After spending the better part of a morning last week at WEQX radio station in Manchester, I walked out feeling as if I'd just had a front-row seat at a thought-provoking ensemble play nimbly co-written by Robert Altman, David Mamet and Nick Hornby.
There was the large cast of charismatic characters whom I didn't have time to get to know as much as I'd have liked, a dry, edgy wit that lines what is an extraordinarily deep well of collective intelligence and the kind of endearing sincerity that just makes you want to hug everyone.
More crucial, though, was a killer soundtrack, that being the station's remarkably eclectic roster of indie/alternative new and not-so-new music that resonated continuously throughout the building and the interview.
EQX listeners are legion, discerning and hip, crossing Boomer, Gen-X and Gen-Y lines and tuning in for everything from vintage REM, U2, Dylan and World Party to new UK ska empress Lily Allen, Hasidic reggae rocker Matisyahu, powerpopsters Nada Surf, hypno-lush Aqualung and enigmatic indie duo Dean & Britta.
With eight innovative specialty shows as well, such as Coffeehouse, Passport Approved, EQX-Posure and Jam & Toast, the musical menu broadens yet further to include singer-songwriter gems, smoky jazz, techno mixes and improvisation by bands both renowned and unsigned, from nearby counties or distant continents.
One of the central roles in this impressively colorful production is played by Willobee, EQX's program director and weekday afternoon DJ, who strikes me as something of a type-A, extraordinarily savvy musical swami, who exudes wisdom, contentment and confidence, but with a palpable verve that borders on obsession.
Despite only having been with EQX for two years, Willobee has cultivated a following as broad and dedicated as that of his nine energetic on-air colleagues and relishes the notion that their fan base spans three generations.
"This couple in their 50s came up at one of our events last year." he said, "and told me that they, their kids and their teenage grandkids are all regular listeners — it was great." And it makes EQX's self-designation as a "lifestyle-oriented modern rock station" decidedly manifest.
Eloquent and forthright, with a goatee that hints at his NYC roots and a fleece vest and flannel shirt that belie them, Willobee brought his seamless on-air jockeying and encyclopedic knowledge of modern musical history to Manchester, having honed them since high school in various arenas of the industry.
Ventures into artist management, nightclub ownership and venue development didn't satisfy an enduring regard for radio, however, so he returned to broadcasting, investing a couple of years with Clear Channel at a classic rock station in Austin and earning Billboard Magazine's Air Personality of the Year Award in 1991.
When Clear Channel realized what a goldmine they had in their ranks, they told Willobee he could have his pick of markets, but his pal, Jim McQuinn, former program director for EQX, convinced him that the privately-owned, fiercely self-governing station in bucolic Manchester was where he needed to be.
When I asked Willobee if that took some persuading, he shook his head. "Manchester was perfect … right away it felt like home." He went on to reveal perhaps a more primal motivation behind his return to small market radio. "We really are creating radio here, as opposed to the corporate world where I had suits telling me what to do."
It is EQX's indefatigable commitment to independent thought and the creative reins its DJs duly hold as they compile their playlists, which most vividly stoke Willobee's philosophical fire.
No surprise, then, that during our conversation, he often returns to the wellspring of that autonomy: Brooks Brown, EQX's venerated founder, owner, general manager and in-house carpenter extraordinaire.
"He has integrity," Willobee avows. "This is his baby and he doesn't want to see corporations come in and homogenize it."
This led me to wonder if a few woolly corporate mammoths may have been circling the EQX compound and when I asked Brown if he'd been approached by any media conglomerates since establishing the station 22 years ago, his economy of words said it all: "The offers have been numerous."
Clearly, he's guided by one powerful moral compass. "I have a personal passion that dates back to third grade, when I became involved with amateur ham radio." he explains. "It's an old-fashioned work ethic, a love of music and the desire to put out a product that's totally professional. I truly believe this is the best radio station in Vermont and I'm proud that WEQX sets the standard."
Considering EQX's extensive 50,000-watt broadcast footprint — which spans New England from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Springfield, Mass., to Barre to the hill towns west of Albany — Brown and his crew bestow the fruits of those admirable values upon a sizeable audience.
That coverage is further assured by Brown's periodic post-windstorm treks to fix the station's transmitter up on Mount Equinox, the imposing peak that fills EQX's windows and for which he named the station.
