Top Free Radio Shows for Those Reluctant to Subscribe to Satellite Radio

Worthwhile free radio is still out there, but not everyone is lucky enough to live within range of the right broadcast signals. Technically, I know Internet radio isn't really free, but streaming does put free radio out there for more expansive audiences to enjoy in ways they couldn't in the past. Is free radio dying (or already dead)? Am I just in denial, because I don't want to subscribe to satellite radio?

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WFMU describes itself as "an independent freeform station broadcasting at 91.1 fm in New York, at 90.1 fm in the Hudson Valley, and with gobs and gobs of online offerings" (http://wfmu.org/ ). WFMU's programming goes everywhere: "flat-out uncategorizable strangeness to rock and roll, lots of 'alternative' (although no DJ on the station would ever call it that), psychedelia, experimental, obscure 50s-60s blues, unpopular jazz, R&B, soul, reggae, garage rock, hot-rod music, 78's, 8-tracks, twee, indie pop, schlock-a-billy, hip-hop, electronica, hand-cranked wax cylinders, punk rock, exotica, downtown art music, radio improvisation, cooking instructions, Old Noise, classic radio airchecks, found sound, comedy, call-in shows, anti-fascist lectures, off-kilter kids' music, interviews with obscure radio personalities, interviews with notable science-world luminaries, spoken word mish-mashes, Andrew Lloyd Webber soundtracks in languages other than English, Gospel and Country and western music" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WFMU ).

A persistent favorite of mine is Joe Belock's Three Chord Monte - music I should've been listening to my entire life. Give this archive thirty minutes of your time and see if you're not hooked: http://wfmu.org/playlists/TM

Locally, I like Grand Rapids, Michigan's Radio X 96.1 (WMAX-FM), but it's not the inspired original I first thought it was (http://radiox961.com/main.html ). Wikipedia states Radio X's "type of presentation is highly similar to those at several other Clear Channel operations in Philadelphia, Columbus, OH, and Hartford, CT" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMAX-FM ).

Radio X can be a Gen-X pop music time capsule - Green Day, Beck, Elvis Costello, Fatboy Slim, Collective Soul, Nirvana - but it also slides in new and old artists I wouldn't have tried otherwise. "Presentation heavily centers on modern rock music from the 1990s... selected songs from the mid 1970's through the end of the 1980's... and current product" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMAX-FM ). Radio X's on-demand music video vault is full of old and new fun, too (http://radiox961.com/cc-common/videos_on_demand/ ).

If you're not in the mood for music and have a good tolerance for A.M. radio - that is, all the ads for precious metal investment and prostate supplements that are A.M. radio - you can find adult equivalents of scary stories around the campfire on Coast to Coast AM (http://www.coasttocoastam.com/ ). For your local U.S. or Canadian broadcast affiliate, go to: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/info/wheretolisten.html

C2C's 4-hour shows cover fringe topics and unusual points of view seven days a week, engaging listeners worldwide. Guests have included: public development intellectual, Richard Florida (http://www.creativeclass.com ); physicist, Dr. Michio Kaku (http://mkaku.org/ ); and investigative reporters, Linda Mouton Howe (http://www.earthfiles.com/about.php ) and Alex Jones (http://www.infowars.com/ ). Extensive listings of past guests and topics appear on the C2C site.

C2C listeners gain new perspectives on UFO sightings, paranormal occurrences, sci-fi and real science, economic and government issues, unsolved mysteries, religion and the occult - in general, the most atypical, call-in Talk Radio content out there. Some guests and topics are undeniably more interesting than others, so if you tune in for an abysmal dud, try not to write off C2C based on a single exposure. Some shows are simply amazing.