infamous Super Bowl commercial.  For me, the service has been exemplary in every way.  This includes an “above and beyond the call of duty” situation where a GoDaddy customer service representative tracked down a problem with the ISP that was serving the business where I was working.

On the other hand, it has also been embarrassing to be a GoDaddy customer.  Their marketing was cheesy even before the introduction of the GoDaddy Girl.  While the first couple of commercials featuring Candice Michelle were funny (especially and ironically in hindsight, the one where she was testifying in front of a Congressional committee), the continued use of titillation to promote the company made it easy for almost anybody to accuse owner Bob Parsons of being a misogynist.  GoDaddy has also not been a very good Netizen in how it allows people to buy up squatter domains or to set up websites claiming to be fair web domain and hosting review sites when all they are is a front for people to get a referral credit by sending people to GoDaddy.  Then, earlier this year, the GoDaddy man himself, Bob Parsons, gleefully shot an elephant for the whole world to see on YouTube.

Still, I stuck with them because of how well they have served me on KoHoSo.us plus on various business websites and even multiple ones for the online sim racing league in which I used to participate.  However, their participation in the creation of the SOPA legislation — all done while making sure they were immune from its unconstitutional and destructive provisions, then followed by their weak repudiation once the Internet began picking up its torches and pitchforks — is the last straw.

I know that some of my readers will find my decision to go through the big hassle of moving my services elsewhere to be ridiculous especially when I have truly been a satisfied GoDaddy customer.  After all, what’s the big deal when we know that almost all big companies of any type do things that we don’t like?

The big deal is that SOPA bypasses due process.  That’s not some obscure legal point; it’s a cornerstone of the Constitution of the United States of America, a document that I take seriously no matter how much our last few Presidents and Congresses have used it as their personal butt-wipe.

Another big deal is that SOPA’s provisions will make the World Wide Web less secure by breaking down the current system that is used to “resolve” Web addresses.  For those that are not hip to such things, basically, it’s what gets you to Google when you type in google.com.

Other big deals?  Giving up more general freedom as the government and Hollywood will become Internet police watching everything we download…pushing away more personal liberties just so police do not have to do a thorough investigation to make sure a suspect is actually engaging in criminal activity…more legitimate websites pulled from the Internet for a year or longer just on the say-so of a big media conglomerate…more non-computer-savvy grandmothers being fined thousands of dollars because they have no clue as to how they can secure their wireless router…the end of Internet innovation and investment as no small start-up will be able to afford the attorneys’ fees to make sure everything is legal plus fight off the frivolous claims of Hollywood….the list of bad things in this bill for everybody except big media conglomerates that want to turn the World Wide Web into a system just like cable television — with exorbitant rates to match — goes on and on.

Here’s two scenarios that could happen under SOPA.

1. A family takes a vacation to Disneyland.  They, of course, take photos which they later post of Flickr.  Disney decides they want everybody to come to their photo-sharing service so they call up the government and say that this user is posting their copyrighted material and that Flickr is supporting them in this action.  The government then sends out a signal over the Internet that not only takes down the family’s photos but also prevents everybody in the USA from accessing Flickr…oh, and its parent company, a little thing called Yahoo.

2. A husband and wife set up their own business and, of course in this day and age, put up a website.  They start to become successful.  An already established and larger competitor sees this new business eating into their market share.  The older company calls the government and claims that the new company has posted material that they do not own.  The government sends out a signal over the Internet to block the new business’ website.  The new business is then forced to carry on without a Web presence plus spend at least a year if not longer going through all of the legal hoops to get back online.

If anybody thinks that is far-fetched, I can tell you that it is already happening under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  SOPA only makes it worse and, again I stress, makes it all happen without any need to go before any serious judicial review or have any sort of independent investigation.  One is considered guilty before being proven innocent, another absolute rape of a cornerstone of our Constitution and, to put it mildly, kind of a big reason why we fought the British for independence.

Worst of all, SOPA will not stop the vast majority of serious software or media piracy (since most of it happens outside of the country) and will use the same methods to block material as are used in wonderful democracies as Red China, Iran, Syria, and other such lovely vacation spots (and don’t think for a minute that the government won’t eventually expand the “War on Piracy” to also block anything it finds embarrassing or inconvenient).  Other than laws from over two centuries ago regarding slavery, this is pretty much the worst bill ever brought before Congress that actually has a chance of passing thanks to the unlimited amount of money that Hollywood can spend on election campaigns.

Yes, for me to leave GoDaddy when they have been so good to me is a big gamble.  I have dealt with bad providers before and it is indeed a nightmare.  My next provider might even be more expensive in the long run.

There just comes a time when one has to stand up and do what is right regardless of the cost.  To me, it is very similar to Wal-Mart.  Yes, I could shop there and bask in its convenient locations, hours, and prices.  However, I know what the true cost of Wal-Mart really is in higher taxes (because they pay such low wages and provide little healthcare) and loss of American jobs (because I defy anybody to find anything in Wal-Mart other than food that is made in the USA).

GoDaddy is now the same thing.  They will say whatever they have to to keep fooling enough people to think they are acting in their best interests and only want to fight online piracy.  They will use every distraction — including boobs — to make people feel they are just reg’lar folks.  All the while, they are working behind the scenes to take our privacy, choice, and freedom.

Whether it is a losing battle or not, I will not stand for it.  Even if SOPA or something equally evil eventually becomes law, I will be proud and thankful that I along with tens of thousands of others, both liberal freedom-lovers and conservative patriots, stood up in a truly bipartisan effort to try and stop Hollywood from being able to police the Internet and, most of all, to do so in such a blatant slap at our beloved Constitution.

If there was ever a time to do so, do it now and stick it to The Man…because The Man doesn’t like you to be able to compete against him, have other choices, or even just to have a little fun.  Sorry, GoDaddy, but you are now The Man.  Goodbye.

As for my readers, KoHoSo.us will be back in a few days.  Until then, I wish you a safe an peaceful New Year’s Weekend.

There are many radio stations in North America that call themselves “legend” or “legendary” in their tag lines.  In most cases, this is somewhat true but almost always only on a local basis.  An even higher percentage of these “legends” are a shell of their former selves and living merely on the reputation of their once esteemed call letters.  While I could easily list several stations that have had a huge influence, there is one that stands alone in how it changed the face of America — WSM.

Back in the day when listening to radio stations from far away was something everybody did and not just the niche hobby of DXing it is today, WSM blanketed two-thrids of the United States and half of the populated area of Canada anytime after sunset.  From its studios in Nashville, Tennessee, it exposed millions of people to a rich music and culture that had, up until then, been mostly confined to the hollows and farms of the poorest areas of the southeast.  Whether one likes what has become of country music or WSM’s signature program, the Grand Ole Opry which has been running continuously since 1925, just remember that many things came from this that probably would not have otherwise happened including bluegrass, rock & roll, and the general seeking out of other then-niche musical styles.

These days, WSM-AM is a “classic country” station but does so without simply resting on its laurels.  Unlike other stations claiming that format, WSM’s playlist is wide in years, deep in selection, and they don’t discriminate against bluegrass, rebels, or borderline rock.  The disk jockeys are well-informed and certainly carry on the friendly-sounding tradition that many such stations had in the past.  Over the air, WSM-AM is the last “clear channel” (small “c”, not the evil company of the same name) that still broadcasts music; all of the others now have a “news/talk” format (a.k.a. conservative blowhard programming).

WSM-AM was originally owned by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company.  Their slogan, “We shield millions,” is how WSM got its call letters.  The station is now owned and programmed by Gaylord Entertainment Company, the same group that now owns the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium which was the Opry’s previous, traditional home, and many other entities.

If the mood strikes to hear some good, genuine, all-American music, one can’t go wrong by spending a few hours with WSM.

Click on the logo to visit the WSM-AM website.

The second station I’m recommending today is a true rarity to add to my list for two reasons.  First, it will be only the third fitting station I have found worthy of linking that runs the wonderful Americana music format.  Second, it is an online-only station.  While I try to focus solely on over-the-air stations to encourage people to not give up on such an “old fashioned” medium and support the remaining stations that stand out from the crowd, sometimes, something is too good to not present to my readers.

Having just discovered it a couple of weeks ago, I do not know much about Radio Vagabond.  I did discover upon doing a little research tonight before making this post that it is located in Denver, Colorado.  This is a very key element in this case as whoever is running Radio Vagabond must have been heavily influenced by the two spectacular Americana stations that used to broadcast in that city earlier in the 2000s.

Because I don’t know much more about Radio Vagabond, please allow me to quote from the station’s homepage as I think this says it very well and far better than I can.

Musicians don’t like labels. That’s why “Americana” music is as good a label as any to catagorize this station. Americana music incorporates the best in country, alt-country, folk, blues, bluegrass, rockabilly and alt-rock. One doesn’t even have to be from America to be considered “Americana”. This is great music, most of it under-exposed. I hope you enjoy listening to Radio Vagabond as much as I enjoy programming it!

Vagabond Danny

Click on the logo to visit the Radio Vagabond website.

Let’s say that a significant amount of people became so disenchanted with the government of an American state — let’s call it “State X” for now — that they decided to stage a sit-in protest in the park across from the state capitol building.  The protest is completely peaceful and obeys all laws other than the protesters refuse to leave until their grievances are fully addressed by the sitting government.  After several weeks of protest while politicians worry about embarrassment and nearby businesses complain about loss of revenue, things finally come to a head.  At two o’clock in the morning, the governor asks the city police to clear the park once and for all.  In addition, to avoid bad press, he instructs the police to block the area provided to reporters so they cannot see the police action much less leave.  The police are also told to tell all nearby residents they must stay in their homes and that all apartment buildings and hotels are to be locked so residents cannot leave.

Now, let’s say in this case that “State X” is California where, at the moment, the governor’s office and control of both houses of the legislature are held by Democrats.  In addition, the protesters are self-proclaimed members of the so-called “Tea Party” and the main media organizations being blocked from reporting on the police action are the local Fox television affiliate and reporters from Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio.

The ensuing shit-storm would be almost unfathomable.

Yet, take that scenario, turn most of it in the other direction, and that is what happened in the early hours this morning in New York City…but it will be OK because it was just a bunch of “dirty hippies.”

For anybody that has any remaining shred of independent thought in them, this is such a blatant slap against the Constitution that it should be intolerable no matter what side of the political aisle one sits on.  No, it’s not that the park in New York City was cleared that upsets me so much.  It is that legitimate media was blocked from observing and reporting on the actions of the police in a public area.

No matter what one thinks about today’s media whether it be the major outlets or an independent blogger, there should never be any question that they have the right under the First Amendment to report how police act when clearing a public area…and one cannot report without being given access.

Sadly, too many people have forgotten that, in a way, the Constitution is supposed to be inconvenient.  We are supposed to tolerate views that we find distasteful and even abhorrent.  This runs the gamut from Communists to the Ku Klux Klan.  Even more important, people have forgotten about our system of checks and balances and that one of the main checks is the media to make sure that the government never fully gives into the inevitable temptation to do more and more things in secret.

