I just found out about
Free Radio Chuckshon, a local, streaming site (and broadcasting a pirate station at 90.9 FM, which you seem to be able to get clearly around the downtown area with a decent antenna). At this point, the station seems to run mostly on auto-pilot, giving us a wonderfully bizarre and eclectic mix of music, heavy on the low-fi punk. Among the few things I heard in my scattered moments listening that weren't completely (and wonderfully) obscure, included some Pixies, John Lennon, and Elvis Costello. They have a few scheduled shows, which might be a little irregular yet in their reliability (especially, it seems, with frequent dead air and no-show DJs), but the on-line playlists from past shows seem promising, and the fun of pirate radio is the unpredictability of it and the shows filled with technical glitches, right?
As I'm writing, I'm streaming Butt Pirate Radio, which describes itself as a "bi-weekly show where we talk about queer issues, both social and political and spin queer and queer friendly artists." This episode is a cover show, I'm guessing inspired by the upcoming Great Cover Up (at Congress this Thurs-Saturday, benefiting
Tucson Artists and Musicians Health Alliance. This is one of the great events of the year, where local Tucson acts,who normally play their own original material, pull out all the stops--usually costumes and/or other flair is involved--to cover an artist's or band's material). So far, the covers have included one's done by Sarah McLachlan, Fiona Apple, Grace Jones, Smashing Pumpkins and Goldfrapp. A little more well-known fare than the randomized obscurities of the autopilot, but still, some quality stuff.
There are times when KXCI just doesn't do it for me, and this could be a good place to go as an alternative. See if you can get it at 90.9 FM, or stream it at http://freeradiochukshon.org
