Chris Cantore Show @ X1FMradio.com

For a long time I've been listening to Indie 103.1 online in the mornings. I'm a huge fan of Joe Escalante, but I also really like radio. Unlike my iPod, a good radio show can give you bits of news and information, make you laugh, and make you feel like a part of a larger community. I've enjoyed Mat Diablo's new morning show at 91X though I only hear about 10 minutes of it because it's over by the time I'm done with my daily conference calls. I like listening to Garrett at 94/9 because he usually tosses in a few songs that aren't standard for your morning commute and he's got immense knowledge of the bands that he plays. But there's a gap in my radio day before I go back to Indie for Jonesy's Jukebox at noon and then Stacy Taylor at 3, and now that gap has closed.

Chris Cantore, who was at 91X for what? 12 years? Something like that anyway. Now he's back on the air and he's free to play a whole bunch of music not normally heard in a radio show, and he even has the freedom to say Fuck. It's like when Bill Maher was fired from CBS and made the jump to HBO and could finally say what he really wanted to say.

This Monday, appropriately on Cinco de Mayo, Chris' broadcast launched officially and there was a little Cinco de Mayo brunch and carne asada to go with it. The studio is in National City, once the offices of The Flash. The station is online only, but the owner also took the time to explain that they were able to break code of the iPhone and iTouch and it can be streamed on both devices when wireless is available. They gave a tour of the studios and explained some of the other launches they have planned in the coming months, but there was so much stuff, I could barely wrap my head around Chris being not only streaming online but with cameras on so you can watch everyone as they do the show, and on top of that, chat with them on a message board. And the bonus for me is that the show runs until noon. I particularly like the cross border influence of the station, with a daily rock en espanol segment, Jen Correia (blogger at SanDiego-ish) doing news, and the chemistry the whole team has on air.

It was a nice way to start of a Monday, but even more, it's another innovation from our little town. Some people would prefer me to pick favorites when it comes to radio, and in this case online radio, but to me, we're pretty damn lucky to have some quality choices, because if you think about it, the more airplay certain artists get between those choices, the more inclined they are to stop here on tour, like how Death Cab did private performances for FM 94/9, 91X, and KPRi all to eventually announce that they'll be here this summer. I love this city, and it's nice to listen to people on-air who feel the same.

This is through the glass from the conference room into the studio:


That's Kallao, who briefly joined Chris in the broadcast (and whose photography you can link to in my list of photo sites)


And for all my radio peeps, here's links to all of stations I've mentioned in this post, and they can all be streamed:

X1FMradio.com
FM 94/9
91X
KPRi
Indie 103.1