Someone at the blog I post to with a group of friends posted this link today from the SF Chronicle online (sfgate.com). It's basically about radio stations that don't suck. I posted the same thing there that I'm about to post here, but I think it's deserving of being posted here. Besides, I have to try and use this blog more often now that I took the time to make it look nice.

From that Chronicle link, I highly recommend KEXP, WOXY, and one show on Indie 103.1. The show is Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols and it's Monday - Friday from noon until 2 (if I remember correctly). It's great... blocks of the Clash, Iggy & the Stooges, the Cure, even the occasional MC5 track.

I used to listen to Indie 103.1 daily but then I realized they played basically the same songs in the afternoon that they played in the morning and I stopped listening. They also played this song I hate ALL the time... "Run" by Snow Patrol. I couldn't take it anymore. It's only "indie" to a degree because most of the stuff they play is in that sort of weird indie-on-the-cusp-of-mainstream category. And a lot of that stuff is honestly garbage. Snow Patrol, for instance. I hate them. And as the article mentions, Indie 103.1 is in the clutches of Clear Channel.

WOXY is pretty good too, although I was only introduced to it recently. I don't listen that much but when I do there's not much to complain about. It's more "indie" than Indie 103.1, but not nearly as well-versed in the obscure as KEXP. Their artist database is kinda weak, to be honest. They do, however, play a wider variety of genres than KEXP on an ordinary work day (for instance, right now on their recently played queue is a Buzzcocks song). One of the nicest things I've found is that if you play the station through iTunes, it will show you the name of the track currently being played. With KEXP you have to go to their website and keep the playlist page open to see the titles and artists. Also, someone else has pointed out there there is significantly less chatter on WOXY than KEXP.

KEXP is really awesome because it's listener supported and when you email a request they actually play it. It's in my opinion the best independent radio station that exists (bold claim, I know). They are always on top of the new stuff coming out yet still play the indie oldies that I remember from the days when I got the Matador Records catalog in the mail. They also have a very cool variety of shows (during the day it's basically all indie pop/rock but at night and on the weekends they play all kinds of other stuff... browse their streaming archive to get an idea) KEXP is by far my favorite radio station to stream at work. I listen to it a lot. The only thing that sucks is when they play lame socially conscious hip hop.