My favorite little world class rock station in New York’s backyard just turned two and celebrated with a concert in White Plains on Friday night. Niki and I spent the evening without kids for the first time in a long time. Well, I’m on the road right now so that happens more often for me than her, but it was nice to put on some makeup — more her than me — and hit a bar to watch a couple of singer-guitarists, meet the Make A Wish ladies and mingle with the talent behind a great radio station.
On the way to the show we had The Peak on and they played Suzanne Vega’s Blood Makes Noise. Who else would play that song? College radio?
We saw a story on them in the local Westchester paper, so I had a good idea what everyone looked like.
Between Jeffrey Gaines and Glenn Tilbrook’s sets, I spent a few minutes chatting with program director and creator Chris Herrmann about how the station came to be and how its listeners are so connected to The Peak. It began as a peek into his own iPod and quickly attracted some veteran DJs like Jimmy Fink. We had some friends over one Saturday night for cards a year ago and after listening to The Peak all evening long they asked if it was our own CD collection. You barely notice the commercials. You can listen to them online while you’re in VA on a business trip.
About six months ago I did a phone survey where they wanted to know what I liked in a radio station. By the end of the call I had figured out that it was KRock trying to figure out what to do for a format when Howard Stern moved on to satellite radio, but I frustrated the caller over and over. “Who do you listen to in the morning?” they’d ask. “The Peak,” I’d say. “What station is that?” “107.1. You can’t get it in the city.” “You mean WBLS, 107.5?” “Um…no, that’s an R&B and Soul station. The Peak is 107.1. They play Jack Johnson, Elvis Costello, Marc Broussard, The Strokes, The Killers, old stuff, new stuff, you know, world class rock?”
Congratulations, Chris!
Brian Alvey 