Best of Austin

photo by Sandy Carson

Like his terra-bound contemporaries, sound adventurer Dennis Campa, gentleman crate-digger and noted community radio host, whacks the aural thicket to unearth exciting nuggets of recorded history. But instead of a machete, the tools this easygoing disc jockey uses are in the form of waves. Encountering this old-timey explorer out in the pop-culture wild might elicit queries of "Dr. Demento, I presume?" But Campa dredges up more than mere novelty knock-offs. When he's not culling a theme show exploring topics as broad as 1920s black history, Looney Tunes, all-organ music, and the beat era or as specific as Spike Jones, Mississippi John Hurt, Bessie Smith, or an all-Frank Zappa show, he's spinning live at Vintage Vivant, Swan Dive's monthly trek through the dust bowl via the Jazz Age.

The sonorous, stentorian tones of Heath Riddles could easily be mistaken as those of a classical music disc jockey or perhaps even a man of God. But on KOOP's OutCast, Heath takes on seriously weighty matters and makes sure we know everything we can about the subject being covered. Thank God for Stephen Rice, who breaks the somber mood and reports the news, complete with commentary in a snide, insinuating, or perplexed tone that tells you far more than words can say, and for J.J. Lara, whose catty asides are a lisp of fresh air. Keep an eye on these three. And for now, your ear.

As long as honorary mayoral roles are being assigned, Isidoro Lopez is an excellent candidate for East Austin. As host of the long-running local cable television program Fiesta Musical on Channel 16, Lopez specializes in in-depth interviews with movers and shakers from the Latino community. On his KOOP radio show of the same name, Lopez likewise keeps the music and discussion hot. At 70, he is also a board member of the Austin Latino Music Association and the leading voice in integrating Tejano music into Austin's vaunted music scene.

Mac Blake and David Jara are indeed the best friends your radio ever had. The duo's Saturday night KOOP call-in show, from 6 to 7pm, is the perfect stage for their back-and-forth zingers, a talent no doubt honed at their other job over at Master Pancake Theater. Sketches and stories, puns and prank callers, rants and a rousing round of “Man, I needed that� vs. “Man, I did not need that." Put a ring on it.

photo by Sandy Carson

Got a story the dreaded mainstream media is ignoring? Just go to any progressive event, and look for the tall bald guy carrying the bundle of papers. That’s Kobierowski, KOOP Radio’s own speaker of truth to power, whose Texas Politics Today tag team with Deece Eckstein specializes in holding political feet to the fire.

Make your southbound drive corporate-free and brain-sane: Keep it locked on college and community frequencies all the way to San Antone. Start off in Austin at your No. 1 preset, KVRX/KOOP 91.7FM, and hear community talk and free-form programming during the day and college craziness at night. Once you hit Kyle, the signal starts to fade, so keep one of your B-tier presets locked on 89.9FM, and switch it over to KTSW, student radio for Texas State to enjoy indie rock, Bobcat-style. Then, once you get south of New Braunfels, when that signal starts to fade again, hit 90.1FM, and check in with the kids at San Antonio College's KSYM. Traffic is stressful enough. Let these alternative radio stations keep you tuned into sanity.

Tune in and celebrate 10 years of some of this country's finest youth broadcasting, as recognized by the National Federation of Broadcasters. Youth Spin is a collective (in which class credit may be earned by local high school students) that meets at the Griffin School and produces a Friday afternoon show every week on KOOP radio. And 2006 marks their first decade of service to the Austin community. You think you have your pulse on what's cool in this town? Trust us: These kids are on it way before any of us geezers.

When KOOP radio suffered two fires and nearly went off the air for good, their loyal listeners and supporters circled the wagons and showed the popular noncommercial radio station the love. And no one showed it better than classical station KMFA, which offered studio-broadcast space to the beleaguered KOOP. While KOOP continues to fundraise and provide their all-embracing blend of dependable community programming from KMFA's boards, news of their move into the old strip that used to house Tiny's Boots on the Eastside off Airport completes the circle, drawing the phoenix up from the ashes and out onto the airwaves where she belongs.

Spin your dial to the west for the finest quality radio programming in Austin. Student-run KVRX has the genres that all but define college radio (indie rock, jazz, blues, hip-hop, electronica) and then some (lo-fi metal, dark jungle, death country, psychedelic metal, and of course, Celtic funk). You'll also find plenty of variety at Austin's community-owned and operated KOOP radio – which shares the same frequency, but different broadcasting hours with sister station KVRX – as well. KOOP is the home of local favorites Stronger Than Dirt, The Lounge Show, Ear Candy, Out Spoken, and Dolla Holla. Holla, indeed.

Saturday is definitely a "Don't touch that dial!" day. Our radios are set to 91.7FM. If we're up early enough, we begin with Big Band & Classic Jazz. More realistically, we are lolling about in our muumuu, ready at 10am for Jay Robillard's Lounge Show. Then we head out for something sticky and sweet around noon, when the Jennifers hit the air with Ear Candy. Then it's home for a nap, where The Graveside Service lulls us with the tunes of dead people. At 3pm ATX Live peps us up with live in-studio appearances by local folks, and at 4pm we hone our creative chops with the gang on Writing on Air. Our dancing shoes come out of the closet for Taylor Cage's Queer Waves, and Potluck is what we have for dinner at 6pm. By the time we are getting all worked up for an evening out, Scott Gardner modulates us frequently, and makes us Stronger Than Dirt.

Saturday night need a kick in the pants? Host Scott Gardner plunges into a wild weekend Saturdays from 8-10pm with all manner of garage, punk, and savage rawk from Sixties obscurities to current local faves, plus interviews with touring bands and Austin scenester guests. Listen to two hours of this high-octane stuff and you can't help but go out and tear it up!

