Bye-Bye Globe

The Globe, otherwise known as 94.7FM here in the DC area, is no more. I made this discovery earlier this week while driving to work. It saddens me because it was one of the last classic rock stations left in the area; everything now is either pop, soft rock, Latin, or talk radio, with the exception of a couple hip-hop stations. But all stations--regardless of format--play the same damn songs over and over again. And now that consumers have switched to satellite or HD radio or take their iPods and MP3 players in the car with them, there is less use for what Howard Stern calls, "terrestrial radio."

Me? I like terrestrial radio. Always have. I remember, back in the 80s, staying up late on school nights listening to 105.1 WAVA and B106.7 just waiting to hear the new Whitney Houston or Madonna song. I would take my hairspray bottle and sing into it as if it were my microphone, or I'd hold my cassette player up to my speaker to record a song and play it back repeatedly so that I could memorize and imitate all the vocal inflections (this actually helped me become a better wedding singer, as I would find out decades later).

What I would also do with that cassette player--which is kind of embarassing to admit now--was pretend I was a radio DJ and record intros and commercials and then record the songs from the radio. It was fun. Hell, it was all a little kid could do when there was nobody around to play with. I suppose at one point I probably wanted to be a DJ, among many, MANY other things. I actually did become a DJ in college for a couple of years, until partying was more of a priority on Friday nights. Well, actually, sometimes I would party first and THEN do my radio show. But that's another story altogether.

So this Globe thing: the main reason I'm so sad about it is it was one of the only radio stations that had a cause-- the environment. Its studios had included "green" options, such as energy efficient lighting and solar power, plus in-between songs and commercial spots they would give green tips about recycling and saving water. It was really cool, and necessary in my opinion. The radio station, which had always played classic rock since I can remember, switched to this "greener" format within the last year or two. Not only that, the DJs seemed more in control of the playlists, playing not only the classic rock but also current rock done by classic rock artists. And they'd give little tidbits and factoids about the songs and artists because their DJs, like Cerph and Weasel, have worked in radio for a long time. I remember Weasel from WHFS 99.1 (which is now a Spanish station, but it used to be a great "alternative" station back in the 90s that played The Cure and Nirvana and stuff).

And now it's all gone, changed to a "light, adult rock" format playing Natasha Bedingfield and the Goo Goo Dolls and crap like that. All the good DJs left back in October 2008. I guess that's when management informed them of the impending changes. I actually stopped listening to that station in the mornings when Weasel was no longer the morning DJ, replaced by a former hip-hip station DJ named Albie Dee.

So sad. I looked around the dial to find something comparable I could replace 94.7 with. Nothing. *sigh*