An all-around intrepid handyman, he single-handedly transformed this 19th-century clapboard home into a full-fledged radio station and built additions to keep apace with the growing business. More recently, he's devoted a portion of his 50-plus hour work weeks to installing gleaming new mixing consoles in each of the three DJ booths.
The jocks are mighty happy about the upgrades and, in fact, job satisfaction overall seems to be as high as that transformer. A robust camaraderie augments the bustling atmosphere, with convivial repartee ricocheting through hallways plastered with awards, commemorative gold records, rock posters and stickers.
Case in point, Willobee introduces me to Doug — regard for the profession compels me to use on-air monikers only — promotions director and DJ, a lanky guy with a distinctly Kinks-like mop of hair who seems to have bottled the combined energy of an entire kindergarten class and downed it in one gulp. Or perhaps he hides an espresso machine under the mixing board.
Doug first joined EQX in the mid-'90s, then went off to conquer the world, eventually realizing he'd left his heart in indie radio. "Everywhere I went had me longing for EQX," he candidly declares.
As head promo kahuna, Doug coordinates EQX's many regional music events, including the wildly successful annual Tulip Fest in Albany, where last year over 40,000 fans came to the EQX soundstage for a lineup that included They Might Be Giants, Zox and OK Go, one of several rising bands that the station has shepherded to widespread recognition.
"One of the great things about our events is that the vast majority of them are self-serving because they're fun for us as well," he exclaims. And with Vermont's first EQX Festival in the works, we locals are in for our own musical extravaganza. Stay tuned for more on that in these pages.
EQX supports charitable events as well, as demonstrated when Doug participated in last week's Special Olympics Penguin Plunge in Lake Paran, a fund-raiser augmented by the Web site where listeners can easily donate. Doug's morning co-host and EQX music director, Nikki, who also emits second-hand adrenalin, devotes her Web page to the conflict in Darfur, replete with a link to savedarfur.com.
DJs also practice what they preach on-air. Jason, local music director, weekday DJ and host of the All-Request Retro Lunch Show, regularly channels bands like the Buzzcocks and Stooges at venues throughout region with his über-post-punk original rock trio, Phillips Head, and his spiky coif bopping in the booth during his radio show mirrors his onstage energy.
Though from the outside, EQX's company culture might seem like a New England version of "High Fidelity" meets "The Office," these good folks are all business and doing Vermont proud on the national music scene every year. And they're darned gracious as well.
Toward the end of the interview, Willobee gets up to grab a list of awards from atop his stereo and suddenly apologizes for the music having been so loud, asking if I want him to turn it down. Not only is the decibel level about the same as when I'm streaming their Web site, having him turn it down would be tantamount to asking Jackson Pollock to stash away his paint cans.
He leaves it as is and hands me an impressive roster of industry accolades EQX has received, including best small market radio station awards from Rolling Stone and Radio & Records' Top 20 national alternative radio stations, for which EQX took 17th place honors in the company of stations in major cities such as SF, LA, Chicago and NYC.
Just think, a small-town, family-run rock station — competent, visionary, vibrant and feisty — masterfully holding its own alongside the big guys. And it's our station, right here in Southern Vermont.
Willobee sums it up perfectly: "We're on the map."
Clear Channel's decision to sell off several hundred small stations in unrated markets from the 1,200-plus it inhaled after Congress deregulated the industry in 1996 with the Telecommunications Act, is yet more to celebrate. As Doug puts it, "Local ownership is becoming relevant again."
I'll say.
Just as I'm about to head out, Willobee grabs his remote and cranks up the volume so I can hear the latest hit by Scottish indie band "The View," gleefully informing me that the song is called "Wasted Little DJs."
A wall may as well have been ripped off the building for the opening that gave me, which — like any self-respecting journalist — I could not resist.
"Do you relate?" I ask.
A wry smile defusing his dastardly "Yup," it is clear that Willobee — an eminently gifted, widely-respected maestro who could pretty much work anywhere he likes — is truly in his element here and, with a fresh, high-caliber, politically-cognizant station like EQX gracing the airwaves of our fair state, I'd say we Vermonters are as well.
Listen to EQX at: 102.7 FM & www.weqx.com.
Contact Anne Guyon at elucid8r@vermontel.net.
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