Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

It is indeed nifty. The history, partly based on what I know and remember, and partly based on stuff I may or may not have heard right, is that there was this tiny station with a "college radio" feel (but not a college station) with a tiny transmitter that was hard to pick up, in Washington. It slowly grew a cult following. Eventually, it was able to move to a better frequency, a larger power license, and a site in Maryland right at the Beltway, where it prospered until it became economically significant for people with money to want to mess with it. It gradually grew more "modern rock" and less "alternative" at the same time as the album-rock stations nearby were heading in the same direction, so it became indistinguishable from the stations that actually called themselves mainstream. And there was a fan uproar (and I think some protests among the staff) when the DJ with a speech impediment was let go, or assigned to a late-night shift, or something like that. (He's a good DJ, consonant problems or not, and he deserved the fan support for quality, not pity.) Eventually, the "cool" people from that now large and successful station left to start a new, tiny, hard to pick up station in Annapolis where they could go back to their "Hey, this is a neat song, so it doesn't matter if I can't figure out what genre it is" roots and how the DJs sound to the listeners matters more than how they sound to the investors. For a long time I couldn't listen to them at all unless I was in the car on my way to or from the Maryland Renaissance Festival, but they've moved up in power a bit so I can hear them in most of Baltimore, much of Washington, and the eastern 'burbs. There's a country/rock (I thought it was country but it maty have switched formats) station on the same frequency in Frederick (an hour west of Baltimore), so WRNR isn't going to be allowed to increase their power beyond the current level on their current frequency.

I like their mix of music, I like the fact that the mix is so broad and so deep, and I like the fact that they give local artists a little airtime. (They used to play my brother's band, Blue Miracle.)

I just hope that success doesn't spoil this version as well. And that if it does, the important part will splinter off to find a new home again.