Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

With colleges back in full swing, campus radio is slowly returning to the airwaves, and one, WCHC (88.1 FM), is preparing to join the growing number of broadcasters finding new audiences on the Internet. Although the station had hoped to be Webcasting at the beginning of the semester, that action's been postponed for several weeks, with testing slated to commence anyday. You can follow the action at www.wchc.home.ml.org.

Last spring, there was debate on the Holy Cross campus over the station's mission, with one faction arguing that 'CHC should stick to programming for students as opposed to the entire city for which it's licensed to broadcast. Any plan that it would return this fall with a watered-down format seems to have been averted, if the following programming-recruitment message posted on its Web site is to be believed: "In order to obtain a show, you must be willing to represent independent/underground music rather than the commercial material publicized on TV and major radio stations. As said before, we are a home for independent/underground music." Welcome back comrades!

Although its schedule hasn't been compiled yet, underground hip-hop will continue to be showcased on the weekends with DJ Genesis every Friday from 8 to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 8 to 11 p.m. Call your shout outs in to 793-2474.

Having broadcast sporatically throughout the summer, Fitchburg State College's WXPL (91.3 FM) is about to resume its full-time schedule. The station received a huge boost from the alumni office, which awarded it a grant to purchase a new console for the main broadcast studio.

WXPL's current Top 10 features Jack Drag's S.S.T. EP (A&M), Liz Phair's whitechocolatespaceegg (Matador), the Beastie Boys' Hello Nasty (Grand Royal), 12 Rounds' My Big Hero (Nothing/Interscope), the Uninvited's self-titled Atlantic debut, Black Eye Peas' Behind the Front (Interscope), Squirrel Nut Zippers' Perennial Favorites (Mammoth), The Avengers: The Album (Atlantic), Rasputina's How We Quit the Forest (Columbia), and Bomb 20's Field Manual (DHR). Newly added to the station's playlist are Elliot Smith's XO (Dreamworks), Kid Rock's Devil Without a Cause (Lava), Unkle's Psyence Fiction (Mo Wax/London), Korn's Follow the Leader (Immortal/Epic), and Sinead Lohan's No Mermaid (Interscope). Now if WXPL could only get a new frequency and power enough to cover all of Worcester County . . .

WORCESTER STATE COLLEGE'S WSCW (94.9 FM) plans on returning to the airwaves by the end of the week or right after Labor Day weekend. Initially, you should be able to tune in Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., but normally it takes college stations a few weeks to get a full line-up in place, so don't be surprised if there's a few gaps in the broadcast schedule. The station hopes to extend its schedule to include weekends as well.

RECORDINGS FROM LAST WEEK'S Cerebral Coalescence Cultural Festival at Ralph's will be featured throughout the month on the Sunday Night Concert Series, which airs at midnight on WCUW (91.3 FM). Shoeless Joe and Krakow kick things off on September 7, followed by Heir and Religion of Sound on September 21, the Sonic Explorers on September 28, and concludes with the Miracle Orchestra on October 5. Eddie Vedder's boys break up the flow on September 14.

BEGINNING NEXT WEEK, "Airwaves" will appear in a new form in an expanded "Eight Days a Week." All non-commercial DJs are invited to submit their current Top 10 faves for publication to bgoslow[a]phx.com.