Diggin' Out: New England Blizzard, 1940

Photo credit: Library of Congress Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Collection

Trailer Trad Time Travel: College Radio Days

What did you listen to in college? Back before the days of Pandora and satellite radio, if you wanted indie rock, you had to really search for it. My friends and I were lucky enough to man a radio show for a few hours every week at our little college. The Wattage was minimal. The record selection was whatever albums were catalogued in pigeon holed shelves on the broom closet sized studio wall. This encouraged us to be independent in our music line up and to dig up unusual stuff.

The studio was a crows nest of a thing on the top floor of the student center. This made our radio station very secluded and quiet, even on Saturday nights. It was fun to sneak a beer or two in the studio and peer out of the window into the still darkness of our campus with a favorite tune on.

I wanted to include a lesser known track by the Police in the play list but let's face it, 1980's concert videos featuring 'fashion forward' Sting are pretty hideous. I put in the Clash's Lost In the Supermarket instead. -If Joe Strummer had been lost in a wonderful Harris Teeter, it would have been a happy song! I also had to include some Smiths because it doesn't get much better than Johnny Marr with his red Rickenbacker on lead guitar.

This music mix was probably a little geeky and miles from what was on the FM stations at the time. Here is what a half hour set might have included back in the day:

The English Beat - Tears of a Clown
Big Audio Dynamite  E=MC2
Elvis Costello - Every Day I Write The Book
The Cure - Lost In the Supermarket
Echo & The Bunnymen Do It Clean
The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make?
Marshall Crenshaw Some Day Some Way
REM  The One I Love

-I hope that these oldies satisfy those who have patiently indulged my love of new indie rock music! Let me know if I can add a favorite of yours!