I've been in Bakersfield for work the
past few weeks.
A whole lot of driving.
A whole lot of radio.
The radio stations once you make your way down the Grapevine are the following:
people questioning evolution, Christian rock, Christian country, mariachi, banda, banda, mariachi, morally-questionable but annoyingly earwormy "hip-hop", and country...
It took me a while to find 89.1 --- it wasn't until my last trip in the late/early hours of a weekday morning when the familiar Morning Edition voices assured me that there was SOMETHING here in the San Joaquin Valley.
I kept it there...
9AM.
Classical.
12 PM.
Classical.
2 PM
Classical.
It seemed like the only genre that the programmers knew. Made me wonder, was it just cheaper to acquire the rights to play all this classical? Do they think that's the only way to enhance the mind? What the fuck.
THAT, was public radio for the San Joaquin Valley, at least on a weekday. Valley Public Radio.
The content reminded me of what I thought Public Television once was. Inaccessible, high and mighty, and not really part of my world. Meaning, white people.
Thinking about the content of the public radio in the San Joaquin, and its listeners is quite the juxtaposition to seeing the young kids of color blasting the catchy earwormy "hip-hop."
I know in LA, you can find even more young kids blasting the catchy earwormy "hip-hop" and could find a contrast, but it seems that KPCC, if someone does not know and listens long enough for any stretch of time, will eventually come across a topic that they're interested in: where they're discussing abortion, schools, bike lanes, gun control, Donald Trump, or hell, even a comics convention. Something for everyone, very much unlike Valley Public Radio.