Considering the positions many in the Tea Party hold worrying about too much government power, they should jump all over this incident as proof that the current system suppresses true freedom.

Don’t get me wrong.  I know full well that no city could continue to allow a large public space to be continually occupied by a protest unless and until it gained enough public support to truly affect change such as what we saw earlier this year in Tunisia and Egypt.  The point is that nothing of this sort should be allowed to occur with no independent observer and reporters especially in New York City were there have been serious and legitimate questions about police behavior…another problem we have these days where too many Americans are becoming too comfortable in letting law enforcement agencies take too many shortcuts and believing that the end justifies the means.

So…with no full accounting of what happened tonight in New York City as even news helicopters were kept away from the airspace over Zuccotti Park, it only allows people on both sides more room to embellish what really happened.  That is an extreme disservice to everybody concerned especially the New York Police Department.  For all we know, they will have done everything by the book and acted exactly as trained in how to remove protesters even when having to use force…but, we won’t know because Mayor Michael Bloomberg was more concerned with image than the Constitution…a problem that sadly afflicts almost every major politician these days regardless of party.

People of all political stripes need to sit down and read the Constitution to see what it really says and not have some politician pandering for votes tell them what he or she thinks it says.  I believe folks would find out that there’s a lot of stuff in there that they don’t like but, after some thought, would realize it’s for the best because, without it, we would all end up getting steamrolled by the power that would inevitably gather at the top.  Then, maybe more people would vote accordingly and more moderately.

On the other hand, we get the government that we deserve.  When 111 million people in the U.S.A. watch the Super Bowl but only 14 million watch the highest-rated Presidential debate, is it any wonder that the core, legitimate grievances of either the Occupy movement or the true Libertarian side of the Tea Party are ignored while the politicians continue to play the “us versus them” style of politics?

Before I continue, hardly any commercial radio station on my list is a single-outlet enterprise.  Many are traditional as the owner holds one AM and one FM licence.  More are held by some of the new local groups where an owner might hold three or more licenses in a market.  A few others are regional where the owner concentrates on many stations in a single state or other well-defined area.  Regardless of that type of ownership, I look to see if such a station is still connected to the community, is not on automation or playing syndicated programming for more than a fraction of its broadcast day, and — of course — plays a good selection of music in its chosen format.

What I am talking about here are the big media conglomerates like Clear Channel, the behemoth that has set the pace for the ruination of having radio be a local service (although no CC stations have ever been on my list and, thus, need to be removed…they are simply the best known example).

The first group of stations I need to explain are owned by Entercom Communications Corporation.  Entercom is usually one of the better behaved radio conglomerates in the United States but that isn’t really saying much.  It is probably my disappointment with what Entercom did to one of my favorite stations that makes me want to purge as many of their outlets from my list as possible, and I will get to that in a moment.

Click on the logo to visit the WKQK website.

The first “keeper” I have from Entercom is WKQK that serves the Memphis, Tennessee market out of the suburb of Germantown.  So far in my searches across the Internet for good radio, it is the only station I have found playing the “classic hits” format not owned by an even more detestable conglomerate or, perhaps even worse, using the hideous no-DJ “Jack FM” type of presentation (known in some cities under other names like “Dave FM,” “Bob FM,” etc. and even used on country stations with monikers such as “Hank FM” or “Willie FM”).  For a format where the station obviously picks from only a set amount of songs, they do a very good job of it…yet another thing that is often so frustrating about Entercom stations in how they can do one thing so well but screw the rest of it up (again, more on that below).

Click on the logo to visit the KNRK - 94/7 - Alternative Portland website.

Entercom also stays on the list for another station that is also the only type of its format that I have found passable for sharing, KNRK that serves the Portland, Oregon market but is licensed to Camas, Washington. In this case, it is the “modern rock” format which has truly lost its way at almost every other station I have found still attempting to play it.  I cannot completely fathom how KNRK might still be good other than the fact that, if a station in a city that is proud to call itself weird gives itself a secondary name like “Alternative Portland,” it had better come through.

Click on the logo to visit the KSEG-FM - The Eagle website.

The last of the Entercom stations remaining on my list is KSEG-FM in Sacramento, California.  This is an admittedly personal selection because anybody looking at my Radio list can easily see there are several “classic rock” format stations to choose from.  This station has a lot going against it as it runs the syndicated morning atrocity known as the Mark & Brian Show and is what seems like one of over 9000 outlets in North America that has nicknamed itself The Eagle.  What saves this station is that it is located where I went to junior high and high school and is one of the only two that has some of the great disk jockeys of “my time” left on the air (60s & 70s oldies station KCCL being the other).  These are not just men that bring back fond memories, they are among the very people that made me want to get into the radio business myself and continue to have an appreciation for what makes a good announcer and overall show.  Of most note to me on KSEG-FM are Tom Nakashima who was a staple on the old KXOA-FM “K-108 The Mellow Beaver” soft rock station (back when “soft rock” meant singer/songwriter type stuff instead of glorified pop) and especially Bob Keller and his signature lunchtime segment, The Café Rock, that goes back to the late, lamented, original KZAP.

Now I come to the two Entercom stations that I felt had to be removed from my list.  Perhaps one of the greatest disappointments in my entire life of radio fandom was listening to how Entercom ruined KQMT in Denver and its other “The Mountain” branded stations including KMTT in Tacoma/Seattle.  This was especially true of KQMT because it became my favorite station in Denver even before I moved there for a while in 2004.  It was everything I could ever ask for out of a commercial radio station — distinctive promos, bumpers, and station IDs that were effective without being overwhelming…disk jockeys that were connected to the community, knowledgeable about music, and that talked like real people…and, most of all, a rock format that was a great blend of old, new, and obscure.  It was the kind of station I had not experienced in years — one where I would not mind sitting though a song I did not like as something good was surely coming up next.  Even though KQMT got very good ratings, Entercom couldn’t help but try to make it “better” and, thus, fucked it all up every which way from Sunday.  They went to a strict classic rock format that was not much better than their Clear Channel competitor down the dial, alienated most of their best talent (most of whom seem to have escaped to “adult alternative” stations up in Aspen and Vail), and are now to the point where there are now only two live hosts with the remainder of the day being automated while churning out what now sounds like a crappy iPod.  I don’t think the fall at KMTT in Tacoma/Seattle was quite as bad as they kept a little “AAA” around plus one more disk jockey.  Still, what happened on these and all of Entercom’s other stations branded “The Mountain” ripped listeners’ hearts out who originally flocked to these stations in droves as an oasis in an otherwise barren radio landscape.  I simply cannot in good consience steer my readers to them anymore even if they do still have times of occasional competence.  The other “classic rock” and “adult alternative” staions on my list are just too much better to leave KQMT and KMTT up on my Radio list.

Click on the logo to visit the WVVR - The Beaver website.

Getting back to a radio conglomerate station that will remain on my Radio page, this one is owned by Saga Communications which, for some reason, seems to fly under the radar as far as making news for itself.  They own one of the two country stations that I can still tolerate, WVVR that is licensed to Hopkinsville, Kentucky and serves the overall market of Clarksville, Tennessee.  I am not keeping this station on the list just because it’s in my home state of Kentucky and the mascot leads itself to an almost infinite amount of double entendre jokes (which the station uses to perfection even with it lying in the heart of the Bible Belt).  The Beaver truly is a good country station, something amazingly lacking in North America considering it is the most popular music format found on the radio dial.

Click on the logo to visit the KZOK website.

One more station owned by a conglomerate that will remain on my list was a surprise to me when I spent two weeks being able to listen to it over the air in the summer of 2010.  KZOK is a “classic rock” station in Seattle and owned by CBS Radio.  Not only is the music selection not as repetitive as many of their ilk, KZOK is one of the last stations even in a big city to have a live disk jockey on at all times except during its very few syndicated programs and specials.  While many might find this surprising, KZOK recently hired Danny Bonaduce as its morning man.  For those not aware of this, the former “Danny Partridge” has been in radio for a while now and I thought he did a very good job during his time in Los Angeles on KYSR and never understood why he was let go.  After a stint in Philadelphia, it will be interesting to see if, on KZOK’s second attempt to do so, Bonaduce is the man to fill the shoes of the person that was on mornings at KZOK for ages, Bob Rivers, who most people know as the guy that does funny Christmas songs.  Aside from all that, KZOK is the only decent thing I can find in the CBS Radio stable that is not an all-news station.  It might not be my first choice for streaming a “classic rock” station, but it is still worth recommending.

Click on the logo to visit the KSLX website.

The final station owned by one of the “big boys” that will remain on my list is owned by Sandusky Radio.  KSLX is a “classic rock” station licensed to Scottsdale, Arizona serving the greater Phoenix area.  I don’t know why other Sandusky outlets of a similar genre can’t do the same, but KSLX is deeply embedded in its community.  It is also one of the few stations that still retain a “live “graveyard shift” disk jockey.  Like KZOK, it does a lot better than most at not being too repetitive with its song selections.

So…why do I even bother with these very few stations held by radio conglomerates?  While my Radio page does focus on smaller and non-commercial stations, I think it is also important that it focuses on good radio.  Despite the owners, these stations are good.  While I am certainly a supporter of the movements going on these days against too much centralized power of all types, I also believe it is only fair to point out that not every big corporation is always bad and not every small one is always good.  I also believe it is important to recognize when a big company does something well as there might be a small chance it takes hold and they start doing better everywhere they do business.

All of that being said, I would not be honest if I also did not say that all of the stations featured above are always on a very short leash with me at all times.  With the owners of these outlets more beholden to the whims of all too many overly-selfish shareholders instead of the public (or, at least, the audience ratings), they are always in danger of turning bad on a moment’s notice.  That’s one reason why I so often close my posts on this blog by saying, in one form or another, keep sticking it to the man…because — especially in radio which has always been a flighty business — if you don’t stick it to him first, he will surely stick it to you.  If you don’t believe me, just ask Jim Ladd and “The Tribe” that used to listen to him on KLOS.

A nice side of this was I ended up discovering a great station I had previously missed out on adding to my Radio page…independently-owned WOCM.

WOCM is difficult to classify in a couple of different ways.  As for its location, the studios are in Ocean City, Maryland, the overall market is Salisbury, Maryland, but the official city of license is Selbyville, Delaware (either way, it is the first station from either state to make my list).  As for the format, I went with calling it “adult alternative” although it certainly mixes in more and harder rock than most “AAA” stations plus they mix in a lot of other things that even most other similar stations never think of trying such as oldies and deep cuts of blues and reggae artists.

In some ways, WOCM adds to confusion about itself — at least to those looking at it from outside its intended market — by calling itself both “Ocean 98″ (a fairly standard-sounding moniker that could be for any format) and Irie Radio.  Of course, “irie” is a word most strongly associated with reggae music.  While WOCM does play some reggae now and again and “irie” does mean a combination of happy, excellent, and pleasing, it does seem out of place no matter how much one wants to think that the cooler beaches of the Delmarva Peninsula compare with those of Jamaica.

