Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

Beginning July 1, local non-commercial radio listeners have a new morning program with which to wake up. CrossTracks will take over the 6 to 9 a.m. weekday spot on WCUW (91.3 FM).

"About five years ago, Troy Tyree [the program's Friday host] pitched the idea of an alternative morning show called New Traditions with a greater scope than the folk programming aired in the afternoons," explains Rich Fox. "It's evolved and taken on its own life, featuring contemporary singer/songwriters that are not the same as folk musicians, and a wide mix of music of different genres, including alt-country, that's mostly independently released non-mainstream music."

The diverse cast of DJs includes country-music specialist Lee Morin (Mondays) and Bill LeBeau, who mixes surf and garage music with rhythm and blues and features "The Screwball Hit of the Week" on Wednesdays. "Dominick Marcigliano [Thursday's host] is very likely to go out back and pull out records that haven't seen the light of day in years," says Fox. "He blows the dust off them and throws them on the turntable. He also likes to pull out new records that have come into the station and play four or five tracks." Tyree's Friday shift includes readings by Worcester poet Joe Fusco Jr. at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and a rundown of the upcoming weekend events read by Darcy Adshead at 8 a.m.

Fox hosts the final New Traditions on June 30 with Ben Kaplan the in-studio guest. "He's from Williamsport, Virginia, home of the Little League World Series," says Fox. "His writing, performance, and musical styles reflect his . . . interests and influences, which include being an artist, writer, and filmmaker. The opening track of his CD Deeper Down, `Navajo,' takes you places."

Later that day, Nancy Hewitt visits In the Tradition between 5 and 8 p.m. to promote her new solo a cappella CD, Festival in My Head, and its CD-release party at Passim's, in Cambridge, on July 1. Jim Henry will be sitting in for regular host Ron Carlson.

CrossTracks will have its own newsletter and bumper stickers and a location on the station's Web site (www.wcuw.org). "We'll start from there," says Fox, adding, "We're trying to focus on our block and [to] bring money into the station."

YOU CAN GET OUT of Worcester. Comic artist Seth Feinberg, known to longtime Worcester rock and rollers as the lead vocalist of the Prefab Messiahs, has gone global with two new cartoon features on MTV's weekly animation anthology show, Cartoon Sushi. "Great True Moments in Rock and Roll History deftly illuminates actual music world factoids in 30 seconds or so of cartoonish mayhem," says Feinberg in a recent e-mail communiqué. "Look for such historically verifiable mind-benders as `Jim Morrison of the Doors about to be arrested for indecent exposure' and `Monkees fans boo Jim Hendrix off stage.'"

He adds, "The Organization is the original cartoon series that puts the `id' back into corporate idiocy. Each two-minute episode strips the waxy shine off `The Powers That Be' who (apparently) control our culture! Yippee!" Cartoon Sushi airs every Thursday and Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on MTV.

You can also sample Feinberg's work as his Web site (www.mishmashmedia.com), which bills itself as "One of the Top 17 Billion Sites on the World Wide Web!" It includes "A Big Blue Guy with Sledgehammers," "Animated Gizmos" (including Tiny Head, Buggy Boy, and The Cyber Diner), "Comix Online" -- including Mean While . . . (Exotic Scenarios) and Fast Food Story -- and the "Random Feature of the Week," currently The Legends of Monk Manqué.