Phans Hosed By New Oldies Radio Station In Burlington

Were you listening to WUSX 93.7 FM @ noon today? Did you know that there were rumors a new channel in Burlington dedicated to Phish?

Although a nice thought, it never came to be phriends. I was listening and I gotta say I am very disappointed. I really expected something fresh, new and targeted to young people. Burlington needs an eclectic jam band channel to rival The Point's boring and "radio friendly," progressive rock channel that plays the same songs on repeat. However, to the chagrins of many listening phans, instead of something new and fun, Burlington just got another oldies station.

Tuesday at noon the repeating Phish studio songs changed to oldies, and the first song they played was 409 by The Beach Boys, which left me feeling pissed off and unamused. It was pretty obvious that there was not gonna be an exciting addition of music to the greater Burlington area. After the realization had permeated my brain, I also heard Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence and then Guess Who's American Woman. Meh...I'd rather hear Phish's Rift and then Spine of a Dog by moe., or at least Bob Marley's Exodus and then Up On Cripple Creek by The Band. There are enough channels around here devoted to being predictable and ordinary. In my opinion, they missed out on an opportunity to add that missing piece of the music on the radio that Burlington has been dreaming about for a long time.

Regardless of the big letdown, you have to say that it was a good advertising move on the part of WUSX to use the music of Phish as they did. One may ask, will the Phish listening demographic attention that they grabbed help them with their ratings as they go forward? I would say that I doubt that was even their motive. Rather, I think they wanted to use the buzz of Phish for five days to promote a format change, not gain a fan base, which could have happened if the new format wasn't so freakin' lame. And just to let ya know, for those that want to hear Phish on the radio, there is Gone Phishin' on Jam On, which is weekdays @ 9pm on Channel 17 of Sirius Satelite Radio.