My critique of their branding aside, this is one of the best commercial rock-based radio stations I have found in a very long time.  If one likes a good portion of familiar music but still wants to be challenged or surprised on a fairly regular basis, I strongly recommend spending a few hours listening to WOCM under any name.

Click on the logo to visit the WOCM website.

Those memories are indeed strong and, I believe, as accurate as a human can have.  After having gotten up early that morning to take my then house-mate to work due to his blown car motor and then arrived back home and turned on the television just 45 seconds before the second plane hit the World Trade Center, it took me about two minutes to get over the shock to realize that this would be my generation’s defining moment of history.  Just like those that were around for Pearl Harbor or the assassination of President Kennedy, it would be remembered and asked about for the rest of my life.  Thus, I thought it was extremely important to really open up my brain and remember every little detail of the day from the temperature to how the flowers looked.

In general, my memories of that day are the same as most other people’s especially for those that live outside of New York City and Washington.  They are not terribly spectacular and I am not going to bore my readers by detailing all of them.  However, there is one that still nags at me and I believe is a reflection of where we are at now after that benchmark day changed the United States forever.

California has a reputation for being a mellow place.  As one that has lived all over the Golden State for many years, I can say with authority that is not necessarily true.  Californians might seem mellow while at rest in their homes or at various destinations such as a public event.  However, when dealing with the public in a general or semi-competitive sense, they are just as selfish and rude as any other place in the country that has a reputation for its citizens being assholes.

As it happened on that dreadful day in 2001, there was no food at home so I absolutely had to go to the grocery store after leaving work.  With the Inland Empire area of California under no apparent direct threat, most people stayed at work until at least 3 o’clock so the traffic going home was at its usual level.  However, I immediately noticed a huge difference in how everybody was behaving.  Nobody was running red lights.  Everybody was taking their proper turn at stop signs.  Nobody was cutting people off, passing to the right, or the many other idiotic things that Californians do when they decide that they are more important than anybody else on the road.

Perhaps even more shocking was what I experienced when I got to the grocery store, especially so at this particular one as it is relatively small with narrow aisles and caters to a lower-income crowd.  Everybody was taking care to not block the aisles.  Nobody was cutting people off with their carts.  Mothers were quietly but firmly making sure their children were not being a nuisance.  Most of all, everybody was saying “please,” “excuse me,” and “thank you” like they actually meant it (as this is often a place where one says “thank you” to a cashier and they react as if it was an inconvenience).

In those first 72 hours or so after 9/11, I had faith that this would be one of the good things to come out of this awful tragedy.  After all, we had all just seen in graphic detail how fragile life can be but also, in the face of that, the mighty power of even just a few simple acts of kindness and self-sacrifice.

Yet, it was not to be.  Having wanted to get home to my friends on 9/11, I did not buy a large amount of groceries on that day.  On Friday after work, I had to return again.  After three consecutive days of courteous people filling the roads and stores, it was as if somebody flipped a switch to make everybody forget what had just happened.  People were back to their same old selfish behavior, the only difference being they were now doing it while bearing American flags on their vehicles and wearing t-shirts that read, “Let’s Roll.”  I was totally deflated and even angry when I arrived home, then felt even worse as about half of my large group of friends were already expressing that they had 9/11 “burn-out” or even disdain for the fuss made in the media over the whole event.  This was all while the debris in New York City was still smouldering and stunned me both as a student of history and somebody that considers himself to be a good American.

Yes, I can see a point where some might have found my view as “wallowing” in the disaster and there certainly were different levels of tolerance for the constant news coverage.  Even I finally shut it off sometime later that weekend.  Still, to me, this was a time to reflect, not to totally shut down.

Of course, people deal with tragedy in different ways.  My hope was that there would still be a dulling of the sharp edges that American culture had begun taking on over the past two or three decades and that some of the leadership on that front would come from the government.  After all, we had almost the entire world on our side, right?  Even George W. Bush wouldn’t miss this opportunity to do some correct, moderate things while making sure to get Osama bin Laden and keep Afghanistan from being a harbor for his al Qaeda thugs…right?

Well, we have all seen what has happened.  Pretty much every facet of America is now even more of an “us vs. them” than it has has been since the 1960′s.  Politically, the blame goes equally on Republicans (who never asked for shared sacrifice) and Democrats (who never provided any real leadership).  The major media outlets failed by either all too quickly falling back into their old habits of sensationalism, “light” news, and thinking that presenting each side of an argument is true journalism, or just simply becoming a tool for one selected political party.

All of that being said, the ultimate failure was of we the people, myself included.  Many like me held out hope for too long that Bush and Cheney knew something we didn’t even though the evidence was piling up that Iraq had no nuclear or chemical weapons and was no direct threat to the United States (much less involved in 9/11) and thus not worth setting war upon it especially when Afghanistan was still unfinished business.  We also held out hope for too long that our own “regime change” would make things better as we ended up electing a president and congress that almost completely wasted its super-majority to right the wrongs of our previous actions both at home and abroad.  Most of all, far too many went quickly back to the circus of distractions, caring far more about voting for a contestant on American Idol than voting in the many crucial political elections we have had since 9/11.

No, we certainly can’t fret over 9/11, politics, and the media every minute of every single day nor should we deprive ourselves of our favorite forms of entertainment.  On the other hand…well, while watching the documentaries tonight and remembering the awful sound of the hundreds of beeping locators in the pile of rubble that belonged to New York City firemen and women who would never be found, I just cannot in any way imagine they would be content to know the state of the country ten years later and, worse yet, how their sacrifice has been used by some to make things even worse.

It’s not enough to just pull out the flag one extra day a year and get a little pang of sadness as the NFL or NASCAR does an extra-long pre-event tribute on whatever weekend falls closest to 9/11.  The only way to honor those in fire, police, and military units that have lost their lives along with the other heroes such as those on Flight 93 is to truly consider if we like what our country has done in the wake of their loss…and then, like those on Flight 93, do something about it.

As the often misquoted and mis-attributed line by Leonard H. Courtney goes, “The price of peace is eternal vigilance.”  We’re probably doing OK on the vigilance front, maybe too good considering how much the government is now allowed to pry into our private lives without a warrant and keep that data eternally.  However, what about the peace part?  Are we promoting peace at home with our attitudes toward those that think and look differently?  Are we promoting peace by allowing our government and government-sponsored big corporations to look out only for themselves when interacting overseas?  Are we promoting peace by supporting a president in Afghanistan that is more corrupt than the gang at Tammany Hall ever dreamed about?  Are we promoting peace by continuing to use torture as an interrogation method?  Are we promoting peace by letting a communist nation hold most of our national debt (or, have such a huge debt in the first place)?  Are we promoting peace by cutting programs and services that help the middle and lower classes while offering even more tax breaks to the wealthy?  Are we promoting peace by continuing to ignore science?  Are we promoting peace while we let our entire education system go straight into the toilet?  Are we promoting peace when we elect people that promise “compassionate conservatism” or “hope and change” but still get the same old shit out of them?

I don’t mean to sound like a complete egghead.  I realize it’s a rough-and-tumble world out there where not everybody is nice.  Jeez, just one look at that prick Putin over in Russia should tell everybody that.  Still, that doesn’t mean we should throw away so much of what the United States has attempted to be over its relatively brief history.  If all we become is just the shell of bravado with none of the substance underneath, we will fall faster than Rome and deserve every painful moment of it…and all of those people we supposedly honor every September 11th will have died for nothing.

I saw Obama as a smart, pragmatic politician.  Weaving my way through his well crafted and superbly delivered rhetoric, I believed he fully realized the blocking moves that the Republican Party would put on his power and would be very careful to pick and choose his fights.  Yet, when the fight was chosen, I believed that he would give it his all.

The Obama Administration stumbled from the very beginning but that is by no means unusual.  No matter how much a person believes he or she is prepared for what is still the most important job on Earth, the burden is stunning and it seems nobody can pre-plan for how much detail the microscope hovering over the White House actually reveals.  Every administration starts off with a few gaffes and mistakes.  Thankfully, most of Obama’s were small…except for one which, unfortunately for the country, was a harbinger of what has happened over the almost 30 months Obama has been in office.

I have felt this way for quite a while but was still waiting for the pivotal time when Obama would finally have his Popeye moment and say, “I’ve had all I can stands, I can’t stands no more” — or, for you country music fans, when he would finally give up on being the Coward of the County and whup some ass.  Those that pay attention in the center, center-left, and left of the political spectrum have spent enough time waiting and I think it’s plain that the moment is never going to come.

That’s not to say that I advocate everybody switching to the right or that we made a mistake by electing Obama instead of John McCain.  I’m sorry, but continuing to watch her since her bizarre Vice Presidential campaign ended, the country is still better off with a milquetoast in the White House than having Sarah Palin one heartbeat away from the Presidency.

At least with Obama there is something resisting — albeit weakly — the farce that is the so-called “Tea Party” movement…and it was the creation of that movement and the failure to respond to it was that first moment I sensed big trouble with Obama.  After all, here is a movement almost wholly financed by huge corporations that have no interest in the true desires of its rank-in-file members.  The people in it want a secure border, but the corporations want the cheap labor climate created by having a huge influx of illegal immigrants.  The people in it want manufacturing jobs to return to America, but the corporations want to continue outsourcing to squeeze every possible penny out of their profits while shirking their patriotic duty to give back to the country that gave them the opportunity to become wealthy in the first place.  The people in it want a return to the values of the Bible, but the corporations want to be able to break any Commandment without “government interference” whether it be bearing false witness, holding the Sabbath holy, or even committing a sort of murder with what they produce and release onto the planet that God supposedly created.

Unless the Republicans sweep into power in 2012 or 2016 and start rewriting all of the textbooks and banning other books that do not agree with their point of view (and don’t think for a minute that many of the Tea Party crowd wouldn’t like to do just that), I believe history will show that the unraveling of the Obama Administration came in that first month when Rupert Murdoch and the Fox News Channel started showing the falsely “grassroots” rallies complaining about rising taxes when Obama hadn’t even had enough time to find all of the bathrooms in the White House much less do anything other than work on getting his half-assed economic stimulus package passed through Congress while it was still scared enough to pass something to help real people.  The whole thing amazes me as Obama said consistently (and still does) that he would not raise taxes a single dime on anybody that made less than $250,000 a year.  I don’t know about anybody else reading this, but I didn’t see too many people in those Tea Party crowds looking as if they made that much money unless they were on or behind the lectern.

So…where are we now that Obama failed from the start to strongly and consistently refute the claims of the radical Tea Party movement?  I believe this says it all and much better than I can right now.  This paragraph comes from an article that inspired this blog entry.  It is titled, What Happened to Obama? by Emory University Professor Drew Westen published in the Sunday Review section of the New York Times.

