Mary McCaslin's Roundup

Dec. 9, 2006

PUBLIC RADIO WAVES

Whenever I drive out of the local area I quickly recall why radio listeners in this part of California should be thankful. Unless one is hoping to hear various versions, spoken and musical, of the One True Message, endless replays of rock classics, or “modern” country music, there is almost nothing else worthwhile going out over the airwaves. The main exception is public radio.

I recently did a driving tour to the mid-west and throughout the entire trip the car radio was tuned to the lower numbers on the far left. I heard numerous duplications of the NPR news, but I also heard some fine local music programs. Their signals faded away far too quickly.

Here on the Central Coast of California we have a number of radio stations that offer a variety of locally produced programs. Since my focus lies in folk and what is now called Americana music, I feel fortunate to live in an area with radio stations (public and commercial) that feature these types of music. The public stations also do an admirable job of presenting just about any other type of music one would hope to hear, along with first-rate public affairs programs.

Periodically, schedule changes take place, such as those now at KUSP, the Santa Cruz NPR affiliate, also known for its local programs.

For the last couple of years KUSP has aired a music show called the Open Road, weekdays from 11 to 1, with various hosts. J. T. Mason and Robin Roberts (both formerly of KAZU) co-hosted Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It was recently decided that the Open Road needs a face-lift. As music director Rob Mullen put it, the show will remain on the air, but will shift its balance to play less acoustic music and add alternative country and rock.

This decision caused longtime folk music programmer Rachel Ann Goodman to resign. For many years Rachel hosted the Coast Ridge Ramble Saturdays, moving to the Open Road after a major schedule renovation made substantial changes in the weekend program lineup. She alternated hosting the Open Road every other Thursday.

Mullen went on to say that KUSP had no intention of attempting to compete with commercial radio. They instead want to play lesser-known bands with an “alt” sound, that record on smaller independent labels such as Bloodshot and High Tone. He emphatically stated, “It will be a cold day in hell when you hear Zeppelin or Black Sabbath on KUSP.”

He also said that Live At Lunch will remain a feature of the new Open Road, mentioning Jackie Green as an upcoming guest. The current lineup of hosts, Monday through Friday, is: Bonny Jean Primbsch, Carla Brauer (former host of KZSC’s “Silverfish in the Kitchen”), Robin Roberts, Deb Hopewell and Matt Pierce.

Format changes are common in radio and the print media. Some work, some don’t. In this case, like all the others, only time will tell.

Mary McCaslin will be celebrating her 60^th Birthday and new CD release at the E3 Playhouse in Santa Cruz on Sat., Dec. 9^th. Email her at roundup@marymccaslin.com.