On a clear day I can see Canada from my house. And since borders are literally made up and they can’t stop eagles from flying across the water, nor can they stop the broadcast of radio from Canada to my house!
My beloved Feline Overlord, Biscuit Reynolds, went blind sometime in the past year. When my step parent Pat was cat sitting in March she realized that he liked having the radio playing for him when he’s alone and she brought over her emergency radio for me to borrow. I can imagine how hard it is to be blind and have to listen to all the noises. (I fall asleep with sound healings because the critters outside scuffling across my RV bumper are off putting!)
I hadn’t listened to the radio since the stereo system went out in the car I was driving in Los Angeles, circa 2016. I just switched to using a portable bluetooth speaker in the car and the jukebox on my phone. I don’t like surrendering the control of my music to folks who aren’t great at it, I hate commercials, and I have not been that fond of radio stations for a long time.
And suddenly in early June everything changed!
I tried using my google robot as the radio I left on for Biscuit Reynolds using streaming I Heart Radio stations (just say “hey google play [whatever radio station]”) but it turns itself off sometimes and frequently I’d come home from trips to town or my forest walk to nothing playing. Frustrating!
As is my way I didn’t realize I had a radio in my house because I just didn’t put together that I live in a Recreation Vehicle and that typically comes with a radio. I tried the speaker system once or twice but one of the speakers crackles. Now that I’m using it daily the crackling doesn’t seem to be frequent (YAY)! And the speakers in and around my bed are fantastic not just for me but for a lil bubble of sound in his favorite spot to sleep by the window.
In June I left to go meet up with my astrologer/psychic friend Jana of Feeling Loudly in Olympia and I turned on the radio and scanned for classical music. I thought that would be soothing for my lil guy. When I got home I was surprised to hear hip hop playing. I let it keep going and realized there were no commercials (YAY) and that the music was incredible.
Day after day I would turn on the radio for Biscuit Reynolds and enjoy what was playing. Started listening to it on my own. Realizing that they play exactly the right thing at the right time of day. Incredibly genre diverse! At 9PM it’s the wind down show! Mornings are easy. Mid day is classical. Saturday night is jazz! I LOVE their Saturday blues show! (Last weekend the blues show played an interview with Allison Russell in support of her new album, which my beloved Brandi Marie Carlile had already promoted on her Instagram. The synchronicity made me plotz.)
Their music selection is beyond excellent. I had to change where my google assistant app was on my phone because I so frequently gotta find out what’s playing so I can add it to my Spotify library. In return my Spotify robots think I’m cooler and are playing even better recommendations for me.
CBC Radio plays a lot of amazing revolutionary songs that make my lil hopeful heart leap. I only know about the song Guillotine Dreams because it’s been on the radio. I also really appreciate how they support and amplify indigenous voices. Sept 30 is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and was honored over several days, as was Indigenous Peoples Day earlier this summer. Even the classical hours focused on Indigenous artists.
One of my favorite life improvements from listening to CBC Music for the past four months is discovering the album Watin by Aysanabee. It’s absolutely beautiful, the songs are beautiful and powerful, and the story of the residential school told by the indigenous elder are cry face emoji moving.
The following are a few of my favorite shows that you can totally stream for free on the world wide web and I would suggest you do!
The Block with Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe. This show is SO GOOD. In their words: The Block is music of Black origin encompassing a fluid mosaic of styles. The Block is about culture and community. Repping the elements of hip hop from its roots to its far reaching influence.
In my words: I loooooved the nightly hip hop history lesson they did all summer. Ten minutes of why someone was particularly influential in the culture of hip hop. Stream summer 2023 episodes to listen to those. On Jimi Hendrix’s anniversary of becoming an ancestor (September 18th, at 27 years young) they did one of the best run downs of his life and career I’ve heard. Just last night I came home from my walk in the woods and they played Georgia on My Mind followed by Midnight Train to Georgia, the rock block I wanted and needed as someone who claims Atlanta as her hometown of choice and wishes I could go for quarterly visits.
Anyway, The Block is my favorite show even though I love all of them. If you take nothing from this article than tuning into The Block streaming or back episodes I think your life will improve.
Reclaimed with Tristan Grant. In their words: a weekly series on CBC Radio that explores the many worlds of contemporary Indigenous music from traditional songs and acoustic sounds to Native hip-hop, R&B, and the dancefloor-filling beats of electric powwow.
If you, like many of my friends, are connecting to your lost indigenous roots, there really is nothing like being connected with music that wakes something ancient in your bones.
Saturday Night Blues with Holger Peterson. In their words: Saturday Night Blues offers a broad spectrum of blues-based music. Host Holger Petersen brings listeners everything from Mississippi Delta blues to roots rock, zydeco and swing.
I’m always surprised and delighted by what’s playing on the blues show. I love it and I love how they strive to be diverse because all the blues greats are minorities! And there’s something about the show that sparks the same unspoeakable thing I feel when I listen to Grateful Dead.
Honorable mention shows: Marvin’s Room (R&B!!), the CBC Top 20 (they pronounce Padam Padam in a funny Canadian way not the way it’s pronounced in the song), and Drive with the cute segment about songs that sound like distance cousins.
My only complaint is on the hour they play 5 minutes CBC news. I’ve been abstinate from the news since Sept 2016 and I don’t like obtaining the news unless I really want to be listening to or reading something. Though it is interesting how much of the US news is included in CBC news. But CBC news is better than commercials!
My mom was born in Canada and it has been my intention to get dual citizenship for me and my future spouse and kids, likely to move to Canada if things in the cultural civil war become more dangerous for queer and trans folks. This radio station makes me more excited to become Canadian and pay taxes there.
There is a free CBC Listen app which makes listening to past episodes easier (again please stream The Block and Reclaimed) and I think some of their shows are available through Sirius FM but I don’t pay for or listen to Sirius so I don’t know about that!
Okay! I hope this radio station improves your life!
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