To the average American, who was still staring into the abyss, the half-stimulus did nothing but prove that Ronald Reagan was right, that government is the problem. In fact, the average American had no idea what Democrats were trying to accomplish by deficit spending because no one bothered to explain it to them with the repetition and evocative imagery that our brains require to make an idea, particularly a paradoxical one, “stick.” Nor did anyone explain what health care reform was supposed to accomplish (other than the unbelievable and even more uninspiring claim that it would “bend the cost curve”), or why “credit card reform” had led to an increase in the interest rates they were already struggling to pay. Nor did anyone explain why saving the banks was such a priority, when saving the homes the banks were foreclosing didn’t seem to be. All Americans knew, and all they know today, is that they’re still unemployed, they’re still worried about how they’re going to pay their bills at the end of the month and their kids still can’t get a job. And now the Republicans are chipping away at unemployment insurance, and the president is making his usual impotent verbal exhortations after bargaining it away.

I strongly urge everybody to go read the entire article as I think it is the most fair and complete critique written so far on how Obama has failed to lead.  Best of all, it is not behind the Times’ usual “wall” and can be seen by everybody.

The path forward from here is not going to be good.  I have a friend who is one of those people that always says things such as,  ”If you think positive, positive things will happen.”  That is true but only to a point.  Sometimes, we have to look at facts…and the facts are that, no matter who ends up in power over the next three major election cycles, we are screwed.  If the Democrats rule, they have proved to be too timid to stand up against the big corporate interests that power the radical Tea Party movement.  If the Republicans rule, there will probably be a “miraculous” economic recovery as all of the big corporations will unleash the piles of cash they have been sitting on for the past three years, yet nobody outside of Wall Street will really see it as all of the new jobs will be for much lower pay with few, if any, benefits.

Unless some independent movement gets going quickly, the choices will be like pulling off a Band-Aid.  We can get the big pain over with quickly and start suffering under the new corporate oligarchy right away by putting one of the currently-running Republican nut-jobs into the White House and get the move against homosexuals, workers, and free speech on the Internet started immediately, or we can pull it off slowly by reelecting Obama and watching all of the progress we have made since 1933 be pulled out slowly, hair by hair.

Those are our choices in this modern political world.  If anybody doesn’t like it and wants to find somebody to blame, I suggest going into the bathroom and taking a long look in the mirror.  For too long we have let both Democrats and Republicans take away our progress, our hope, our freedoms, and our republic.  Some have been suckered into the extreme sides of the arguments while the rest have basically given up.  Even in 2008 where a record number of votes were cast in a Presidential election, only about 60% of those who were eligible bothered to cast a ballot.

While America gorged itself on American Idol and its many other distractions, most of those in power laughed all the way to the bank as they simultaneously took away our freedom of choice in employment, products, politics, and life as a whole.  They have fooled the country with 500 cable channels and over 9,000 varieties of salad dressing thinking they are true “freedom of choice” all while being owned by the same five or six big conglomerates.

This could have been stopped for at least for a little while if Obama had seized the chance to actually lead and use his highly touted “community organizer” skills to motivate all of those young people that flocked to his campaign to have them start doing something in their local communities to pick up the slack in the areas where he knew that, eventually, government would have to cut back thanks to far too many years of deficit spending.  Yet, instead of embracing the possibilities and having his own JFK-like “ask not what your country can do for you” moment, he allowed politics as usual to continue…well, “usual” at least since the Republicans brought forth their scorched earth policy against Democrats during the Clinton Administration.

With stress on the word “leader” as I look at that differently than how good a President was at actual governing…it is stunning to think that Obama could end up being a worse leader than Jimmy Carter was.  Even more stunning is that he could easily end up being reelected unless the Republicans suddenly come to half of their senses and nominate Jon Huntsman who would probably win in a landslide due to his more moderate and inclusive views (at least as the general centrist voting public would be concerned).

It is not just a shame that we have now had three consecutive Presidents completely piss away their opportunities to do some truly good things for the entire country, it is a tragedy.  We are all going to pay a heavy price for continuing to allow people like that to rule over us.

Most of us are already paying that price while a handful of the super wealthy aren’t contributing a thing.  In 2010, I made less than $24,000 and paid about $2,000 in taxes on that paltry income.  In the same year, General Electric made billions — with a B — in net profits — not gross, net — and paid no taxes…nothing, nada, zip, zilch, zero.  While I by no means believe that corporations and wealthy individuals should be taxed at a European-style rate or that I should pay nothing, they should at least pay something.  Had Obama been a proper leader and not let the delusional Tea Party crowd rule public discourse, more people might have seen the light that a big part of our supposed deficit “crisis” was the unnecessary Bush tax cuts that ended up benefiting nobody but companies like GE and its top-level officers while simultaneously killing our ability to navigate the economic downturn.

Then again, maybe it was for the best.  Another area where has Obama failed was to follow up on his promise to “name names” and go after those that wasted or downright stole what little economic stimulus money that was actually spent.  He also failed to keep his promise to make government more transparent, leaving the generally inattentive center no idea what was really in all of the big yet still watered-down bills he managed to get passed before the Democrats blew the special election to replace Senator Ted Kennedy by nominating a candidate that was about as exciting as watching a turtle take a shit.  He failed in his promise not to make any new healthcare legislation a “mandated coverage” plan thus opening it up to what will be unending attempts at trying to overturn it in federal court.  He has even failed to get more help to New Orleans, still reeling from the neglect that caused the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, because reviving the city might make the state’s Republican governor look good.

Obama hasn’t been all bad.  It was certainly ballsy to give the order he did to take out Osama bin Laden knowing full well what happened to Jimmy Carter when the Iranian hostage rescue attempt went so badly.  He has made sensible nominations to the Supreme Court to make sure it doesn’t go even further into the right-wing extreme.  Still, even Richard Nixon did a few good things but that does not override the fact that he was a terrible President.

The sad fact is that, in 2012, we will be back to a Presidential election where people are holding their noses to pick the lesser of two evils rather than the much more hopeful contest we had between Obama and McCain (Palin’s presence notwithstanding).  It is guaranteed to not only be the most expensive election in United States history, but the most dirty as well.

I didn’t expect total “change” and “hope” from Obama, but I did expect a different tone.  By failing to lead and use the Presidential stage, the only change will now be a hope that things don’t get worse too fast before we’re all dead and don’t have to worry about it anymore.

The only way to fix it is to stop voting for both of the major parties and bring in people that will not let money rule the day.  What’s our hope of that happening?  We all know the answer.  At this point, I now fully agree with what George Carlin said on this subject.  All we can do now is just sit back, enjoy the “show” of watching America go down the toilet, and try to keep our distance from it as much and for as long as we can…because too many have lost their willingness to stick it to the man, we will soon lose our ability to do it as well.

Happy happy, joy joy, happy happy, joy joy… :-D

Click on the logo to visit the KMRC Radio website.

KMRC is located in Morgan City, Louisiana.  It is officially designated as part of the Houma market although that is sort of a sub-market of New Orleans.  KMRC is a rarity for two reasons.  First, it is one of the very few AM stations listed on my Radio page (although the online stream sounds just as good as one from an FM station).  Second, it is the only radio station I have linked with a “swamp pop” format which I can only describe as sort of a rockin’ electrified Cajun style of music.  It’s really great stuff so, despite being a commercial station, I believe that many of my readers will really enjoy it.

Click on the logo to visit the KXOR-FM - LA 106.3 Rock Hits Radio website.

KXOR-FM, better known as LA 106.3 Rock Hits Radio, is licensed to Thibodaux, Louisiana which is also part of the Houma market.  I have had this station in my bookmarks for a very long time, probably first saved from being part of an old sports network or even in preparation for a hurricane strike.  Previously, KXOR-FM was a very standard and not terribly noteworthy blend between a “classic hard rock”  and “active rock” station.  However, it seems they have recently taken a wider tack in their playlist and toned down the “Oh, dude, we rock so hard” pinhead attitude to let the music speak for itself.  Sure, they still play hard rock but a lot more “classic” material of all types has been put into the mix.  I also like how they have dumped their previous X-style logo (because, of course, anything with an X in it is edgy, dangerous, and naughty…jeez) and used a version of the Louisiana State Highway shield even down to the correct fonts (although that design is now being phased out to a black-and-white version).  While a small detail, it is a good way to set a tone that a station is local and cares about the immediate community.  This is obviously a commercial station in a world filled with “classic rock” outlets and I believe it is also put on “auto-pilot” at times.  Still, it is one of the better stations of its type out there right now and is quickly becoming one of my favorites to turn to when I want something familiar but still rockin’.

Click on the logo to visit the WTUL website.

If any of my readers wonder why I would torture myself to go through all of the world’s English-language radio stations again to get the ones I missed the first time I was crazy enough to pull such a stunt, WTUL would be a prime example.  I am fairly certain that the corrupted database I had while I was still using Windows preventing me from listening to some streams was the reason why I did not post this great station sooner.  While mostly staffed by the students of the station’s owner, the prestigious Tulane University in New Orleans, there are also enough other volunteers contributing to the programming that I decided this was best classified as a “community/variety” station rather than a college radio outlet.  The variety of programming on this station is mind-blowing.  For one example, on the day I am writing this, two hours of very interesting children’s music was followed by two hours of opera, then two hours of folk, then two hours of a show called Hayride to Hell which was almost impossible to describe but was a hoot to listen to anyway.  Very similar to WWOZ that I wrote about in my previous entry, WTUL (along with the entire Tulane campus) was hit very hard by Hurricane Katrina.  The station struggled hard to remain active but, at least online, remained on the air thanks to assistance from Stanford University in California.  WTUL resumed over-the-air broadcasting in December 2005 and is still fighting back with an amazing spirit.

If any of my readers have wondered about this…yes, I do listen to all of the stations I link to on my Radio page periodically.  Of course, there are some I listen to much more than others.  Still, I like to take occasions such as this to check in on all of the stations I have linked from a certain state or broadcasting a certain format to make sure there have not been any changes.  I did this today for all of the stations I have linked from Louisiana.  Sadly, I must report that I found one that I felt must be removed.  KLSU in Baton Rouge, the station owned and operated by Louisiana State University, no longer meets my standards.  I feel that their programming has become too similar and, worst of all, they have begun running on “auto-pilot” every night.  In a city that is as diverse and musically rich as Baton Rouge, it is a shame that a university as huge as LSU does not take the same tack as one such as Tulane with WTUL to invite members of the community to contribute fresh, vibrant programming instead of just burning electricity to do nothing but basically broadcast somebody’s crappy iPod playlist.

