Farewell, WFNX

Ever since I got to the age when most of my friends were driving, radio stations became important to me. In the car with your parents you’re either stuck listening to oldies or you planned ahead and brought your own portable device. But when you’re driving with friends it’s the radio all the way.

There are 10 distinct genres you can choose from: Top 40, Hip-Hop, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Alternative, Oldies, Country, Classical, Talk and Sports. These can feature anything from Britney Spears to Eminem to Metallica to Led Zeppelin to Radiohead to The Mamas and the Papas to Garth Brooks to Vivaldi to NPR to Felger & Mazz. Each one says something different about you and most people will have evolving presets throughout their life.

As a kid, I grew up with the oldies thanks to the ‘rents. As a violin player, I always enjoyed Sunday mornings after church listening to a little classical or jazz. As a young sports fan who couldn’t watch West Coast Sox games on TV because they started too late, I was able to listen to the game on the radio in my room. But none of these are acceptable choices on the way to the mall with my friends.

What was cool in high school was Jam’n 94.5 – a primarily hip-hop and R&B station. Second was probably Kiss 108 and their “nothing but the Billboard 100” playlist. But I wasn’t into either of those in high school. I was big into nu metal (Korn, Limp Bizkit, Staind, Linkin Park) and my go-to station was WAAF. I remember listening to Mistress Carrie do the Top 9 at 9pm every weeknight and actually keeping track of who was climbing or dropping.

Eventually, as I moved away to college, I started to learn more about the roots of rock and especially the ‘60s. This new classic rock affection turned me on to Rock 101. They played some of the same music as AAF but paid much more respect to the originators of the genre. It was an ideal combination for me.

But starting the summer between sophomore and junior years I was introduced to indie rock by a friend of mine: the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Elliott Smith and The Shins. It was a change in my life unlike anything else. This music spoke to me in a way that my teenage-angst anthems no longer did. It was a musical revolution that I am still, 7 years later, in the midst of. And with this change came a new radio station, WFNX.

What was amazing to me was that FNX had a Boston and Manchester signal. 101.7 down here, 92.1 up there. It was with me whether I was studying for an exam or enjoying my break. It played songs I loved and broke new ones that I would soon fall in love with. It was the perfect companion for me.

I subscribed to the FNX newsletter and went to their events. Thanks to them I saw Passion Pit, Metric, The Airborne Toxic Event, The Gaslight Anthem, The Bravery, Spoon, Phoenix and Owl City (Hey, they can’t all be winners). I would create playlists of songs in their rotation and listen to them on my iPod when I couldn’t listen on air. In my life, FNX was all-encompassing.

So when I heard the news yesterday that FNX was being sold, you could imagine my abject sorrow. It was like a family member had been diagnosed with a deadly illness and only had a month or so left to live. I didn’t know how to react. I thought tuning in in the middle of the day would help somehow but it was just a reminder of what I was losing. It was all too much bear.

I’m still not sure what this means for me and my presets moving forward but I knew I had to say something about my favorite radio station. Hopefully, long after the last of the FM waves have passed through the antennas, to our speakers, and into our ears, I can look back at this and remember the good times.