I first realized commercial radio didn't have to suck in the late 1980s, when listening to pioneer modern rock station KJJO in Minneapolis. I ran a record store for a while, and sponsored a local show on KJJO as well as on the University of Minnesota radio station WMMR (catchy slogan: "Music should hurt."). I was first on the air on Macalester College's radio station WMCN ("10 blazing watts of power") in St. Paul, Minnesota, and loved legendary alt-rock station Rev-105 in the Cities too.
We then moved to Austin, Texas, where I went to law school and saw a ton of music. After a time back in Minneapolis and a few years in the D.C. area, we ended up living in Florence in 2004 so I could join the faculty at Western New England College School of Law. I was surprised, and happy, to find a station as eclectic as the River in our new home, especially after the relative wasteland of D.C. radio.
In 2005, my kids and I started doing a show, "Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child," on community station Valley Free Radio. In early 2008, the River invited us to do the show here (and you can see that show's information here), and now I'm also on the air on Sundays from noon to 3.
