The car radio allows me to choose up to six FM presets. These are the six stations I've selected:
1. KDHX 88.1 FM (Although I dislike that the station let go of many longtime DJs last year and hasn't been sufficiently transparent in the reasons for the changes, KDHX is still the most musically diverse station in St. Louis. You can hear everything from a Celtic reel to an obscure blues 45 on KDHX. Despite my reservations about how the station is run, a good portion of the old KDHX still remains, and some of the new programs deserve listeners' attention, as well.)
2. WSIE 88.7 FM (Since its rebranding as "88-7, The Sound" several years ago, a good station has become a great one. Any station that can blend Oscar Peterson, Joni Mitchell, Gil Scott-Heron, and Erin Bode into its signature sound warrants frequent listening, as far as I'm concerned. Not every station could offer such a unique blend of jazz, R&B, blues, and singer-songwriter material, but WSIE does.)
3. KCLC 89.1 FM (While the Lindenwood College station's music often skews younger than my demographic, enough of the tunes catch my ears. I discovered my favorite songs of 2021 and 2022, Clairo's "Amoeba" and Julia Jacklin's "I Was Neon," on KCLC.)
4. KWMU 90.7 FM (With five of my six presets being music stations, it's only right that I include our NPR affiliate as a source for news and thought-provoking interviews. KWMU is also a music source, as well, for St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concerts and three hours a week of the syndicated service, JazzWorks.)
5. KEZK 102.5 FM (I had space for one commercial station, and for oldies, I could just as easily have chosen KLOU 103.3 FM or WARH 106.5 FM. The tiebreaker in KEZK's favor? Christmas music.)
6. K297BI 107.3 FM (How could I not support our city's lone Classical station? Knowing that I can hear everything from a Monteverdi choral piece to a Dvorak symphony I played on the bass keeps me tuned into the Radio Arts Foundation's station. The weekly show, "The Jazz Collective," is also a plus.)
