Hi WCBN,
I am a UofM Alumnus from the 1980’s, and I had a number of WCBN DJ friends back in those days.
(I’m not sure if I should name names… there was often some drama going on down there! One of them broadcast me snoring in a chair during his midnight shift when I dropped by.) Anyway, I moved to Zurich Switzerland in 1991 and gradually lost track of my Ann Arbor colleagues.
Fast forward the late 2010’s, when I re-discovered WCBN streaming on the Internet – it’s been my constant companion ever since, and I’m still amused and enthused by the youthful student broadcasts and bantering during the week. But Saturdays are my faves!
With a 6 hour time difference, my afternoons start with Roberto’s Burnt Offering show, then followed by the great Just Folkin’ Around at 3pm – just as finish my weekly shopping, or a long ½ marathon training run on iPhone. I can’t imagine a weekend without this stuff. And Tex & LongHandle Bob taught me to appreciate county music with the Down Home Show. The Sunday shows of RadioZilla / Turkish Delight / Sounds of the Subcontinent are quite amazing as well. Wires and Cords is great when I’m trying to sleep, but I’m sad that Ethan Rosenberg’s Mediterranean show has gone offline. I hope he’s OK.
During the week, as I’m in and out of the office, I routinely tune into Shimmy Shimmy KoKo Bop from the weekly archive – as it airs in the wee hours of the morning here, but your robot regularly provides me a reprieve and sometimes I replay it multiple times. I really hope you can keep her online, and the more the merrier. It’s incredible how much effort these DJ’s make to curate great playlists – stuff you just don’t hear on the commercial channels, or most other channels for that matter.
By the way: I was especially impressed when one of your DJ’s played the MSU Michigan State football anthem a while ago in solidarity with the victims of a tragic shooting incident. In all my years of Michigandering, I’ve never actually heard that tune – I was most impressed.
John Buehrer, Zurich