by Eric Nielsen, Allentown, NJ

When I started college in 1978, I had already developed a strong musical opinion. A huge Bowie fan as a teenager, I think his music helped develope my taste for music that was slightly off-key. Not exactly mainstream and not always the same. I joined the college radio station and learned so much new music that it totally blew my mind. I think the Punk movement, especially the Pistols and The Clash, was as important as the early rock ‘n’ roll pioneers. The music industry had become stagnant. The formula worked, why change? Unfortunately, there was no commercial outlet for this new music. Two stations in New York, WPIX and WNEW started playing “new wave” in the early eighties, but soon went back to the standards when they created, and I hate to even say this term, “Classic Rock”. So besides the small college radio stations, there was no outlet for new music on the radio. Luckily for me, living near the Jersey Shore, I found a small independent radio station, WHTG 106.3 “Your Rock Alternative” in 1986. For the next 13 years I was in music heaven! I discovered so many new bands and artists. I felt I had a musical edge over all those poor people still listening to the same old bands from past. Don’t get me wrong, I still love pulling out my old Led Zeppelin and Who albums, but I don’t want to listen to them all the time. Anyway, I 1998, I moved to the Trenton area and could no longer receive the signal from HTG. I was back to “Classic Rot” (a Dramarama song about the state of rock ‘n’ roll) on the radio for several years until I discovered XPN in 2000. Working as a delivery driver, I stumbled across the World Cafe on my truck radio. I became hooked immediately As they say, the rest is history. I became a member at the next fund drive. I have discovered so many new artists, some in genres I would have never listened too previously. I have promoted the station to so many people, unfortunately most people are not open to changing their habits. I have raised my two children on this music. They have an appreciation for good music. My 14 year old daughter listens to Brandi Carlile and Grace Potter, not the garbage that corporate American force feeds them. I take my kids to the annual music festival, where I feel they are safe and they can put a face to the music we listen to. To all those people who have had the guts over the years to put out music that was not mainstream, I thank you. I feel that I have an edge over those poor friends of mine that are still stuck listening to the same old music of their youth.