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Yesterday was a pretty good day other than some minor annoyances. The law school diploma that crashed off the wall without breaking the glass a few weeks ago? Crashed off the wall again and broke the glass. I tracked down a JoAnn's coupon for their custom framing, went to the closest one, and only discovered in the wayback of the store that they've closed that store's custom framing department. I'm taking it to a local shop when I finish the current round of ranting.
I'm also suspecting that this computer may be showing signs of PCmentia. The power supply original to the laptop is wonky when I first connect it, as is the headphone any time I put one into the jack for that. I got home from a workout and the lap around the Land of Potpourri, plugged the laptop back in at home, entered my PIN and was told, Access Is Denied. That was a new one, and the only way to get around it was an unscheduled power-button reboot to get things working again, which fortunately all did. For now, anyway.
But the biggest of the little annoyances was finding that the one radio station that's been a near-constant for me for most of the past 40 years has again flipped its format, this time to something I simply cannot stand. I've written about some of these other changes here over the years, but let's go back to my arrival here in 1981. As I painted my first law school apartment bedroom, the best local music I could find was on a station at 103.3 FM then going by WPHD. That seemed scholarly enough; their morning team was a couple of wiseguys, but they played decent stuff for the rest of the day, with guys named JP and Tony Magoo among those spinning the platters.
Then I heard about something strange and wonderful at the end of the dial. A few moments of it are preserved in internet amber on this webpage.
Yup, it was pronounced Woo-Woo. It had a morning man who went by Justin Case, and overnights were the realm of a local airwave legend named Gary Storm, who'd run his freeform Oil of Dog show on several Buffalo stations before settling out in.... Wyoming County?
For that's where this weird station transmitted from, then and even now. It began its broadcast life as part of a rural radio network that brought Pat Robertson to the masses, but wound up in the ownership of a Buffalo dentist (known to the on-air staff as "Doctor Teeth") who, for a time, let them do whatever they wanted.
The WUWU calls stayed up after one format change (and an incident, possibly a publicity stunt, where he allegedly locked the jocks out of the Erie County studio and they broke into the transmitter out among the cows in the pasture to continue); they briefly became a more soul-based "New Sound Alternative." But then, when the leading rock station in town briefly switched to a lighter format, 107.7 changed the calls to WBYR and became "Buffalo's Bear." Tony Magoo switched over there, playing decent music in between taking requests to blow up various local landmarks in his "super demolition" feature. THAT lasted until 97 Rock went back to its roots and the 107.7 format switched again to modern jazz known as "The Wave." This was the only era where the station actively sought out Rochester listeners, which at the time we were; they sponsored a jazz concert in a cool downtown Rochester venue that we attended.
Alas, that format was too good to last, and next I knew it had gone redneck; WNUC, for "New Country," actually had studios in my first suburban Buffalo office building back in 1995, but I never listened to them during one of the longest formats of their existence- until they were bought by the owners of the Sabres, became their flagship radio station and adopted a sports-talk format. When the Rigas family went into bankruptcy and prison in the early oughts, WNSA (your "new sports authority") went on the auction block and the big local chain carrying that format bought them and promptly flipped them again- this time to a mellow classic rock format with no talk during songs, no crazy morning zoo show, and the sound of water rushing up against the shoreline. The landlocked transmitter was now "The Lake," and its call sign was now WLKK, which has remained through the three and a half changes since then.
The first: Megadodo Broadcasting International Unlimited decided to try simulcasting its AM radio hate talk on the FM dial. Because one frequency wasn't big enough to hold Rush Limbaugh, probably. That lasted a bit over two years; oddly, The Lake continued to broadcast on an HD subchannel and was available on streaming services, as well.
The second: Buffalo became one of the first markets in the country to develop an "alternative music" format. I was a bit put off by it at first, but eventually got to know both the music and the local personalties who brought it, embraced it, and even emceed it at twice-annual concerts known as Kerfuffles. I got to know the likes of AJR, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon and many others. And for the years after I began taking our dogs to meet their frens at the dog park every weekend, their "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" show was just the right mix of music for that not-quite-caffeinated hour.
Then came COVID, and with it, the half-change: Megadodo sacked its local program director and, at first, all of its airstaff (a midday voice, their former morning person, eventually came back until right before the end). They were replaced by counterparts playing much the same music but with generic bumps in between and a crazy morning zoo show originating out of New York City. I never listened before Caroline, and eventually our own Brandi, came on around 10 a.m., and I gradually got used to it again. This change, I'm told, is also when The Lake was finally drained from their HD-2 channel and streaming app.
And finally yesterday: in between when I arrived at and left from a 4:15 workout, the station had gone country again for the second time in its weird life. The Bear, The Wave, the Lake and the Alt Family had now given way to The Wolf.
As I killed the preset on my car radio and hit the scan button back- another country station, Jesus, oldies, and, hey, THIS isn't too bad....
