Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

WCHC's just released fall schedule is filled with a variety of shows that present the best new releases from the underground as well as some of the artists who top the Billboard charts but manage to avoid commercial radio. While mega-rockers have had a disappointing year, rap's and hip-hop's elite can be counted on to sail right to the top of the charts (it's no accident Puff Daddy and friends are playing two Centrum shows). With the exception of weekend nights on WCHC (88.1 FM) and WCUW (91.3 FM), and a few brave souls who assault the morning airwaves on Bay Path Regional's WBPV (90.1 FM), you can't hear rap or hip-hop on Central Massachusetts radio. Mike Meyers and Damu Courtney have been dropping their goods on Worcester audiences since 1994. Da Bomb's Final Chapter, which airs Saturdays from 8 to 10 p.m., is their final go-round before graduation.

Who'll pick up the torch? Perhaps Oyekunle Jegede, whose "neutralized hip-hop" dosed Kool-Aide can be heard Fridays from 8 to 10 p.m., or Simon Tepas, who visits the ozone's black hole where hip-hop and electronic mate on BeatsandBreaks Sunday afternoons from 3 to 5 p.m. More electronic exploration takes place Sundays from midnight to 2 a.m. when Mike Veniziale presents Interzone -- Floating Anarchy and on Thursdays from 10 p.m. to midnight during the Intergalactic Ho-Down. DJ Atari and Kid Kosmos entertain their listeners with breakbeat, jungle, trip-hop, trance, and ambient Kool-aid sounds. Equally mind-expanding is Adrian Leung's Hong Kong Music Express, featuring modern sounds from Hong Kong and Taiwan in both the Cantonese/Mandarin and English languages Saturdays from 7 to 8 p.m.

For fans of punk and hardcore, Andy Cambria and Peter Tedesco present the likes of Earth Crisis and Madball on Over the Edge Mondays from 10 p.m. to midnight, and Ed Teagan leaps from the Sex Pistols and Germs, '80s warriors the Exploited, T.S.O.L., Angry Samoans, and Slapshot, to relative newcomers Face to Face and Rancid on More Punk Than Me Tuesdays from 3 to 5 p.m. Kevin Miller presents free Therapy Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., while SkaFunkRastaPunx's Kieran Hughes, Ken Hirdt, and Matt Quinn promise "a 12-step program to achieve full flavor," including "unhealthy doses of phat cuts from Fat, Moon, Taang!, Victory, Dischord, Epitaph, and Tuff Gong" Fridays from 3 to 6 p.m.

Anyone interested in finding out what it takes to present a great non-commercial rock radio program could do no better than Metal, where Jim Hutchinson continues to shatter the myths surrounding heavy metal by searching the planet's music bins for the best available material, scouring the region's entertainment listings for upcoming concerts, and making sure those bands are heard Mondays from 8 to 10 p.m.

More on WCHC's fall schedule in upcoming weeks. In the meantime, you can check out their web site at www.holycross.edu/wchc.

LOOKING TO STRENGTHEN your music collection? WCUW will hold its annual fall record and CD sale this Saturday (November 8) from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at its 910 Main Street studios. "We're looking for people to donate material to be sold or to rent a table for $15," says Rob Silverberg, host of Friday's New Traditions program at the community broadcaster. "We'll also be having a local music table. [The artists] get the money from the sale. We want to give local musicians a way to sell their stuff and people a chance to buy them. A lot of times, if you don't go to their shows, you can't find them."