[an error occurred while processing this directive]


Best Annual Festival
Best Annual Spectacle
Best Barber
Best Bowling Alley
Best Environmental News
Best "Fear And Loathing" Getaway
Best "First Lady" Of Local Sports
Best Historical Site
Best Jukebox
Best Local Athlete
Best Local Late-Night Show
Best Local Morning Show
Best Local Non-Profit Organization
Best Locally Produced Music Television
Best News For Boomers
Best Park Or Plaza
Best Place To Astonish Guests
Best Place To People Watch
Best Place To Soak Up Urban Ambiance
Best Place To Take French Tourists
Best Post Office
Best Public Restrooms
Best Radio DJ
Best Radio Station For Music
Best Radio Station For News
Best Reason To Live Midtown
Best Resource For Responsible Desert Living
Best "Retired" Environmental Activist
Best Sports Team
Best Talk-Radio Show
Best Tattooed Hairdresser
Best Thing About The Phone Book
Best Transmigration Of A Morning Show
Best TV Newscast
Best View From Above



Best Radio Station For Music

KFMA-FM, 92.1

READERS' PICK: Tucson's home for mainstream new rock is KFMA, playing 40 minutes of uninterrupted music at a stretch. Creed, Fastball, Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam--you might have called it Alternative before, but now it's mainstream and available at the touch of a dial, often with three consecutive songs by your same favorite bands. In the morning, Ted Stryker plays lots of requests and has this positive slacker-thing going. For those of you stuck in the recent past, the noon hour weekdays is all-request Eat Your Eighties with Chuck Roast, who's even more laid-back than Stryker. They give away tickets to shows and have contests for festival trips. The Sunday night ska-punk-swing-rockabilly show is rumored to be popular among Tucson teens, but we older folks stick mostly to the daytime nostalgia programming. You'll have to explore the night programming yerownselves. KFMA is where the rock-majority rules in a laid-back format, and they give away loads of free stuff...what more can you ask of local radio?

READERS' POLL RUNNER-UP: Eclectic doesn't even begin to describe the range of this community radio station. You're likely to hear anything here: old-timey bluegrass, rap, blues, trance, zydeco or bootleg Dead concerts. What station in their right mind would program a Celtic show followed by a reggae hour? But that's the point: KXCI-FM, 91.3, wants to expand your consciousness, not narrow it, through the magic of radio. Although it sometimes helps to have attention-deficit disorder to smooth the transitions, KXCI always challenges you to keep up, following the assumption you're as intelligent and diversity-loving as they are. They also have unabashedly opinionated talk segments like "Native Caller," "A View from Slightly Off Center" and "Out Loud," to name a few. KXCI has consistently been the local music scene's biggest booster, with an almost religious fervor in its promotion of home-grown artists. While commercial stations work themselves into tighter and tighter demographic niches, KXCI wallows in a little bit of everything. Tune in and support electronic anarchy.


Case History

1997 Winner: KFMA--92.1 FM
1996 Winner: KFMA--92.1 FM
1995 Winner: KXCI--91.3 FM


Page Back

Home | Arts & Culture | Cafés | Chow | City Life | Kids | Outdoors
Saloons | Shopping | Most Wanted | Credits | Search

Copyright © 1995-98 Tucson Weekly

Page Forward