FRED MANTEGHIAN BLOG

Okay, it's been 3.5 weeks since WUHR became WMRQ and I'm going to take the unprecedented step of both eating crow and taking partial credit for what's happened since then which is, ugh, not much really. Yes, there's still a DJ named Fish who was so horribly obnoxious on D-day, but unanswered emails from me and doubtless countless others got new management to hose him down. As for Wednesday being biker day, that's still true, but it just means Fish is stuck out in the boondocks on a live feed trying to corral listeners into a Harley dealership. You almost feel sorry for him. I said almost.

Meanwhile, regarding the playlist, there have been some changes, and more importantly some changes back. Yes, there is now much more Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cranberries (honestly, her voice gives me the heebee jebbees!) and a few other bands whose relevance to this day remains contrived. But on the upside, I can get all the Yeah Yeah Yeahs I want now, and MGMT is back in force as are the Killers and everything else I want to hear including Incubus (there I said it, "Black Heart Inertia" is a fine song!).

As for commercial interruptions, someone has got to pay the rent. The music remains played in big, long, uninterrupted (except for some station ID plugs) blocks, and the commercials are grouped and over with before you can dig your iPod out.

So thanks to the grass roots effort of all us listeners in Connecticut, especially the few readers who responded to my blog which the powers-that-be at Mr. Queer certainly read and responded to. I'm not saying the coast is clear, and I expect that the business plan with which Red Wolf Broadcasting got their funding won't be abandoned en masse. Those DJ's are coming. And they WILL learn to talk and talk. But we, dear readers, will shut them down!

So please, WMRQ, keep on truckin' with more great music!