That list I found was also somewhat incomplete, so I found a few other resources where I could look at or sort stations by format.  Even then there are “errors” of a sort.  For instance, take a couple of stations that I enjoy listening to when I am in their broadcast areas; KXJZ in Sacramento, California and KPLU in Tacoma, Washington.  These are among some of the remaining “NPR Jazz” stations left in America.  Unfortunately, these outlets spend much of the meat of their broadcasting day churning out NPR’s news and talk programming.  As I have said before, I enjoy NPR…but only when I’m in the mood for it.  When I want jazz, I want jazz.  As with KPLU during my stay in Washington last year, it was a huge bummer to have the music stopped at 3:00 PM and not have it resume until 7:30 (not to mention having it blotted out in the morning for another five hours).

I just find it stunning that this great American art form exists full-time in so few cities.  Even many major markets only get one or two doses on any kind of jazz per week on a local college/variety or community/variety station.

If there is any type of music that still needs a crew of good and well-informed disk jockeys to present it, it’s jazz.  Unlike rock, there are few big hits and it’s a genre averse to “top 100″ charts in the first place.  Jazz requires storytellers and historians to weave the fabric of the music and make the connections between where artist X or song Y came from and where they went from the point in time a recording was made.  Jazz requires somebody that truly feels the music and the mood of the day — something that cannot be accomplished with a random, computerized playlist and a set of jingles that plays between each song as can be done with rock (even though I don’t like that crap on rock stations, either).  Jazz is also a genre where multiple versions of the same song, even by the same artist, are not only welcome but highly desired, and a chopped-off digital display of the artist and performance just doesn’t cut it for those that then want to go out and own that track for themselves.

While it is a shame that so many stations have given up on a full-time jazz format leaving most of the country no way to enjoy that type of music — with the all-important element of surprise that no mp3 player can ever provide — at least the modern miracle known as the World Wide Web provides much more access.

So…deviating for just a moment from my state-by-state search for the remaining good English-language radio stations left on this Earth, I now feature what I believe are the ten best jazz and jazz/blues format radio outlets in the United States of America.  Seven of these have been listed on my Radio page for quite some time while three are recent additions.  These ten outlets cover all four of America’s main time zones so, if a public affairs program starts on one, others will still be focusing on music (not to put down public affairs programming, but the focus of my Radio page is on music as it is much more universal…after all, what interest does somebody sitting in Bumfuck, Arizona have in a 30-minute program discussing the rise of trash collection rates in Short Hairs, New Jersey?).  Best of all, each of these stations is unique in their outlook on programming.

Here they are listed in alphabetical order by call letters.

Click on the logo to visit the KCCK website.

KCCK might appear to some to be in an unusual place to have a jazz station.  When compared to most of the other outlets listed below, it just seems odd that anywhere in Iowa would be considered a hotbed of jazz.  Yet, KCCK churns it out 24/7 in Cedar Rapids from the campus of Kirkwood Community College.  While not all of the programming is local, the few syndicated shows they do take are all of excellent quality.  Friday nights on KCCK are dedicated to blues ending with one hour of jam band music.  As is the case with many jazz and jazz/blues stations, the weekends get very diverse.

Click on the logo to visit the KKJZ - K-Jazz 88.1 FM website.

In 1981, a station then known as KLON in Long Beach, California switched to an all-jazz format.  With a signal strong enough to cover almost all of the greater Los Angeles area — except where I live :-( — it did not take long for it to gather an audience.  Rechristened as KKJZ (“K-Jazz”) in 2002, it is now the most listened to jazz outlet and the fifth most listened to public (non-commercial) radio station in the entire US.  This impressive ranking is well deserved and doesn’t come just because it is situated in the country’s second largest metropolitan area.  KKJZ does an excellent job of mixing different genres in each set and has plenty of great specialty programming as well.  While I try to avoid featuring stations that use large blocks of syndicated programming, this is one I have selected that carries the nightly program by San Francisco jazz disk jockey legend Bob Parlocha (ironically enough, distributed by classical station WFMT in Chicago that I featured in my previous post).  LA being LA, even a non-commercial station needs a little star power.  Beginning this past May 2nd, the morning DJ on KKJZ is now none other than David Benoit.

Click on the logo to visit the KMHD Jazz Radio website.

While I do not want to discourage anybody from listening to the other nine stations in this list, my current overall favorite jazz station is KMHD in Gresham, Oregon.  While visiting the Portland area last year, this was the outlet that fully rekindled my interest in jazz after having been an occasional dabbler in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s (first lit again by another station I will get to further down the list).  KMHD is one of the oldest surviving all-jazz stations in the United States, originally founded in 1984 by Mount Hood Community College.  In 2009 when the school ran into financial difficulties due to budget cuts forced by The Great Recession, instead of just selling off the frequency (as others have done lately in situations I have described here in some recent posts), they entered into an operating agreement with the very well respected Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) that runs a great deal of the state’s NPR radio stations and PBS television stations.  OPB was smart enough to keep the call letters and the format, and the college was smart enough to retain ownership.  Both organizations seem to be profiting very well from this arrangement as KMHD often pulls in very close to a 2.0 in the Arbitron ratings for Portland (for those not familiar with Arbitron, just take my word for it that 2.0 is pretty damn good for a non-commercial station especially in a crowded radio market like Portland).

Click on the logo to visit the KSDS website.

KSDS in San Diego, California is a station that I have come to like more and more over recent months; so much so that it is one of the three new additions to my Radio page.  Owned by San Diego City College, I think KSDS does the best job of any jazz station in being musically connected to its community.  They do a fantastic job of promoting local jazz artists and even feature them for an hour every Sunday.

Click on the logo to visit the KUVO website.

In my description of KMHD above, I mentioned there had been another station that had begun to rekindle my interest in jazz.  That station was KUVO in Denver, Colorado.  When I pulled my first stint of living in Denver from 2004 through 2005, the number of good radio stations there was extremely small.  Thus, it was sort of out of desperation that I filled up one of my car radio preset buttons with KUVO since the signal was strong and it was at least a temporary oasis from my two favorite rock stations there that seemed, between them, to never be able to play enough Aerosmith (barf) or R.E.M. (double-barf).  As time went on, I found myself staying on KUVO for longer and longer periods of time.  I was most impressed with how they played different varieties of jazz and, as opposed to other stations of that genre I had known in the past, did not constantly play really slow tunes that would put me to sleep.  Aside from the wonderful staff on KUVO that selects the music, a good portion of that might be that the station actually identifies itself as having a jazz/blues format instead of just strictly jazz.

Click on the logo to visit the WBGO website.

Another of the three new additions to this website’s Radio page is WBGO in Newark, New Jersey.  ”Jazz 88″ as it is sometimes called is now the only jazz outlet that serves the New York City market.  This station just oozes everything good about New York attitude and style which, as one might imagine, goes very well with jazz considering how much history those two entities share.  WBGO does carry a somewhat larger amount of public affairs programming than some of the other stations on this list and, during the area’s morning commute time, is a bit more chatty in that slot than what one might be accustomed to coming from a jazz station.  That being said, I think it still fits the tone of the station and certainly works well for the area.  I don’t find it to be a put-off and I don’t believe most other jazz fans will either.

Click on the logo to visit the WDCB 90.9 FM website.

While WDCB, located in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, is officially part of the Aurora market, make no mistake — this is Chicago’s jazz and blues station.  Just as WBGO is a excellent reflection of New York City’s style and deep history with jazz, WDCB does the same in a style well fitting for a place called “The City of Broad Shoulders.”  Nighttime and weekend programming certainly gets broad as, in addition to jazz and, of course, plenty of Chicago blues, WDCB will delight its audience with one or two hours devoted to other types of programming including bluegrass, Irish folk, reggae, and even a Sunday slot dedicated to rebroadcasting old-time radio programs.

Click on the logo to visit the WUMR website.

WUMR has been churning out jazz to Memphis, Tennessee and the surrounding area since the University of Memphis took over the license in 1979.  This is the most solid jazz station on my list with hardly any time spent on any other genre including blues.  While WUMR might have some of the highest amount of students actually performing on-air tasks, this station is still loaded with knowledgeable professionals that have spent many years on this station keeping folks entertained and educated about the great American musical art form.

Click on the logo to visit the WVAS website.

As my radio station suggestions try to stay focused strictly on music, I normally avoid highlighting stations that broadcast sports.  However, I just cannot help but love WVAS coming from the campus of Alabama State University in Montgomery.  I look at them as the little station that could; an outlet that probably does more with less than almost any other college radio station of any format, especially one tied to an HBC (historically black college).  Both faculty and students alike work their butts off to make WVAS as professional sounding and fun to listen to as possible and their love for this station just shines through.  I hope my readers will give WVAS a chance even if they are not into listening to an occasional Alabama State Hornets football or basketball game.

Click on the logo to visit the WWOZ website.

The last of my list of the ten best jazz radio stations (and the last of the three new additions to my Radio page) is certainly fitting as it comes from the birthplace of the music itself, New Orleans, Louisiana.  Of course, “jazz” includes a lot of different things just like its home city.  Thus, when listening to WWOZ, don’t always expect it to stick just with stalwarts like Louis Armstrong and the Marsalis Brothers.  There’s lots of spice in this station’s programming just like in Louisiana cooking.  Best of all might be that those hosting each show on WWOZ are volunteers doing it simply for the love of the music and their city.  This is why the station’s call letters are WWOZ which stand for “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” in that the station’s founders wanted people to focus on the music being payed instead of “the man behind the curtain” playing it.  As with much of New Orleans, WWOZ and its staff suffered terribly due to Hurricane Katrina.  Donations and an untold amount of hard work have kept this treasure running and perhaps even more resolute than ever to make sure that, no matter what happens on the commercial side of the dial, the unique music of New Orleans will always have a free, over-the-air home.

My project to again go through all of the world’s English language radio stations that stream online to pick out the really good ones has been proceeding, albeit slowly.  I found this one several weeks ago and had planned on waiting to highlight it until I had a few more to add to my Radio page.  With my research now half complete with nothing else to add (plus wanting to make sure nobody believes that I think good classical music outlets are not desperately needed on today’s North American radio dial), I though it would be a good time to go ahead and highlight this station.

As usual with me, it is something extra about this station that has attracted me to it besides its usual format and playlist (which are indeed excellent).  Of most note in this case is not a musical program but, instead, spoken word.

For many years, the legendary Studs Terkel called WFMT in Chicago his radio home.  His daily show ran from 1952 to 1997 where he interviewed a vast array of people from musicians of all types to politicians, writers, activists, architects, and anybody else that Terkel found interesting (and ol’ Studs found almost everybody to be interesting in one way or another).

Even though the show ended long ago and Terkel died in 2008, he was such a big part of Chicago and WFMT in particular that the station continues to keep him around on their schedule.  Almost every Friday night at 10:00 PM US Central Time, The Best of Studs Terkel runs for an entire hour with views and comments that are often just as timely today as they were when they were first broadcast.

While that program is what I am highlighting in this entry, don’t misunderstand that it is the only good thing about WFMT.  This is a station with a whole stable of knowledgeable hosts and a fantastic sounding stream.  It is definitely deserving of being among the few other classical music stations that I recommend.

