Listening to the Radio

I like listening to the radio. Here in Springfield I listen to two local university stations that are NPR affiliates. These are WUIS (my university's station) and WILL FM (from Urbana). Both stations have excellent classical music and some of the better public radio news and general interest programs. I also listen to the non-commercial community music station, WQNA, which has some interesting programs.

With iTunes and the Internet I'm also able to listen to some of my favorite stations from other places I've lived. I listen to KDHX (the community radio station in St. Louis), for some of their programs of folk music, world music, and eclective independent and alternative music. I also listen to KPFK (the Pacifica Radio station from Los Angeles). If you have iTunes, you too can listen to KPFK. It's there in the radio section under public radio streams. This past weekend there was a great program about the universal healthcare bill for a single-payer health insurance system in California (the Sheila Kuehl plan). I had never even heard of this bill, which was actually passed by the California legislature, and I hope it comes back and gets passed over Schwarzenegger's veto. My own governor here in Illinois hasn't suggested any thing with as much common sense as the California Senate Bill 840, which is a great pity. Anyway, I'm glad to have access to KPFK again. I also sometimes tune in over the Internet to WILL AM in Urbana, which has one of the great interview programs with its Focus 580 program hosted by David Inge. When Robert Jay Lifton came to the Urbana campus to give a talk and was interviewed by David I remember him remarking afterwards that David was as good as any of the national news talk hosts or interviewers, and I agree.

When I was 18 I worked at KYMC in St. Louis. That was a great station, owned by the YMCA of West St. Louis County. Kids (like me and my friends) could get experience working there as DJs. It recently went off the air because the YMCA couldn't afford to keep it running. That's a shame.

- Eric