While in Vermont this summer we discovered a local independent station…104.7 The Point. We also discovered it opens seamlessly on my Alexa devices at home and at school. It is a return to the days of WNEW-FM: eclectic and totally enjoyable. I have taken to letting it play in the house and at school (before classes) most of the time. It regularly transports me back to my late teens and early 20s where music was a constant and the voices from the radio were friends and reliable companions. This very morning,while reading the paper (electronically now on my Ipad..a small but significant difference) I mentioned to Sue how delighted I was to have this station and how much I’m enjoying that everything old is new again.

For the past 4 years, every Sunday morning from 10am – 1pm the world stops and Sue and I sit quietly (and share Bloodys) and listen to Fred Migliore who, until we found this station from VT, was our only hope as he and his show FMOdyssey could easily have been part of the WNEW lineup. This morning, after going shopping during “old man hours” I was sitting and listening to the Point playing while waiting for Fredtime (yup, that’s how I have Alexa programmed….”Alexa: Fredtime” and she cooperatively opens the station) The Bloody’s were mixed and waiting for the start and even more magic happened…this show was a replay of an older show (normally I miss when he does not do a new show) about, of all things, WNEW-FM. It includes interviews with Jonathan Schwartz, and the late Pete Fornatale and Alison Steele (the Nightbird). I am in heaven right now. These folks were my friends, I was not the most confident or social teen and most nights I didn’t sleep much, Alison was on from 10pm-2am and many nights I simply tossed in bed listening to her on a transistor radio under my pillow (like Fred, the wrath of my father would have been worse than not sleeping).

As the years went on and I aged, and got married, the station remained a part of life. Sunday mornings included the NYTimes and Vin Scelsa, then Pete’s “Mixed Bag” show. It provided time to read, to think, to relax to talk and a soundtrack of life. That’s missing today in this world of constant contact, immediate response, quick gratification. There is something magical about having it again, not only on Sunday, courtesy of Fred, but now daily courtesy of The Point and VT independent radio.

The world remains upside down (don’t be fooled by the football reboot today the tumult is not over yet) but during all of this mess, music and many of those playing it have kept the thread of love, peace and humanity moving along. It continues to be a shining ray of hope for this old curmudgeon.

Cheers….it’s time to pour another Bloody….