RIP "Free the Music" 105.5 FM

[AlphaDummy]

Not quite three years ago, I was in a convenience store taking a brief time-out from my route for the day. While waiting for my turn at the cash register, I saw a stack of simply-printed flyers on the counter - pretty much a single-page Word document, plain letters on yellow paper with no pictures. As I recall, all that was printed on the flyers was "FREE THE MUSIC" in large letters, with smaller letters below identifying the station - WUSP 105.5 FM Nekoosa (ed. note: not to be confused with WWSP of Trivia fame) - and informing us that they played classic rock, blues and bluegrass. Being of a certain age, I had a hunch what a line like "free the music" might imply, and as soon as I paid for my purchase I jumped back into the van and tuned the radio to 105.5. And I was not disappointed. First, the "classic rock" as played on WUSP was not what one might expect if accustomed to your typical mainstream CR station. Rather, it reminded me more of what I heard when I was able to pull in "Beaker Street" on KAAY out of Little Rock on my AM car radio back in the '70s. Furthermore, the various genres listed on the flyer were freely mixed throughought the broadcast day - not one time slot devoted to blues and another to bluegrass, but rather everything played side-by-side (along with an occasional country song of the type which would fit in with this mix). On-air talk was generally minimal; if you wanted to know about a particular song that you might have heard, they posted the previous day's play list on the station website.

In short, there was nothing quite like it (or even close) in this neck of the woods. I immediately reprogrammed one of my radio buttons. Unfortunately, the signal was iffy at best where I lived and grew progressively weaker the closer I got to Wausau (where I spend most of my road time). Still, I made it a point to check the station out whenever I headed south.

More good news: There were very few commercial announcements. The bad news: There were very few commercial announcements. True, I did not mind the lack of interruptions. But I also realized that the TANSTAAFL concept applies as much to radio as to any other undertaking. As much as I enjoyed the programming, I also understood that as a commercial station this did not bode well for WUSP's future. And late last year I began to see reports that the station was about to be sold.

Today, I found that the deal has apparently come to fruition. Instead of what I was accustomed to hearing, there was now a typically commercial 70s-80s hits format coming out of my radio. Checking the WUSP station website, it now simply says "Sorry, they killed the music and sold the station".

Inevitable, I suppose. And I am grateful that they managed to hold out as long as they did. But still sad, nevertheless.