“There
is no alternative to the alternative.”
By:
Rey Andrade-Garza
May
15, 2013
San
Antonio, TX.
Gone are the days that you were
introduced to new artists and sounds by your radio dj. So too, are the times
when each dj had a personality of their own and offered you something different
and kept you glued to the dial. The great dj’s were the ones where you didn’t
know what song was next but you knew they were taking you on a musical journey
and it was like living in a moment in time. San Antonio was the mecca of
cutting edge rock-n-roll where bands like Scorpions, Rush, Budgie, Thin Lizzy
made mandatory stops to point to play here because this was the place to play
until about the mid 1990’s. Nostalgia
still takes me to the days when The Godfather Joe Anthony was on the air (99.5
KISS) introducing us to little known acts like Garfield French, Legs Diamond,
Wasp and Europe among others. He made it
a point for his listeners to expand the ear palate with choices from all over
world. You didn’t like it all but at
least you didn’t feel like you were left behind the scene on what was new in
rock. Today, it’s a different world with
Sirius XM, ITunes, Rhapsody and other underground sites like FrostWire. I like
to get my music these days navigating through Spotify, which lets me explore
different artists all the while interrupting my listening to full albums with promos
and the occasional annoying commercial but that’s the game now. The promos are sometimes great but often I don’t
pay attention to the band they are promoting because I have been programmed to
search for bands independently. No real
great dj’s left to be honest. It’s been ages since I was shown different music
and with the endless choices today I like the a la carte method and
self-discovery of finding music on my own.
However I did rediscover a station I had not tuned into since the days
of riding the school bus with my Walkman listening to Lisle & Hahn or Art Garza on
96 Rock. KSYM, the college radio station
on the SAC (San Antonio College) that has always been there it seems. I have to
make a bit of a confession and say that although I loved jamming to Rush, Queen
and Pink Floyd I was also a 90’s kid who grew up with new wave artists like The
Cure, Depeche Mode, Psychedelic Furs, Red Flag, Nitzer Ebb, The Church and so
many others and KSYM 90.1 helped me discover real alternative music. As I started listening again these past few
months I realized they are the only real alternative to the radio scene in this
city. I swear all the rocks stations:
KISS, KZEP and even X106.7 sound about the same anytime of the day! Tune into
KISS and you will hear Metallica at least once an hour and still have Radiohead’s
“Creep” on permanent rotation with heavy hitters like Filter (if only you could see me type this sarcastically) and it's just plain predictable. KZEP doesn’t fare any better,
the only difference now is all the grunge alt-heroes from yesteryear now make it to
rotation in time to be a classic: So playing: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, etc. this only
helps me remember how old I’m getting.
X106.7 plays fewer commercials than the other two but sounds only a
little different from KZEP. Boring! Say, you want to hear the new cutting edge
rock like The Black Keys, Miike Snow or Mumford & Sons you have no place to
go but online or up the road to Austin because they are trendy and cutting edge
when it comes to the alternative music scene. This is what irks me about this whole music
scene here. Complacency. It’s pathetic when the city gets all hyped up
because Bush or Soul Asylum decided to play here. These bands are no longer
relevant and this shows how this city has progressively become less of an
option for stellar, alternative bands to play in. The only bright spot this
past year was the Maverick Music Festival that featured Gary Clark, Jr. which was the
type of artist that we never get and haven’t in decades. I didn’t particularly
care for the Toadies who were on the bill but maybe they were put on the lineup to
appease the typical San Antonio rock fan stuck with what the local radio
stations offer. They are the type of music aficionado that don’t question and just accept the
mainstream music being paraded in front of them day in and day out. It’s hard
for me to be so critical of my city and it pains me because I grew up with this music but I get bored easily if
the envelope of music isn’t pushed. I need variety, complexity, progressiveness
and my heart isn’t stirred listening to the same regurgitated garbage these
rock stations offer. KSYM is that alternative
and thank God. Listening to these
college dj’s have me pushing my Shazam App to figure out who is playing and I
never know what song will be next and I like that. I like the fact that Shazam
doesn’t recognize the song playing half the time and there is some comfort
knowing I may never hear that song again and so I got to relive a time capsule
moment and relive a feeling that was long since dormant. It’s kind of refreshing to take
a step back and just let the dj take you on a ride and introduce you to music
you won’t hear anywhere in San Antonio.
They’ve become a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, again. They take me back to my college days when I used to dj for
my undergraduate college radio station and the freedom you get from playing
songs that match your personality and at the same time educate listeners into
music they probably would never come across if not for you. I try never to look at KSYM music schedule
(which you could easily access on their website) but since I have been
listening I know that Thursday night’s is the long running Metal Show and
Saturday morning there is jazz and weekend nights they play nu disco and hard
house which is awesome. During the day
you will hear music from the world over and some alternative rock. The station keeps you guessing and challenges
your ear palate and reminds you that there are still dj’s exploring and not
stuck on the allure of vinyl from 30 years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, I love classic rock but I don’t have to hear More
Than Feeling by Boston every day since the song was basically ruined for me by
Guitar Hero. If you’re really looking for an alternative in San Antonio, this
whole time and for many decades it has always been KSYM 90.1.
KSYM website: http://sacrtfnet.alamo.edu/ksym/index.htm
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