Click on the station logo to visit 98.7 WFMT

This was a huge blow to the town known the world over as Music City.  WRVU, now WFCL, finds itself in the hands of Nashville Public Radio, the local overseer of the corporate-funded NPR.  Now, only two of Nashville’s top 25 radio stations are not owned by a media conglomerate of one type or another (WRLT, the adult alternative station, and WNVL with a “regional Mexican” format…FYI, in their last Arbitron ratings book, WRVU was 24th which is impressive for any college station).

Aside from being pulled off the air with no farewell announcement, the biggest insult is that WRVU’s frequency is now the home to something trite and repetitive.  Sadly, it’s the same fate that befell KUSF in San Francisco…being turned into a “popular classical” format.

I again want to point out that I do enjoy classical music on occasion.  I am also aware that, in the wake of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that allowed massive deregulation of America’s airwaves, classical stations have been disappearing at an alarming rate.  Still, just as there is more to Led Zeppelin than D’yer Maker (possibly the most overplayed classic rock song of recent years), there is more to classical music than the opening movement of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.  ”Popular classical” is just as bad of a slap in the face of how that particular type of music is supposed to push boundaries and expand minds as “smooth jazz” is to what is supposed to be the great American art form.

In the case of WRVU, the money that “Vandy” got is probably going to be the worst use of a radio station sale in modern history.  It will go into a trust fund that will keep their newspapers and magazines running in perpetuity…in print form!  Wow.  If there’s any media dying off faster than good radio, it’s the entire newspaper and magazine industry.  When the time comes in the next decade or two when even the New York Times and Washington Post give up actually printing their daily editions, I wonder how foolish the current leadership at Vanderbilt will look.

The question is often asked…if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?  At Vanderbilt it will be…if a newspaper is printed but nobody reads it…

Yes…seriously foolish when, if they realize their mistake down the road in that they could have kept something that everybody could still listen to for free in any number of ways, it will cost far more than the $3.5 million they just received to buy the rights to another frequency…plus, revamp the equipment, publicize the station, and hire the needed professors and other staff to train and supervise the students.

Yet, the biggest loss is not for Vanderbilt.  It is for the whole city of Nashville to have lost a station that brought both alternative rock and country to a music scene that, at least in its most commercial form, has become maddeningly stagnant.  Houston is feeling the same loss as nobody was left to pick up the slack from the station sold off by Rice University.  San Francisco still has some good non-commercial choices but receiving them can be difficult due to the area’s hilly terrain.

Perhaps worst of all is the precedent this is setting.  Recent news reports reveal that Bryant University’s WJMF may be the next to be sold followed by those held by many of the smaller state colleges in Pennsylvania.  In an era of shrinking budgets, I fear this will be a tidal wave that will only put more non-commercial frequencies under the control of NPR or, worse yet, fundamentalist Christian organizations purveying their twisted views of the Bible and politics.

I realize that I have been threatening here on and off for quite a while to get into the subject of how even college radio has been becoming corrupted by the influence of America’s big media companies.  I know that radio of any type is not the most popular thing to defend these days in the era of Pandora and the iPod.  I am also aware that radio can never be what it used to be as there are now so many new alternatives in both content and delivery of media.  I must also admit it’s hard to get people fired up about college radio stations when much of it is amateurish at best and they do not have programming that makes people want to “rip the knob off and leave it here all day” as many hit radio stations used to tell their listeners.  Still, I think it is important to defend and save even if older people have lost their feeling of value in it and younger folks may not have any attachment to it at all.

In most areas of North America, college radio is the last place where true new rock is played.  They are usually the last place left that plays any jazz, bluegrass, reggae, or funk.  They are usually the last outlets left informing the community about truly free events (not something paid for as a big commercial by some sponsor).  If done right, the programs are informative and, most of all, surprising…something that doesn’t often happen with one’s iPod, Pandora account, or even Sirius XM which has become as bad as commercial radio with its playlists ever since those once separate entities were stupidly allowed by the US government to merge.

It is also important to remember that college radio is not here to be popular.  It is here to be a learning experience for both host and listener alike.  No, people are not always in the mood to “learn” as listeners but it needs to be there when they are.

It is also important that college radio as a whole does some learning of its own and makes sure it remains viable.  Individual stations need to make sure they are not the next victim of some dean’s back room dealings to sell off a frequency to fund his or her possibly lame-brained pet project.  If anyone reading this is involved in college radio or knows somebody that is, I strongly suggest reading 9 Tips to Ensure College Radio’s Survival at Radio Survivor.  Of particular note would be advice regarding two things that go a long way toward whether or not a station gets placed on this website’s own Radio page — involve the whole community with the station and air live programming 24/7.

Tweet

However, over the past ten to 15 years, Pacifica has slowly been losing its grip on programming reality.  Sure, the network has always been a bastion of left-wing ideas and, even in better times, I did not always swallow what every program was trying to dish out.  Still, over the last few hierarchical shakeups in the people running Pacifica — some of which resulted in station walk-outs and take-overs reminiscent of something that would happen in a banana republic — the trend has been to pull back on music programming and, worst of all, replace it with people espousing views that are just as unrealistic and divisive as what is heard on right-wing talk radio.  They have even stooped to having programming that sure sounds a lot like an infomercial.

All of that being said, with the limited choices of tolerable radio in the area I live where the radio markets of Los Angeles and Riverside/San Bernardino overlap, I still find myself tuning to a Pacifica program on occasion whether it be on KPFK or one that is syndicated to another non-commercial station.  It was on the latter where I discovered what might be the last truly good public affairs program left on any of Pacifica’s five owned-and-operated stations across the United States.

One morning while driving somewhere or another, I got sucked into listening to a very interesting lecture on my current favorite radio station near where I live, KUCR.  Afterward, I was expecting music to begin but, instead, another “talk” program came on.  In the episode I heard, it was a wonderful political round-table discussion being led by a man with an Australian accent.  He seemed to be extremely knowledgeable, not afraid to ask a hard question, and, most importantly to me, fair.

The program is called Background Briefing and the host is a BBC-trained Australian named Ian Masters who also carries on his impressive resume having been a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Affairs based at UCLA, a Senior Fellow at the Center for International Relations also at UCLA, and serving as a consultant to the Center for National Security Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory (you know, where they made the atomic bomb so, obviously, Masters is not some bumpkin that failed at being a sports executive and ended up in radio like a more famous personality on the airwaves these days).  I try to catch at least part of his show every weekday now on KPFK when I drive home from work (at least when I don’t have to switch over to another station to get traffic reports).  If I miss something, I try to catch a rebroadcast of it later on KUCR.  The program also runs on Pacifica station WBAI in New York City as well as KRFP in Moscow, Idaho (and, maybe even more as Master’s website does not list KUCR…still, those four choices all have good streams so that’s good enough for this article).  The shows can also be heard as podcasts on Masters’ website although they are usually about a month behind.

Background Briefing has changed somewhat from when I first discovered it.  There are hardly any political round table discussions anymore, now replaced by one-on-one interviews on the pressing subjects of the day such as the long-term effects of the nuclear plant meltdown in Japan, excellent continuing coverage of the press for democracy in the Arab world, compelling updates on our progress (or, lack of same) in Afghanistan, how US-based corporations are continuing to fully corrupt our political system…the list goes on and on.  Despite the changes, I still greatly enjoy the show and there doesn’t seem to be a program that goes by that does not have at least one subject that interests me deeply.

So…I have now told everybody about my man-crush over Ian Masters. :-D  What does that have to do with how I started this all off about the problems I have with Pacifica Radio?

As I said above, the main thing I like about Masters is that he is fair.  If something is right, he says so.  If something is wrong, he is not shy about pointing it out even to somebody that, on the surface, appears to be on his side.

With that in mind, I now present this quote written May 27, 2011 on the blog portion of Masters’ website in an entry titled, The Tea Party of the Left.

Having driven away two thirds to three quarters of their audience over the past decade, in order to avert bankruptcy, Pacifica’s airwaves have lately been turned over to New Age quacks and peddlers of miracle cures, as well as right wing anti-government hucksters.  While proclaiming to be holier than NPR by not taking corporate money, Pacifica’s increasingly frequent and interminable fund drives have become free infomercials for corporate bottom feeders who promote their snake oil for profit while claiming the mantle of resistance, revolution and investigative journalism.

Much of the post is even more negative on the current state of Pacifica Radio.  Still, it’s a good read as it covers a wide range of causes and subjects as Masters makes his point…kind of reminds me of somebody else that like to take his readers on a long, wandering trip before he reveals what the destination is. ;-)

The most chilling thought Masters brings up is one that I have also been aware of for many years.  All of the stations owned by Pacifica are extremely coveted frequencies.  This is because they were assigned so early in the dawn of the FM era in the United States that they have massive power allocations and, in the case of KPFA in Berkeley and WBAI in New York City, are actually in the commercial side of the spectrum between 92.1 and 107.9 MHz.  For decades now, both commercial interests and religious groups have been scheming to find a way to destroy Pacifica and take these stations over.

Despite how I currently feel about Pacifica and most of its programming these days, that would still be a shame and a big blow to the viability of non-NPR, non-commercial broadcasting in the United States.  In an era where even colleges such as the University of San Francisco and Rice University are selling off their long-held stations to bigger entities that owe their existence to corporate America in one way or another, it is important to have Pacifica around even if I feel it is on the wrong track.

That being said, I am still not going to support Pacifica Radio and will continue to harshly criticize it as necessary.  If it ends up failing for whatever reason, they will only have themselves to blame…because, now, it is not a bunch of radicals holding out for some pipe dream that are throwing mud at them.  It is instead their most respected commentator, questioner, and journalist — a man that even some Republicans will talk to even though he appears on such “radical” radio stations and is not apologetic about his views on how his adopted country is being sold down the river by corporate interests.

I hope my readers will take the time to read Masters’ full blog entry on this subject.  I also encourage everybody to try to catch Background Briefing on any of the stations linked below (yes, even though he’s on Pacifica…check each station’s Programming or Schedule link for air times) or to listen to the show’s podcasts.

Ian Masters | Home of Background Briefing – http://www.ianmasters.com/

The Tea Party of the Left | Ian Masters - http://ianmasters.com/content/tea-party-left

Background Briefing can be heard on and streamed through…

KPFK in Los Angeles, California - http://www.kpfk.org/

KUCR in Riverside, California - http://www.kucr.org/

KRFP in Moscow, Idaho - http://www.radiofreemoscow.com/

WBAI in New York City, New York - http://www.wbai.org/

P.S. While I’m on the subject of Pacifica, let me add an open suggestion of ridding your network of Barry Smolin on KPFK and David Gans on KPFA.  Both of these hosts have become so full of themselves that they make their programs of Grateful Dead music completely intolerable.  Grateful Dead programs should be about the Dead, not about the hosts’ latest piss-poor effort at making their own music in order to leech off of a legendary band’s coattails. >:-(

Tweet

That being said, I look back on the last post I made before my latest extended break from blogging and sit in stunned amazement at what happened on that general subject from then until now.  I was fairly certain that another Super Outbreak would not happen again in my lifetime and would have bet everything I own that, barring a major tornado spawning right next to something like a major sporting event, I would never see a day when more than 50 people died in one round of severe storms.  Even the esteemed Dr. Greg Forbes of The Weather Channel (TWC) cannot hide his somewhat disbelief that the hundreds of people that have perished in tornadoes over the past two months could happen in this era of Doppler radar, instant communications, on-the-spot storm chasers, and the magnificent forecasts that he and many other government and local meteorologists provide.

