Invisible airwaves crackle with life

Summer is the best time of year because it allows us to do so many fun things outside. For me, one of those things is cruising around in my car, windows down, with a great song blasting on the radio.

And there are few places better for that activity than right here in North Idaho. We've got both essential ingredients: great summer weather and awesome radio stations.

That's right, I said awesome radio stations. As someone who has lived in other parts of the country, I can tell you: let's not take them for granted.

The radio stations of the Inland Northwest - especially for those of us with "a passion for the music" - are an oasis of great tunes and local programming amid the barren desert of bland, cookie-cutter formats that dominate most of the nation.

Now, it wasn't always that way. It wasn't too long ago that nearly every small town had a community radio station, usually on the AM dial, with its own unique mix of music, local news and sports.

You'd drive into, say, a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and see a billboard proclaiming, "Welcome to Manistique! You're in WTIQ Country!" And the billboard would be right.

During the day, you would hear local newscasts and weather forecasts (read live on the air); call-in shows and song requests; contests giving away prizes from local businesses (with local winners); and sports broadcasts of the local high school teams.

And at night, even those of us living in the boondocks could hear great DJs and sportscasters from afar, as the major radio stations from big cities sent their signal across hundreds of miles.

Today, most of those community radio stations are a memory. Giant corporations such as Clear Channel and Cumulus own and operate hundreds of stations (include a few in Spokane), force-feeding their handful of rigid music formats upon towns of all sizes, in all corners of the country.

Even the between-song banter of DJs is recorded ahead of time, in some studio among the sprawl of Atlanta, Ga., then beamed out thousands of miles.

I'll never forget flipping through radio stations a few years ago on the oh-so-thrilling drive across Iowa on Interstate 80. Leaving my home in the Quad-Cities, I heard back-to-back songs by Metallica, Godsmack and AC/DC on a Davenport rock station.

About 50 miles later, traveling through the neighboring "market" of Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, I heard the same Metallica song on their rock station. Then I heard the same Godsmack song. And then the same AC/DC song.

Finally, I reached my destination near Des Moines. I found a rock station. "Enter Sandman" was playing, and when I heard the opening strains of Godsmack's "I Stand Alone," it was deja vu all over again.

Three different "markets," three different stations, and three identical sequences of programming, all during a two-hour time frame. That's corporate radio in a nutshell.

And that's why I appreciate Inland Northwest radio so much. Yes, it's not perfect. As mentioned earlier, there's some corporate ownership. Longtime residents probably can remember better rock stations from the past. And unfortunately, we are subjected to John Tesh's sappy advice and bad taste in music.

But to this newcomer's ears, there are also many locally-owned (or at least locally-operated) stations, and they really do play a wider variety of music than most areas of the country.

Community radio still lives on "the mighty 1080," KVNI AM, which has plenty of Coeur d'Alene community news and local sports amid the golden oldies.

We've got several different country music stations, for those who think their tractor's sexy. There's the "80s, 90s and whatever" format on 103.9 FM (KBBD, or "Bob FM," of Spokane). There's the all-request lunch hours on 98.9 FM, KKZX, which go far beyond the 50 or so songs played endlessly on most "classic rock" stations.

FM stations such as 95.3 KPND, out of Sandpoint, and 96.9, Spokane's River, play great music for adults who like some new rock mixed in with their Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam and Coldplay. Those two stations really do "play anything" - well, other than the song and band referenced in this column's headline. Long live Rush!

And finally, for those of us who still have that 15-year-old boy inside, there's 94.5 FM, KHTQ, bustin' at the seams with agro music. Kudos to them for cranking up Ronnie James Dio tunes on Monday, the day after the legendary heavy metal belter died of cancer. Hearing a song like "Last in Line" on the radio takes us old rockers back to some good times.

So, where have all the good times (and good radio stations) gone? They're still here, ready to come along for the ride as another great summer beckons.

Let's make sure we get out there and enjoy it!

Joel Donofrio is a copy editor at The Coeur d'Alene Press who has eaten about 10,000 Potato Oles while listening to his car radio. E-mail him at jdonofrio@cdapress.com.