Radio free Tucson

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Ryan Chirnomas

But like all of you, I cannot drive in silence. Somehow the relentless beat of some hip tunes calms my nerves enough for me to tolerate the morons who won't pull up into the intersection to make a left turn. Music makes Tucson's lovely traffic jams almost tolerable.

Almost.

However, at some point over the summer, my cassette player started making an unbearable squeaking noise. Unfortunately, this constant squeaking is so loud that it deafens the whiny coughing of my car's dying four-cylinder powerplant. Thus, tapes were rendered completely useless.

No worry, I thought. There's always the radio, right? My ears would have to settle for the last pure form of American entertainment. The airwaves are free for everyone, at least until Ted Turner and Bill Gates conspire to develop some sort of pay-per-view radio system.

Luckily, the cancer that had spread from the engine to the air conditioning to the ignition to the tape player had not yet infected the radio. Key word being 'yet,' of course.

Unfortunately, as I surfed around the dial, it was quickly apparent that Tucson's airwaves are far from musical utopia, my version of it anyway. There's the 'alternative' station, the oldies station, the hard rock station and the painfully repetitive musical wasteland that is 104.1 FM. Or if those don't do it for you, there's always the R&B, adult contemporary or country stations, but I'll pass on all of them.

But whatever your musical poison, there's one thing all these stations have in common. All of them are slaves to playlists. You know you're truly in hell when Alanis Morissette's latest whining is on three stations at once.

Tucson radio quickly became almost as annoying as those boneheads oblivious to their left turn signal's relentless blinking while they putt along at 10 mph under the speed limit. However, all that changed for me one day, on the way back from a Tucson Toros - er, I mean Sidewinders - baseball game.

After flipping through the dial and finding nothing better than a crappy acoustic version of a crappy 'alternative' song, my buddy Andrew said to me, "Let's see what's on the ol' community radio station."

"The what?"

Turns out, Tucson's airwaves are not barren after all. Amid all the crap lies Tucson's best kept secret. Way down at 91.3, the donation-supported KXCI plays some of the coolest tunes there are.

KXCI is like nothing you've heard before. Officially dubbed as a "Community/Eclectic" station, it's the definition of variety. From blues to bluegrass, swing to salsa, rockabilly to plain old rock 'n' roll, it's got it all. Not to mention reggae, Celtic, techno, hip-hop and Grateful Dead bootlegs.

Clearly, KXCI is eclectic, but what about its claims of being a community radio station? KXCI practices what it preaches. It strongly promotes local music and arts events. It's not uncommon for KXCI to broadcast a local artist live from its studio on Fourth Avenue, including the recent appearance of a friend's ska band, Turban Jones.

Sounds great, eh? Here's the best part: It actually comes in clearly. Unlike our very own KAMP radio, you can hear the tunes more than 30 miles from the station. No need to fiddle with the dial or cover your car in tin foil; just sit back and enjoy the music.

Delighted and amazed, I couldn't possibly keep this great secret to myself. So, now friends, I spread the word to you. Tune into KXCI some time. Give it a good listen, and broaden your musical horizons.

If you don't like what you hear, try again later. You're certain to hear something completely different. Happy listening.

Ryan Chirnomas is a molecular and cellular biology senior and can be reached at Ryan.Chirnomas@wildcat.arizona.edu. His column, In Hasselhoff We Trust, appears every Friday.