While certainly a “perfect storm” where multiple major tornadoes just happened to line right up with populated areas, the continuing spread of cities and towns gives more area for tornadoes to hit.  It’s not a matter of the dire predictions of a scare-tactic television show like It Could Happen Tomorrow.  As we have seen, a major tornado — or, even a mere EF-2, for that matter — does not have to hit the exact center of downtown to cause damage and death so catastrophic that it warrants long-term, national news coverage.

A lot of people have a lot to think about now.  National politicians and pundits need to think about whether further cuts in the National Weather Service budget is still wise.  Local politicians need to consider what more they can do to augment their own warning systems and post-strike disaster plans.  The major media outlets (minus TWC who alerted the public days in advance) need to consider whether or not they spend enough time warning the public of impending severe weather and reporting on its aftermath instead of, as CNN did in the wake of the Joplin tornado, remain on a program detailing the travails of Mel Gibson.  Most of all, citizens need to think about their own disaster plans, whether they are doing enough to keep themselves going for a week or longer before help might arrive, and consider passing up one or two frills to spend that money instead on buying a NOAA Weather Radio with SAME technology.

Most of all, we all need to continue to fight that terrible disease still afflicting far too much of our population – it-can’t-happen-here-itis.  I almost literally fell over at the amount of people I kept hearing from Alabama in the wake of their April 27th outbreak that said words such as, “We just don’t get tornadoes like that in Alabama.”  While Alabama is no Oklahoma, it’s no Alaska, either.  Any time spent on Wikipedia reading about tornado events quickly reveals that Alabama is indeed a hotbed of tornado activity even to the point of it being labeled as part of “Dixie Alley,” an extension of the better-known Tornado Alley.

Yes, I realize that these tornadoes were unique and that people still usually get no more than about 30 minutes of warning time to take shelter.  Still, every bit helps and that includes the cessation of being delusional that some sort of landmark, geographic feature, or divine providence will protect them from a tornado or any other type of disaster.

All of that being said, I am by no means being heartless with that semi-scolding tone.  There are many that, for many reasons, could not escape the wrath of these twisters.  They deserve all of our best wishes and support.  I guess what I’m trying to say is…I just hope we make another big leap forward in our understanding of these types of events and how to prepare for them and deal with them as this country did in the wake of the 1974 Super Outbreak.

Anyway…when I think of all of that plus all of the other things happening in the world such as the civil war raging in Libya, the crackdown in Syria, how we may never see unemployment go down to only 5% in the United States again, and all kinds of other things, my piddly little blog and my personal problems do not seem very significant.  Thus, I will mention them no more…well, at least in this blog entry. ;-)

As for the future, I am still greatly considering whether or not to put this blog under the Tumblr format or keep KoHoSo on Tumblr as a separate entity.  For those of my readers that are still not in the habit of going over to my “side blog,” I have been able to be active over there thanks to Tumblr’s Reblog feature and how relatively quick it is to get something up on there as opposed to this site with its WordPress software.  Very often, my Tumblr entries are done from work when I take quick breaks from that place driving me…oops, almost forgot I wasn’t going to complain anymore today. ;-)

I will continue to consider this option.  It does bother me that Tumblr still struggles far too often to be a fully functional service.  Then again, it’s not like I have anything resembling a huge audience here so I don’t know if a little downtime now and again would even be noticed.  Still, I like to be reliable…and, yes, I realize the irony in that when I still cannot manage to have a total breakdown and go almost two months without making a post here.

Well, so much for this semi-rambling, multi-subject entry.  At least it’s something…and, just like so many across the American South and Midwest right now, there’s no reason to give up trying.

Be aware, be prepared, be safe…and, as always, keep sticking it to the man. ;-)

Tweet

As the US government funding only covered its own country, the 149th tornado of the Super Outbreak that hit Windsor, Ontario Canada was omitted.

Today marks the anniversary of one of the most amazing but, also, most frightening and deadly natural events in North American history — the Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974.  In the span of less than 24 hours, a record-breaking 148 tornadoes struck the eastern portion of the United States and the often neglected 149th overall touched down in Windsor, Ontario and was one of the worst twisters to ever hit Canada.  This event also holds another stunning record that has never been approached since — six tornadoes that hit a rating of F5 on the old Fujita scale.

For those reading this that are younger than me, it will be difficult to imagine what this day was like…not only due to the immensity of the event, but because most folks born after 1972 or so have no knowledge of the days when warnings were made by hand, sent over teletype machines, and made based upon 1940′s-era radar better suited for looking at solid objects rather than clouds and rain.  Even though the official ban on the use of the word “tornado” in National Weather Service (NWS) bulletins had finally been lifted years earlier, there was still a great hesitance to use it in days when they had to be absolutely verified by a storm spotter.

The radar screen at WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio showing the F5 tornado that would devastate the town of Xenia. This also shows how little could be discerned by meteorologists in the days before Doppler radar became available. If there was no pronounced "hook echo" like this, the tornado would be missed.

The often-neglected NWS was just as frustrated and confused as anybody else on this day of spectacular and deadly storms.  In one example, Chief Meteorologist John Burke of the Louisville NWS office slammed his grease pencil down on the desk and angrily wondered aloud what good they were doing anybody when they could not warn the public of the many storms happening in his area due to their ancient equipment and poor communications (Burke is more famous for being the man that had to abruptly hang up on Louisville’s WHAS-AM during a live interview as he saw what would become the city’s F4-rated tornado form outside his window — this can be heard at the April 3, 1974 website where there is much more great material posted about the event).

In another stark example, with storms all around, having no idea which ones were producing tornadoes, and teletype communications jammed due to them being used simultaneously in (eventually) 14 states, the NWS office in Indianapolis made their call in an opposite direction.  They simply placed the entire State of Indiana under a tornado warning.

When it was all over, 315 to 330 people were dead and the damage adjusted for inflation would total 3.5 to 4 billion today’s dollars.  Yet, as with many such events, much good came out of it.

The Super Outbreak directly brought about a much quicker introduction of Doppler radar and, later, the more powerful NEXRAD system.  Now, meteorologists could see wind patterns in the clouds and be able to determine if any had twisting winds where a tornado might be imminent or already on the ground and missed by spotters.

The Super Outbreak allowed Dr. Ted Fujita to prove many of his long-held theories of tornado behavior.  Perhaps even better was it helped him and others disprove the many myths about tornadoes the safety precautions parroted by the media.

The Super Outbreak made many counties, cities, and towns outside of the traditional definition of “Tornado Alley” realize they needed better facilities and equipment to deal with severe storms both before and after they occurred.  Many governments made major revisions in their disaster preparedness plans and installed warning sirens.

The Super Outbreak also took a giant step in overcoming the attitude of “It can’t happen here,” although the United States still has a long way to go on that front even after the widely-seen footage of the 1999 Salt Lake City tornado.

On that final point, I often think about a story I told here in 2005 or 2006 on the old version of this website.  A small wintertime outbreak of tornadoes hit central Florida in the middle of the night.  Several people were killed.  A reporter interviewed an elderly couple that lived in a trailer park.  Their home was destroyed but they managed to get to the storm shelter before the twister hit.  When asked about how they managed this, they said that their NOAA Weather Radio sounded its siren and woke them up.

It still amazes me that many people even in the heart of Tornado Alley will not spend the $25 to $50 to buy a NOAA Weather Radio with SAME technology (Specific Area Message Encoding, the thing that tells the radio whether or not it needs to sound its warning).  I’m not a believer in Heaven, but I still imagine what it would be like to watch some guy walk up to the Pearly Gates with a two-by-four sticking through his head and trying to explain to Saint Peter why he spent a lifetime buying fancy cell phones, $125 pairs of sneakers, and all kinds of other frills but never used the common sense the Good Lord gave to him to spend such a paltry sum on a device that would have saved him from God’s windy wrath.

And, heaven forbid he was one of those people that always complained to his local television stations when they interrupted regular programming to broadcast weather warnings (to which many local stations have sadly caved in and only interrupt programming if something big threatens the heart of the city or a rich neighborhood).

But, Saint Peter, I was really looking forward to seeing that episode of American Idol!

Go to Hell! >:-)

Speaking of Hell, I unfortunately cannot talk about this anniversary and its modern legacy without bringing up politics.  How far we have fallen in the USA when even the weather has become political.

My politics do mostly (but not completely) lean “left” but I am also not a selfish idiot or inconsiderate of the hard work of others.  In this time when, right or wrong, the federal budget deficit has ballooned to an almost incomprehensible amount, I am a strong believer that all government agencies and departments need to take cuts to do their part in helping to get this country’s finances back in line and generally streamline a system that has become bloated, inefficient, and out of touch with reality.

However, in a move that might be the greatest example ever of the old phrase, “cutting off your nose to spite your face,” the Republican-led House of Representatives passed their version of this year’s remaining budget that calls for a 28% cut in NWS funding.  It is a purely political move as the NWS does occasionally study climate science…you know, global warming, climate change, and all of those other things GOP legislators are determined to not believe in no matter how much evidence comes in or how completely “Climategate” was shown to be a farce.  In addition, the GOP is paid very handsomely to maintain this position by all of the corporations that want to avoid their patriotic duty to do their part to support this country’s general welfare (all fueled by Wall Street’s hunger for better stock performance and damn anything or anybody that gets in the way of higher profits).

It is yet another example of the so-called Tea Party crowd trying to take over the ship with no idea how to steer it or what the consequences will be when they try to navigate it through shallow waters.  Their “slash all government and leave me alone” cries just might go silent in certain places due to their own actions if they get their way.

The problem with slashing the NWS budget so dramatically is two-fold.  For one, it will not stop discussion over whether or not climate change exists and if humans have a hand in it.  That will go on with or without government money.

That might be fine, but the remainder of these punitive cuts are going to hit many of the Tea Party crowd right where they live — literally.  It is quite ironic that many of the states that need the NWS the most are also the most heavy supporters of Republican politicians.  Also remember…their local television stations won’t be able to pick up the slack as they all get most of their information from the NWS even if they have their own Super Mega VIPIR Doppler 3000 Storm Tracker XL Rainbow Radar (this also includes all of the “alternative” weather services including Weather.com/Intellicast, Weather Underground, and even the Fox News-like AccuWeather).

Here are two examples of how this Tea Party-inspired cut actually screws the very people they claim to represent.

