TALK RADIO FOR TOTAL GEEKS

“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.”  (Matthew 10:27)

I drive my wife and daughters crazy (but not my son) because I’m a talk radio nut!  More appropriately said, I’m a talk radio geek.  It’s not that I NEVER listen to music radio. I do.  On Sunday nights when I can hear it, I like “The Lost 45s” on Oldies 103.3.  In the morning, I wake up to music on WSRS-FM 96.1 out of Worcester.  Sometimes I even like Country 102.5. But my big thing is talk radio.  I think my favorite is Michael Graham on 96.9 FMTalk WTKK.  I also like Jay Severin on the same station.  I went through a period that I couldn’t stand Jay Severin, but he’s back in my good graces, again.  Don’t all smash your computers, but I LIKED “Imus in the Morning” and I’m not happy that it’s gone.  On WRKO, I like Howie Carr, especially the Monday shows when television geek Max Robbins is Howie’s guest.

In order to be a TOTAL talk radio geek, however, you’ve got to venture off the beaten path, or perhaps I should say, “Off the beaten DIAL”.  No, I don’t mean satellite radio or high def. radio.  I’ve never even heard either of those, yet.  I mean obscure AM stations.  You can learn a lot about people and localities just by DXing as radio geeks call it...”dial crossing”.

I think it’s a SHAME that the Framingham/Natick/Marlboro area has NO local radio station aimed JUST at this area.  Well, there IS the Framingham State station at 91.3 which comes in poorly except in the car...and there IS the Framingham High School station at 1680 AM which comes in even MORE poorly...but we have NO real commercial station.  If I were a Donald Trump type, I’d open my own MetroWest radio station.  Now, Woonsocket, Rhode Island has not one but two local stations.  For those who think Woonsocket is so far away it might as well be Brunswick, Georgia, Woonsocket is EXACTLY the same distance from Framingham as downtown Boston is.  The better of the Woonsocket stations is WNRI at 1380 on the dial.  They have a surprisingly good radio talk show host named Dave Cain.  I have trouble figuring his hours, but I THINK they’re around Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to Noon.  He doesn’t seem to on the air on Mondays.  Dave Cain has written some book called “42 Reasons”.  He’s kind of a metaphysical nut who believes his dead son talks to him.  (No, I don’t buy THAT although I do believe Cain IS having some sort of supernatural experiences.)  Cain is pretty hostile to orthodox Christianity and has a very hard time believing in an eternal hell.  As you might guess, I very much disagree with him in the areas of religion and philosophy.  However, Cain is a bright guy and can talk politics, sports, entertainment, and other stuff with the best of ‘em.  Woonsocket also has WOON at 1240 AM.   I don’t know his hours, but from time to time Larry Poitrois shows up on that station.  Larry was on ‘NRI for years, but switched a few years ago.  Larry Poitrois has one of the heaviest Rhode Island accents I’ve ever heard. (The R.I. accent is much more like a Bronx accent than it is like a Boston accent.)  Larry is probably in his early 60s and also used to be a schoolteacher in a Catholic school.  He probably knows more about the Blackstone valley area than just about anybody alive.

If we turn our attention from the south to the west, there’s WCRN at 830 AM in Worcester.  Some days, the Howie Carr Show comes in better in Framingham on ‘CRN than it does on WRKO.  In the morning, the host is Peter Blute who is a former U.S. congressman (Republican), a former MASPPORT official, and a former WRKO morning host.  Blute is conservative, Catholic, and personable.  I think he does a better job than Tom Finneran on WRKO and is head and shoulders above Mike Barnicle from 96.9 FMTalk.  If you’re ever traveling to far western MA on the MassPike, tune in 560 AM which is a pretty good talk station and also carrys the Howie Carr Show in the afternoon.

At night, especially if the conditions are right, you can hear WOR New York at 710 AM, as well as WABC New York at 770 AM.  Depending on conditions, you can hear CKLW from Windsor, Ontario at 800 AM or an English-speaking Montreal talk station also at 800 AM.  Despite my ancestry, I know very little French, but French-speakers will enjoy CKAC at 730 AM which is from Montreal.  Another Canadian (mostly) talk station is CHML at 900 AM from Hamilton, Ontario.  Hamilton’s only a hop, skip and a jump from Niagara Falls, and I’ve actually driven through it several times.

Well, have you figured out why it’s appropriate to call me a talk radio geek?  Happy listening!