Imagine this. You are on your way home, in the rush hour traffic. It’s currently 5 15 pm, and you cannot wait to just get out of your work outfit and into cozy clothes. It’s hot outside, and you feel humid inside your car. But there’s nothing to do. The traffic slowly inches forward, and boom, brakes again. You haven’t had the best day, and every little thing seems to annoy you. Why is that driver giving you the left turn signal and yet not merging into the lane when you give him space? Why did your boss have to promote the coworker you despise? And on top of all that, the radio keeps playing the same music again and again. It’s the same four artists with the same ‘new’ music they have put out.
Well, see, if only you could find something different, something with local musicians, something new. And what do you know, you stumble upon 107.9. It’s a young voice telling you that a local band with their new song is coming on next. You turn up the volume knob. And they actually sound good. This is the Vancouver you fell in love with. This exploration, this creativity, this ability to be able to live in this city for so long, yet discover something new every time. The students are crushing it (unbiased opinion).
(BCIT commons / website)
They are interviewing new bands, some familiar ones. But they have got alternative music, new stuff that not many radio stations are picking up on. Slowly, even the ads, the PSA’s sound different, a bit fresh. Evolution is powered by students; everything is done by students, and that’s where its strength lies. You notice how unique each PSA is, how unique each podcast that comes on from Foodopedia to Culture Connection. Each is done uniquely in that student’s creativity. It pulls you into a rabbit hole, a rebellion against the mundane radio music. It’s not your Spotify list playing songs you will like according to your algorithm, no, this is introducing you to new songs that different parts of your personality like. You might have been an R&B guy one day, and now Spotify doesn’t stop playing that genre, but today you feel like listening to Rock, and here is a radio station playing it all.
This was the remedy you needed, the medication you so craved. Unpredictable and unapologetically different. Skip the Spotify playlist. Your ears will thank you, and who knows? You might just find your new favorite band hiding in the static.