These days, the NWS can often begin warning a section of the country up to three days ahead if it is to be affected by significant weather such as severe thunderstorms, heavy snow, or a hurricane.  With these budget cuts, most NWS offices might have to cut weather balloon releases from twice a day to once every other day.  This will significantly impact their ability to make long-term forecasts as accurately as they do now.  Less warning time means that fewer people will hear or heed them.

In an example that would hit people more immediately, these budget cuts would probably result in the closure of 12 NWS offices and the elimination of all their employees.  This leaves the remaining offices taking these areas over — offices that are already understaffed and under-budgeted — to fill in the slack.  If an outbreak of storms occurs, this could easily result in a delayed or completely missed warning that will end up killing people when such a thing could have been prevented.

Could the NWS trim some fat?  I’m almost 100% certain of it.  Should its administrators and employees be required to take a pay cut and a reduction in benefits?  Definitely.  Could we even at least temporarily de-fund any NWS research on climate change because some people just won’t accept it?  Yeah, I would make that deal, but only if we didn’t touch forecasting and the tools needed for its proper implementation (plus assure that all government agencies also bear similar reductions).

Making drastic cuts in the name of punishing the NWS for believing in global warming or to help reach that $100 billion in budget cuts number that the GOP pulled out of its ass because everybody likes the sound of a big, round number is absolute lunacy for both individuals and small businesses alike.  On the latter, many businesses relay on knowing about coming bas weather so they can protect their investments.  Getting a forecast that costs mere pennies a day in taxes is invaluable to them.  On the former…well, it doesn’t take long to again see the hypocricy about how the Tea Party types and conservatives in general say they care so much about the “right to life” but never fail to miss an opportunity to actually do something about it any time after a human leaves its mother’s womb.

Then again, it shows the whole overall irony and hypocrisy of the Tea Party movement.

The original Tea Party was actually more about having a monopoly handed to a big corporation, the British East India Company, than it was about the level of government taxation.

The Tea Party wants to end government “interference” on Wall Street, but it was the financiers that caused The Great Recession.

The Tea Party claims to be a grassroots movement, but its funding is mostly coming from big corporations.

The Tea Party doesn’t want there to be anymore government handouts, but still wants its Medicare.

The Tea Party wants to bring manufacturing jobs back to the country, but keeps shopping at Wal-Mart where almost nothing of significance is stamped with “Made in the USA.”

Now, the Tea Party wants to keep a strong military to fight wars abroad but wants to gut one of the main government agencies that protects the country within its own borders.

It’s Bizarro World at its finest.  It would be funny if it were not going to end up being so tragic until this movement finally peters out (which will be as much to the joy of many conservative-minded people I know as it will progressives).

As another old saying goes, you reap what you sow.  The wise portion of the Democratic crowd realize this from years of overspending, overreaching, and not being respectful of those in this country with different views (especially on religion).  The tea-tinged portion of the Republicans will also feel this wrath if they get their way.  As sure as the sun rises in the east, there will come another day when cuts screamed for by Tea Party types will come back to haunt them (as if GOP cuts in agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission didn’t screw us all already).  These poor and often intentionally misguided souls will soon find out that certain things are too big to handle as individuals or within a local government.  Whether or not it is a tornado outbreak or something else, only time will tell.  However, it will happen…and, while I will mourn for those that will have been too young or feeble to escape whatever disaster comes, I will be laughing my ass off as the people that keep putting the Tea Party style of Republicans in office suddenly start complaining about how the government didn’t protect or warn them and, perhaps better still, the insurance companies are allowed to not pay them for damages as they will be able to do as they please in the unfettered “free market” created by the Teabaggers — a false utopia that is as unattainable and foolish to pursue as anything ever cooked up by the left.

And it seems that closing this with yet another old saying is appropriate…

Be careful what you wish for, Teabaggers and Fox News Channel watchers…because you just might get it.

Tweet

I have been following [NASCAR] for a long time. I know, it’s a very tough and open, top racing series. I just love the American spirit of racing. It feels just great to get involved with that. Obviously, it will be very challenging and great fun for me. – Kimi Räikkönen as quoted by the Finnish newspaper, Turun Sanomat.

At the time I am writing this, it has not been determined if the 2007 Formula One World Driving Champion is actually going to come to America to race in NASCAR.  However, that is irrelevant as to why I posted the quote above (credit for bringing it to my attention goes out to Autosport.com writer Pablo Elizalde).

Despite an overall downturn in interest as measured by television ratings and track attendance — especially with NASCAR pulling the “daily double” as it continues to alienate long-time fans while doing nothing to entice new ones — there is still something that none of the major racing series in North America can kill with their cookie-cutter tracks, cookie-cutter drivers, and cookie-cutter TV coverage.  With all of the bad press and the foul mood of a significant portion of the fan base, a unique element remains with our special brands of motorsports.

“The American spirit of racing” as Räikkönen put it is still very much alive and well even in the depths of the most boring NASCAR race at Fontana, the half-talented fields of IndyCar, and the shortened divisions of the NHRA.  It is almost inexplicable to outsiders whether they be non-fans living in the USA and Canada or those observing us from overseas and below the Rio Grande.

It is an obsession that explains why fans of all three major types of racing in North America keep beating themselves like irrepressible masochists no matter what idiotic decisions happen in Daytona Beach, Indianapolis, Pomona, or at the television broadcasters’ headquarters in New York City and Bristol, Connecticut.  It goes beyond those that simply love speed, machinery, and human daring.  It is much deeper.

“The American spirit of racing” has to do with an absolute pure joy of the competition and the people it brings together.  It involves folks that often sacrifice many hours of hard work and money knowing full well they cannot win but still have the drive to participate and compete.  For front-runners, it involves showing up to race whether the purse is one thousand dollars or one million.  For fans, it is watching groups of people just like them from modest backgrounds do what many of us can only dream of but all with tools that most of us could buy at the local auto parts store.

Yes, that does not fully apply to our top levels of American racing where expensive computer design simulators, seven-post shakers (a machine that puts an actual car through a simulated drive on any track without actually taking it there), and hours upon hours spent in expensive wind tunnel machines rule the day.  However, it does apply to all of those small, local tracks all across the country where every North American driver starts out.  The atmosphere that washes everybody with their influence sticks with most drivers and fans all the way up the ladder to the top.  It is an almost endless feeling of optimism and togetherness that perhaps only international club soccer can match with its singing and chanting…yet even that is not quite right as, in racing, a Jeff Gordon fan can easily get along with a Kyle Busch fan sitting next to him while I cannot imagine the same happening with, for one strong example from Scotland, Rangers and Celtic.

Fans and drivers alike are all happy to be there, swap stories, and catch up on news about friends and families.  They even commiserate about how things now just aren’t as fun as “the good ol’ days” while still having a smile on their faces.  Best of all, this all takes place in the only sport where, if the winning team is stinking up the show and beating the brains out of everybody else, the crowd’s attention turns to somewhere else in the pack where there are two drivers racing wheel-to-wheel for a lower position…all easily seen by all in attendance thanks to whatever it was that made most racing fans in the the USA love oval and strip racing over road courses (probably that American penchant for never paying for anything it can’t see except for God).

I am very glad Räikkönen sees that in our brand of racing when he could so easily be a “typical European” and look down his nose at everything American (especially oval racing and, even more so, “redneck” oval racing).  He certainly does not need the money or the fame.  He obviously just loves to race and, I can only guess, wants to be involved in something that is a bit closer to the fan base than his current endeavor, the World Rally Championship (which I believe is the true home of the best drivers in the world no matter what NASCAR and Formula One say about themselves).

If he comes here to race, I hope that most NASCAR fans will embrace Räikkönen despite being a “foreign interloper” who will certainly get his share of ribbing for his accent, endless puns about where did the Finnish man finish, and having a last name with dots in it.  After all, he is embracing us and our way of doing things and, apparently, for all the right reasons.  We should show him the same courtesy and be thankful he is one of the few famous foreign drivers who realizes that there are still some very special and fun things about America, and our racing scene is definitely one of them.

Toilet Mug

Sadly, I’ve been to far too many restaurants where this mug would be all too appropriate for what they tried to pass off as coffee.

Credit for finding this goes out to Kitschy Living.  Clicking on the picture directs to her original post.

“I will tell you flat-out — without using the man’s name — that somebody who’s arguably quite knowledgeable about Washington said to me, ‘[David] Axelrod and [Rahm] Emanuel don’t want to do anything to help New Orleans,’” he says gravely, his voice lowering, about Obama’s senior adviser and former chief of staff. “‘That just makes [Louisiana Gov.] Bobby Jindal look good.’”

“You can’t get more Nixonian than that.”

Harry Shearer as quoted in Shearer of ‘Simpsons’ visits D.C. to screen post-Katrina New Orleans film by Dan Zak posted in The Washington Post on March 13, 2011, story brought to my attention by Style, the official Tumblr blog of the Washington Post’s Style section; a very interesting read about the man who claims in his new documentary that the destruction of Hurricane Katrina was more man-made than natural.

Why does a congressman from the minority party with no leadership position making a statement at a think thank event on a possible move by a locality warrant multiple news segments? Only because Fox can present it as a victory for conservative ideology. No unbiased observer could possibly have concluded that [Rep. Anthony] Weiner’s statements deserved repeated discussion in the midst of three foreign wars, instability throughout the Middle East, a nuclear accident in Japan, high unemployment, and major battles over the federal budget in Washington.

From the article The Real Problem with Fox News: A Case Study by Ben Adler posted at Columbia Journalism Review on March 25, 2011.

It has been very interesting to follow the development of the Tumblr blogging service.  At first, I greatly misunderstood it as being nothing but Twitter with pictures.  However, after continuing to go back now and again to see more of its offerings and get a better grip on its community…well, I could no longer stand to not add it to my arsenal.

KoHoSo on Tumblr will not be a replacement for KoHoSo.us but, instead, a supplement.  My Tumblr blog will allow me to post smaller but still noteworthy items quickly while KoHoSo.us will still remain my base and home for longer thoughts.  With how busy my life is turning out to be with my new job and a home that seems to require constant attention, it’s just a lot easier to get those little things in that take too much time to format properly here yet are too big for a mere tweet on Twitter.

I hope that those who enjoy KoHoSo.us will check out KoHoSo on Tumblr and even consider joining that free service — a good idea as one can follow multiple blogs through their Dashboard and are never under any obligation to start a site.

http://kohoso.tumblr.com/

In addition to that, there will probably be a few minor decoration changes on this blog in the near future.  However, between some work I need to do from home plus the meat of the NCAA Men’s Basketball and Men’s Hockey Tournaments going on, there may be a general lull here for about two weeks.  I hope to get back my previous head of steam here on, appropriately enough, April Fool’s Day.

Defunding Planned Parenthood to prevent abortions is a lot like outlawing umbrellas to prevent rain.

Subtitle of an editorial published by the Milwaukee Sentinal-Journal on March 3, 2011 titled, Culture war redux.