Welcome back, loyal listeners

From 1987 to 1999, I was an on-air personality at radio station WWSP 90fm, broadcasting out of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in the very palm of that hand-shaped state. In addition to being a DJ (for one extended stretch I was responsible for over 25 hours a week of programming), I also served tenures as the station's Music Director, Program Director and film critic. It was, and remains, a cherished time in my life. For someone who has been a voracious consumer of new music up until, say, five or six years ago, being able to share my passion for a wide variety of music genres was a natural fit with a radio station that encouraged a wide variety of music formats and DJ enthusiasms. And, as anyone who heard any of my shows can attest, I took the role of musical educator very, very seriously, imparting as much trivia, context and perspective as I could before I sensed that dials were being turned to, oh, any other station where music was being played. (At one point I was hosting a show that counted down the Top 40 College - or Modern Rock - Singles in the nation, a three-hour show that required at least 12 hours of writing intros and researching interesting tidbits.) I love to teach - sue me.

A little over a year ago I launched a Facebook group that paid tribute to one of my signature shows - The Old Wave, or "The Best in Modern Rock That's Not So Modern Anymore." But I wanted to expand the experience to people outside of the confines of an Interweb social network. Hence - another blog. And, as an offshoot of my Horror themed blog Heart in a Jar, I give you...Radio Heart.

I'm also expanding my musical range considerably. Yes, music of the 80s will be an important element of Radio Heart - there's no other genre with which I have been more closely associated, and one does not set upon collecting every album from the Second Edition of the Trouser Press Music Guide without admitting, yes - I loves the Modern Rock of the Reagan Era. But I also love showtunes. And cheesy pop. And The Great American Songbook. And German Baroque choral music. And one-hit wonders. I have a friend who loves to use the term "Music Whore." Works for me. They, and many others, all have a place in my heart...and so they'll all have a place at The Heart.

We'll kick off tomorrow with a song that I'm guessing very few of you have heard. Old music that's new...I can hardly wait. See you Sunday, loyal listeners.

It's good to be back on the Radio.