Wednesday, May. 07, 2008

Student-run 88.1 a breath of fresh air for music lovers

By Jeremy Dutton

Radio conglomeration's ugly effect on the airwaves is no more evident than here in the Tri-Cities. Sure you can hear country, top 40 and rock when you want it, but what if you're looking for something new? Radiohead just had a brief spot at the top of the Billboard charts, but did you hear them on any of our major stations?

I don't think that fits any format 'round these parts.

I logged a few hours this week listening to our local spectrum to get a feel of what you can actually hear -- and it wasn't good.

You hear country on KORD 102.7, but forget bluegrass. BOB 95.7 plays the hits of yesterday that most often were probably better left forgotten. 97 Rock plays the modern rock that you can hear enough of, but to be fair, it does serve up a healthy serving of essential grunge tracks.

But there was one bright spot at the far left of the dial. 88.1 The Alternative is run by high school students at Tri-Tech Skills Center in Kennewick.

And while the mix runs hot and cold at some points during the day, the teens play an incredible array of music. So after putting in some dedicated listening, I went to find out more. I sat down with the radio broadcast students and their teacher Ed Dailey on Wednesday morning to ask them about what they play.

Dailey says tastes in music vary and with iPods more people are able to hear what they want to hear, when they want to hear it. That's why the station is adding tunes constantly to keep up. He says more teens are calling in to hear Led Zeppelin, not Fall Out Boy. There is hope for the next generation.

In one of the audio booths, I helped Darin Conway, 17, add a new track by a great new band from Athens, Ga., called the Whigs. Darin grew up listening to 98.3 The Key, but in the sixth grade he heard 88.1 and hasn't strayed since. But a contributing factor may be that he's “still deprived of an MP3 player.” He also hosts the Red Leader Rave Party (electronica) from 9 p.m. to midnight Fridays.

Andy Sandoval, aka Big Andy, is the station's purveyor of local music. Each Sunday from 10 p.m. to midnight, the 17-year-old hosts “Destruction,” a hardcore/heavy metal show, with his partner House of Pain, aka Mike Davison, a student and member of local band Mortal Remains.

For sometimes half of the show, Andy plays an entire block of local music -- another thing you won't hear anywhere else. And like other kids in the class, Andy's tastes can't be confined. He's a Slipknot fanatic but a sucker for Frank Sinatra.

So while Dailey broadens the musical horizons of all these students by teaching them to run a station that's not pigeonholed by a higher power, we can all reap the benefits just by tuning in.

- Jeremy Dutton: 582-1525; jdutton@tricityherald.com