I was back at 103.3, where I started almost 40 years ago, now going by "The Edge" doing mostly 90s music that I can at least stand.
But you never know where Megadodo will go from here. Tune in tomorrow. We're gonna do.... polkas?
I'm also suspecting that this computer may be showing signs of PCmentia. The power supply original to the laptop is wonky when I first connect it, as is the headphone any time I put one into the jack for that. I got home from a workout and the lap around the Land of Potpourri, plugged the laptop back in at home, entered my PIN and was told, Access Is Denied. That was a new one, and the only way to get around it was an unscheduled power-button reboot to get things working again, which fortunately all did. For now, anyway.
But the biggest of the little annoyances was finding that the one radio station that's been a near-constant for me for most of the past 40 years has again flipped its format, this time to something I simply cannot stand. I've written about some of these other changes here over the years, but let's go back to my arrival here in 1981. As I painted my first law school apartment bedroom, the best local music I could find was on a station at 103.3 FM then going by WPHD. That seemed scholarly enough; their morning team was a couple of wiseguys, but they played decent stuff for the rest of the day, with guys named JP and Tony Magoo among those spinning the platters.
Then I heard about something strange and wonderful at the end of the dial. A few moments of it are preserved in internet amber on this webpage.
Yup, it was pronounced Woo-Woo. It had a morning man who went by Justin Case, and overnights were the realm of a local airwave legend named Gary Storm, who'd run his freeform Oil of Dog show on several Buffalo stations before settling out in.... Wyoming County?
For that's where this weird station transmitted from, then and even now. It began its broadcast life as part of a rural radio network that brought Pat Robertson to the masses, but wound up in the ownership of a Buffalo dentist (known to the on-air staff as "Doctor Teeth") who, for a time, let them do whatever they wanted.
The WUWU calls stayed up after one format change (and an incident, possibly a publicity stunt, where he allegedly locked the jocks out of the Erie County studio and they broke into the transmitter out among the cows in the pasture to continue); they briefly became a more soul-based "New Sound Alternative." But then, when the leading rock station in town briefly switched to a lighter format, 107.7 changed the calls to WBYR and became "Buffalo's Bear." Tony Magoo switched over there, playing decent music in between taking requests to blow up various local landmarks in his "super demolition" feature. THAT lasted until 97 Rock went back to its roots and the 107.7 format switched again to modern jazz known as "The Wave." This was the only era where the station actively sought out Rochester listeners, which at the time we were; they sponsored a jazz concert in a cool downtown Rochester venue that we attended.
Alas, that format was too good to last, and next I knew it had gone redneck; WNUC, for "New Country," actually had studios in my first suburban Buffalo office building back in 1995, but I never listened to them during one of the longest formats of their existence- until they were bought by the owners of the Sabres, became their flagship radio station and adopted a sports-talk format. When the Rigas family went into bankruptcy and prison in the early oughts, WNSA (your "new sports authority") went on the auction block and the big local chain carrying that format bought them and promptly flipped them again- this time to a mellow classic rock format with no talk during songs, no crazy morning zoo show, and the sound of water rushing up against the shoreline. The landlocked transmitter was now "The Lake," and its call sign was now WLKK, which has remained through the three and a half changes since then.
The first: Megadodo Broadcasting International Unlimited decided to try simulcasting its AM radio hate talk on the FM dial. Because one frequency wasn't big enough to hold Rush Limbaugh, probably. That lasted a bit over two years; oddly, The Lake continued to broadcast on an HD subchannel and was available on streaming services, as well.
The second: Buffalo became one of the first markets in the country to develop an "alternative music" format. I was a bit put off by it at first, but eventually got to know both the music and the local personalties who brought it, embraced it, and even emceed it at twice-annual concerts known as Kerfuffles. I got to know the likes of AJR, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon and many others. And for the years after I began taking our dogs to meet their frens at the dog park every weekend, their "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" show was just the right mix of music for that not-quite-caffeinated hour.
Then came COVID, and with it, the half-change: Megadodo sacked its local program director and, at first, all of its airstaff (a midday voice, their former morning person, eventually came back until right before the end). They were replaced by counterparts playing much the same music but with generic bumps in between and a crazy morning zoo show originating out of New York City. I never listened before Caroline, and eventually our own Brandi, came on around 10 a.m., and I gradually got used to it again. This change, I'm told, is also when The Lake was finally drained from their HD-2 channel and streaming app.
And finally yesterday: in between when I arrived at and left from a 4:15 workout, the station had gone country again for the second time in its weird life. The Bear, The Wave, the Lake and the Alt Family had now given way to The Wolf.
As I killed the preset on my car radio and hit the scan button back- another country station, Jesus, oldies, and, hey, THIS isn't too bad....
I was back at 103.3, where I started almost 40 years ago, now going by "The Edge" doing mostly 90s music that I can at least stand.
But you never know where Megadodo will go from here. Tune in tomorrow. We're gonna do.... polkas?