Nothing beats waking up on a beautiful Saturday morning, turning on the radio and just going about your day without having to switch stations every five minutes. The Lounge Show's mix of crooners, chanteuses, cocktail jazz, exotica, and retro-futurism keeps your toes tappin' until noon. Then Ear Candy takes over with two hours of glorious, globe-spanning indie-pop. Despite KOOP's many kontroversies, the station never fails to redeem itself for at least four hours every Saturday.

The FCC mandates that every radio station, public or commercial, dedicate a certain amount of airtime to public service announcements (PSAs). Most college and nonprofit stations trot these out en masse, but few demonstrate the creativity and passion that drives Dave Davis, KOOP radio's PSA stalwart. While most listeners may not recognize his name or his face, we've all heard Dave's masterpieces of production exhorting us to be kind to cats, avoid swearing, and obey the law of karma. We consider that top-notch service.

KOOP 91.7FM has lots of great music deejays, and Rod Moag probably springs to mind first for vintage country music. But don't forget John Hauser's "Country Roots" program on Tuesdays, 9-10am. He takes you back to a time before it was even called country music - in those days, it was "hillbilly" music. Hauser is a living encyclopedia whose knowledge of C&W from the Twenties to the Fifties is both staggering and entertaining.

Post-punk, power pop, old school, electronica - if you've never heard of it, deejay Tina has got it. Playing old and new songs that commercial radio won't touch with a 10-foot pole, Tina will keep you hip and keep your Saturdays happening. Where else could you hear Eighties Depeche Mode sandwiched between cub and Neko Case? Warning: listening to "Ear Candy" without a pen and paper handy can result in a serious bummer.

Yes, Austin's cooperatively run, community-owned radio station has been in turmoil lately, but those controversies haven't damaged the on-air content: KOOP's mornings are an unbeatable mix of various jazz, funk, and roots music (Rod Moag's "Country, Swing, and Rockabilly Jamboree" is one of the best programs in town and Jay Robillard's "Lounge Show" keeps those Saturday mornings swinging) and its afternoons bring a badly needed progressive perspective to Austin's airwaves.

Every Saturday morning from 10 til noon, KOOP crooner Jay Robillard makes getting out of bed a dance. Playing vaudeville, big band jazz, and Rat Pack classics, Robillard adds a velvety touch to the morning coffee and paper. And if a hangover is what meets you come Saturday, The Lounge Show is the next best thing to a saline IV.

A longstanding tradition on small-town radio stations around Central Texas is the Sunday-morning polka show, catering to the many area residents of Czech, Moravian, and German descent. Thanks to KOOP, us city folk can wake up dancing as well, as enthusiast Thomas Durnin spins the Tex-Czech hits and reads off a calendar of upcoming dances at local SPJST halls.

photgraph by Laura Skelding

photo by Laura Skelding

With 91.7FM, you not only get a diversity of programming, you get a diversity of stations. Since a nasty court battle ordered the two stations to share the same frequency, the two new kids on the radio have been getting along wonderfully and complementing (and complimenting) each other well -- the cooperatively run community station (KOOP) during the day and the UT student station (KVRX) at night. Both have similar missions -- wildly divergent programming that has a little something for everyone. KOOP has world music, weird music, several great roots- and Latino-oriented music shows, and public affairs programming that features the true left. The station's programmer slots are open to the public, so anyone has a shot at being a deejay. KVRX similarly romps through a mix of alterna-rock (the real thing, not the corporate pseudo-alternative), with dashes of poetry, speaker-busting metal, psychotic hillbilly music, and a different view of the university than what Dollar Bill Cunningham probably wants you to see.

KOOP's Saturday afternoon camp-and-drag show is a hit say the majority who voted here in this brand new category. KUT's Eklektikos took second, and Twine Time and Lone Star State of Mind tied for third.

Nearly all media is adult-oriented. With the exception of a few magazines and Disney movies, the vast majority of reading and programming out there is produced by adults for adults. But Austin's newest radio station, KOOP-FM 91.7, has opened the airwaves to kids, creating a call-in radio talk show produced and hosted by kids. Marsha Kearns, the adult who coordinates the program, says there are four middle schoolers - ages 11 and 12 - involved regularly, choosing to delve into such topics as power, television, music, movies, violence, parents, and boy-girl relationships. "We encourage anyone to participate in any way," says Kearns. "They can do their own show or call in on a show. It's a community radio station."

You may have already changed out of your vintage cowboy jammies by the time host Rod Moag starts spinning his partner-swingin' favorites, but this show will inspire you to replace them with floor-skatin' western boots and a bolo tie. Tune in to sweet nasty rockabilly bomp and the honey-smooth sounds of western swing classics to point your pony down the right trail, buckaroo.

Some of us never really hated our parents' music. Some of us secretly reveled in those snappy, pappy tunes by the likes of Ferrente & Teicher, 101 Strings, Sergio Mendez & Brasil 66. Jay Robillard forces the smoking jacket out of the closet and serves up a swizzling mix of easy-going (not EZ Listening) tunes. Like many of his compadre deejays at Austin's new community radio station KOOP, he is an expert - nay! an academician - in his field of elegance and savoir vivre. The music of Nino Rota is the soundtrack to life, baby - and may any backlashers who debunk the Cocktail Nation forever fizzle in the embers of their lack of true spark: They probably think the best drinks come in a can.

Just turn your dial to 91.7 (without cable, that is) to find out why. It would be nice if UT's Board of Regents, KTSB and KOOP could hammer out a settlement sometime before the FCC rules on the appeal, which could take as long as two years. Maybe this category can be "Best time-share of a non-commercial frequency" next year.