FIFTEEN YEARS OF “HIDDEN TREASURES”

       Fifteen years ago, in the Fall of 2000, UIC Radio began broadcasting.  My show was part of that first semester, so the station and I are both celebrating our fifteenth year on the air.                                                                                                                                                                                                            How did the show start?  I noticed an ad in the campus paper that the University was starting an internet radio station and looking for DJ’s.  I had worked in college radio during my undergraduate days at the University of Alabama as part of my Broadcasting and Film degree.  I always enjoyed it, primarily due to my love of music.  And I hated what music offerings were on the air in Chicago in 2000.  Unfortunately, they are not much better today, other than UIC Radio.  So I applied for a show, submitted a demo tape, and was interviewed.  I was accepted, and began doing my show in the same time slot it occupies today, Mondays from 12-4 PM.  Most shows were two hours, but I was basically given two shows, from 12-2 and from 2-4.  The first two hours were current alternative music, and the second was basically whatever I wanted to play, much like my current show.   After a few months of this, I asked the station manager if I could just play my own music for the whole four hours.  She agreed, and the show has been the “Hidden Treasures” show since then.  My whole idea in doing the show was to play the best music, old and new, that you didn’t hear elsewhere.  I missed the old days of radio, when you were constantly discovering new music.  And there was great music coming  out at the time that wasn’t being heard on the radio, artists like Porcupine Tree and Eric Matthews, that I wanted to play, along with great older music that people may not have been exposed to. That’s what I wanted to accomplish with the show, and I have tried to do that for fifteen years now.  So I hope you will continue to listen to the show, Mondays from 12-4 PM CST at http://www.uicradio.org .  And this week’s show will feature some music from Eric Matthews, his great debut album, released 20 years ago this week in 1995, “It’s Heavy In Here”.  I hope you can join me!http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brhiO6m6lxw