Augustana College sends KAUR 89.1 FM down the stream without a paddle, so what about the Rock Garden Tour?

Listening to Passion Pit's Moth's Wings right now, loud, you could tell me that I have 7 minutes to live and I'd probably just keep sitting here nodding my head with a grin on my face, my friggin' face. You could smash a Sioux City Sarsaparilla bottle on my head right now, it wouldn't erase the grin, this 'I know something that you don't' grin, this 'my right bicep is abnormally huge' grin, this 'taco night' grin, this 'I'm skipping out on bean walking so I can go play softball at Moparish' grin, this 'rock gardener' grin, this 'my dad is a farmer and he's fallen off the barn twice' grin, this Sioux Falls Canaries are still the champs and you can't take that away from me' grin, this 'Norway Center' grin, this 'Emery, SD turns 125 this summer' grin. Anyway...

Augustana College is shutting down KAUR as you and I know it, no more FM broadcast. No more 89.1. FM. They're switching to a stream only feed, which means that in Sioux Falls, SD you'll be switching that preset station on your boom box to some kickin' or mixin' or jammin' radio station. It doesn't matter.

So the bums lost. Surprise! The bums will always lose! So radio isn't what it used to be. So KAUR isn't what it used to be. So...let's not get carried away. The magic of radio isn't gone - it just isn't necessarily on the radio. The real magic, the real stuff, the real action is in web streams, and podcasts, and public broadcasting. Precisely why we at Rock Garden Tour studios remain unaffiliated (that and the suits kick us off the air every chance they get). We do this stuff for free anyway, that is until somebody gets a bright idea and starts paying us some money, some real money. In the mean time...

We're going to ride downstream with KAUR and see what happens. You can tune in on-line at kaur.augie.edu every Thursday night from 8-10 (from anywhere in the GD WORLD!). I'm not sure when the switch will happen officially, but they'll keep you up to date.

Wait, there's more...

That's not the only place you can hear from Oil Can and la Flowerman. Catch weekly podcasts right here at RockGardenTour.com. You can also hear us every Saturday night at about 9:45 - 10pm on South Dakota Public Broadcasting's ON RECORD with Matt Weesner (from now until July). AND! Coming in July, you can catch a full hour of the Rock Garden Tour from 10-11pm (Central) every SUNDAY NIGHT AFTER THIS AMERICAN LIFE on South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

Maybe radio is beyond saving, so what, there is still hope for your vegetable garden. Keep it rural.

Comments

[Corey V.]

Now that spot after GD This American Life is something to crow about, my friend.

Congrats, and here's to hoping I can stay up that late.