I’ve been in South Louisiana with my family for the past week, having the time of my life. It’s the reason I failed to post a blog last Monday for the first time since . . . well, since I started my weekly rhythm more than a year ago. But I’m not here to dwell on the end of my blog-streak. And neither am I here to give you a full report on my Louisiana experience. That’s just not something I can do from a hotel room in Houston, a few hours before we head back over the Atlantic.
For today I just wanted to tell you about the totally badass radio station out of the University of Lafayette. KRVS. 88.7 on the local dial. I’m telling you, there is not a better one in the country.
I’ve been around a little bit, and every city I live in gets judged by the quality of their radio. I’ve heard some amazing ones: KUT out of Austin, “Jazz and Justice” radio out of Washington D.C. (I can’t remember the call letters), WTMD out of Baltimore, WWOZ in New Orleans . . . just to name a few. But no radio station I’ve ever heard can hold a candle to KRVS.
Driving around South Louisiana this past week, Cecil Doyle, Blake Miller, and all the other DJs at KRVS were like personal tour guides. Cajun and Zydeco programming in the morning. Extended rock and rhythm and blues jams in the afternoon with programs like the Medicine Ball Caravan. Jazz, folk, punk, and every other kind of roots-based music you never heard deep into the night.
These days I can’t stand the so called news programming that NPR affiliate stations try to smuggle into the American psyche with those sweet voices of theirs . . . it’s the music I tune in for. And if you’re like me, you’ve noticed there’s precious little of it left on the left of the dial.
But KRVS is different. KRVS still works the pocket of refreshing and traditional roots music, offered to you from real life human beings live from perhaps the coolest city in America.
This trip reminded me that radio is not dead. At least not in South Louisiana, or at four simple letters on your internet browser.
So if you’re feeling like you need a friend, or you just want to jam, do yourself a favor and get you some KRVS.
New Bayou Books 