Joe Jackson "Sunday Papers"

I was at a local auto shop back in January, to get my car inspected, and as I was talking to the guy behind the counter, his buddy, who'd been hanging out said, "Hey!  Are you PJ from mvyradio?"

Good ears.  He recognized my voice.

But times like that are pretty rare.  Mostly, I go through life anonymously.

In fact, I'd wager that there are folks who listen to mvyradio AND who have seen me around the town for years, who have no idea I'm "PJ from mvyradio."

But in the heat of the Save mvyradio campaign, we had reporters and photographers coming through the station on a regular basis.  The Vineyard Gazette, the MV Times and The Boston Globe were particularly generous with their coverage.

And a funny thing happened.  Immediately after these stories, folks I'd seen around for years would say, "You're the mvy guy!" for the first time making the connection to the voice on the radio and the skinny unshaven guy with the backpack, who never says anything.

How many Steamship ferry rides have I taken since moving to the Island 13 years ago?

I had a landmark moment happen.

I was late to catch a boat back to the Island.  I'd parked and hopped on the transport bus that drives you up to dockside.  9:29 for a 9:30 ferry.  As the bus was grinding to a stop, I could see the dock guys pulling the orange curtain across the car deck ramp.

For those of you who don't live here and don't know, when they pull the orange curtain, the ramp is CLOSED.

The City equivalent is when you get back to your car just as the Tow Truck driver has hitched up your vehicle.  It ain't coming down no-how, no way.

I leapt from the bus and started running, and something truly amazing happened.

One of the dock guys, someone I'd never spoken to before, yelled, "HEY PJ, HURRY UP!"

He opened the orange curtain and let me on.

Ask an Islander.  That stuff doesn't happen.

So thanks, newspaper friends and photographers, for pulling me out of the ether, making me look good and, at least for one day, making me somebody.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bruce Springsteen "Death To My Hometown"

A few notes from the front lines . . .

So Tuesday we announced that mvyradio had 60 days to raise $600,000.  The 92.7 signal would be sold, but we could continue on, online.

Sometime not long after the campaign began, my friend Scott texted me to say "So much subtext in the songs you've been playing lately."  It wasn't intentional.  We (for the most part) weren't picking songs that illustrated our plight.

But how quickly do songs that you've heard a thousand times, take on a new meaning when you hear them in a new context.  "It's The End Of The World As We Know It," "Sitting In Limbo" and "One Breath At A Time" suddenly all seem to refer to our situation.

Every day in the 2pm hour, I've been playing a deeper track off one of the Top 25 of 2012 contending albums.  Yesterday, I played "Death To My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen.  I had a reporter ask me about the track.  I think he was wondering if I'd played it for a reason . . .


As I mentioned on Monday, it's pretty weird to be an interviewee.  But that's what the situation calls for, so I've been talking to reporters from the MV Times, The MV Gazette, The Cape Cod Times and other publications.  I realized that even more awkward than answering questions about "How do you feel?"  (answer:  It's complicated), is having your picture taken.

What is the right pose to reflect the mood?  You don't want to smile, because if it's next to the headline "WMVY Goes Off Air" and you're smiling, you look like a tool.

But you don't want to look overly-serious, because it can come off like "ALL IS LOST."

And if someone, with a lens pointed in your direction says, "Act Natural!" then there is suddenly a zero-percent chance that anything you will do for the next five minutes will mimic how real humans move.


Awkward photo shoots aside, I have to say some nice things about local media.

Traditionally, radio and newspapers in places around the country have all competed with each other, often in a less than friendly way.  (There is an old story about a radio station getting a delivery of free donuts---two hours later, pictures of those donuts, being worn earlier that day by otherwise naked male members of a competing station, were delivered.  It was enough to make me consider not going into broadcasting)

But I have to give credit to the local media, for being extremely kind and respectful to each other, and each others' audience.

WBUR was kind enough to do a news story about mvyradio's Pledge campaign, so that Boston folks could hear about what's going on.  And WCAI (who is in direct competition with WBUR) had Nelson Siegelman of the MV Times on their morning news broadcast.  He did a really great job of reflecting the feelings of mvy listeners who are upset with this news, and went further, to extend sympathies to the folks who work at mvy who could potentially lose their jobs.

It speaks very well of this community that the default position, even in a competitive marketplace, is kindness and compassion.


Finally, just because a couple folks asked, yes, when I wrote last week's post about my last day on the air at WABN, I did already know what was going on behind the scenes at mvyradio.  And I knew I might be reliving that "last day" kind of scenario.

After writing it, I wondered how on-the-nose my bitterness about the loss of that station was, in connection to mvyradio.  I got an email from my old roommate, who was part of the WABN family, who said reading the mvyradio site gave him "the chills" with its decidedly familiar feeling.

Let's hope another community doesn't have to go through what Abingdon, Virginia did . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.