Welcome, ya'll!
Drag up a stool and stay awhile. My name is Heather Lose, and since October 2003, I've been luggin' a big bin of CDs and a
BIG thermos of coffee into the hallowed studio at WDBX in Carbondale. My show's called the Honky Tonk Jukebox, and you can hear it
Thursday mornings, 7 to 9 a.m. central time.
Click here to visit the WDBX site, where you can
learn about the other great shows we air,
and listen in via streaming audio! To hear us, just click on the box that says "Listen."
Click here to see a month's worth of (really old :-() playlists in a new window.
Though some mornings are a little rough (thanks Cellar dwellers!), I am proud to be a part of this fine organization, which includes around 115 volunteer deejays like myself. We do this for the love of music and non-commercial radio, which is becoming an endangered species in this age of media consolidation. It feels good, and I like to think of us as a pesky speedbump on the Clear Channel Highway.
No doubt the Honky Tonk Jukebox has its roots in the music I heard as a kid in Nashville TN. My dad, David Lose, played the upright bass back then, so I grew up with him plunking away in the living room (lemme tell ya, he was the COOLEST Dad on the block -- still is, too. That's him with me in the picture over there to the left.) My Mom and Dad would take me to the Bluegrass Inn, where I was so small I could run circles around the joint without having to duck under the tables.
Growing up, I went through the typical musical phases -- classic rock, metal, punk. But I never lost my affection for those childhood heroes -- folks like Johnny Cash, Johnny Bond, Waylon, Willie, and Wanda Jackson. I worked in the music industry for years, at HITS magazine, Chameleon Records, WRLT, WRLG, Rebel-100, and some other places too. The biz is crazy, and I'm lucky I got out before my passion for the music and the folks who make it was dulled.
So I was thrilled to find WDBX upon moving to Southern Illinois. Now I can help expose the should-be-legends of yesteryear and today's most potent voices...along side bands like X and Social Distortion; those underappreciated artists who worked the great traditional sounds into bone-shattering rave-ups unlike nothing we'd heard before. I can't think of anything more gratifying. Before moving on to what's new with me, thanks to my "regulars" and to all the dedicated folks at WDBX. And to other independents across the nation, keep the faith.
Yee Haw! Honky Tonk! Thursdays, 7 to 9 a.m.
Update May 2008
It's been a awhile since I updated my site. Way too long, in fact.
Community radio is such a gift. I have had the opportunity to do some travelling recently and you wouldn't believe what a wasteland it is out there. I just wonder to myself if the folks programming Top 40-type radio or contemporary country stations are fans of music, because so much of the material programmed is insipid, boring, and repetitive. Hooky pieces of fluff that require no thought, demand no enagaement on the listener's part.
I feel fortunate to have wonderful listeners and underwriters who support my show. Thanks to you, I know -- for a FACT -- that there is a market out there for fare that's a bit more challenging, a bit more engaging. I've gotten positive calls and requests recently for Tommy Womack, Todd Snider, Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins, Dan Bern, Cake, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals...the list goes on.
I guess I am writing today to thank you, the listener, for supporting what we do at WDBX. By lending your ear, you provide a home for some of the most deserving artists I know -- the writers and musicians who are undaunted by the nearly impossible task of making a living in music in 2008. These folks write about how they feel, what they know, how they live, and you prove to me, over and over again, that perhaps the average American is not so sheeplike after all. Long live the independent artist!
In Nashville during the '80s I had the great pleasure of working with the radio giant Bob Dearborn. He advised me to "never underestimate your audience." He said that good radio was built on a foundation of respect for the audience's ability to absorb and interpret challenging and unique programming. I feel as forunate to be a part of WDBX as I did to learn from Bob. He was right, and I try to live up to this ideal every Thursday morning.
Be sure to check out WDBX's page. I love dropping in from time to time and seeing what everyone at the station is up to. It is a spirited and talented group!