Blessed are the San Diegans, for They Shall Inherit the Music

Three years ago, San Diego was introduced to a fledgling radio station that proclaimed it was “About the Music.” It replaced an ‘80’s rock station that had become so predictable in it’s line-up that I could tell you with almost exact precision what song would be playing at anytime during the morning commute or the lunch hour. It was, however, one of three stations that I would listen to, the others being a long standing local alternative station, and San Diego’s K-Rock.

One day, the ‘80’s were replaced by this amazing menagerie of fabulous music, spanning almost every era since music was first recorded. The radio station had no fancy call-sign, no obtrusive billboards, no gimmick, blessedly no morning talk radio, merely the tag line “It’s about the music.”

And so it is.

This station plays good music. They do not stick to a single decade, don’t play only those that top the charts, and are not, in any uncertain terms, for sale to the music industry to play a little of this in exchange for something of that. In fact, they specifically stray away from anything that could in any way be construed as anything but good music. That is all they care about. The dj’s know their stuff and are responsible for introducing the listeners to new music. Monthly all of the station contributors (dj’s, station manger, interns…) get together and come up with three “recommended” albums for the month. Through these recommended’s I have been exposed to The Dresden Dolls, Spoon (though, to be fair, SPF was onto these guys even before), My Morning Jacket, Gang of Four, and countless others. If you read Wamez’ blog, his knew find of Teegan and Sara have been radio buddies of mine for months. (Excellent find, wamez.)

All of that lead in is to tell you this story.

My alarm clock gets one radio station. It is a rote, standard, boring, blahbity blah radio station with...dread!...morning talk radio. Now I know that there is a market for talk radio. Many of my good friends enjoy morning talk radio. SPF on occasion indulges. But it is not something that I cannot abide. I don’t care what celebrity said what outrageous thing. I don’t care who should or should not have been voted off of the most recent reality craze TV show. I don’t want to hear their sob stories. (Although I will admit that once they had Eddie Vedder’s mother on and she was fascinating. I could just hug her.)

This morning my disdain for all things talk radio was solidified. First, I was wakened by Alanis Moriset covering Seal. I like Seal. Not a fan of Alanis. Then the talking guy came back on and explained that, being such a generous and hip station, they play new music to “introduce” the listeners to bands and songs that they may have never heard before.

Their “introduction” today? Matisyahu.

Now, I recognize that this may be a new name for some of you, but for those of us who are loyal, or even partially loyal, 94.9 listeners, we have known Matisyahu since July 2005, when 94.9 “introduced” us via the monthly recommended album.

For those of you who don’t have 94.9, though, there is an entire spread on Matisyahu in this month’s Rolling Stone. He is remarkable and fascinating and his music is truly inspiring. But then again, so are a lot of the other recommended’s.

So, rather than try and comprehensively communicate the greatness that I have been exposed to, I have added a link to the FM 94.9 Recommended list. Check it out. You might be exposed to something new and wonderful. I know I have.

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