New music on the air is best early present for Christmas

Here it is, Oct. 1, and it's a good thing that Christmas decorations are currently well-stocked in local stores - it would be unforgivable, and maybe unconstitutional, if the impulse to purchase an animated snowman speaker with pulsing lights on a sunny autumn day was denied by a lack of retail forethought.

The extension of the Christmas season, retail-wise, is not a new phenomenon, but when I walked into a local store the week after Labor Day, I was taken aback when the first thing I saw was an enormous display of Christmas paraphernalia.

As my only experience in the retail business consisted of a few weeks at a mall store of a women's clothing chain - a job I quit after it was mandated that speaking to the other salespeople was unacceptable and folding sweaters was the only approved way to kill time when the store was empty - I have no idea how the retail mind works.

There must be some sort of market-survey-generated motive behind the creation of a four-month holiday season, or maybe there's a competition among stores to be the first to have cheap plastic ornaments available, but I've never once heard anyone express enthusiasm for the early Christmas displays.

But on a happier note, today is the day that the newest FM radio station in town, KRVO, also known as 103.1 "The River," starts airing advertisements.

Obviously it's a necessity for the station to have some ad revenue, but it's been nice in the last few weeks not only to hear new rock music of the "alternative" variety on a Flathead Valley radio station, but also to hear it commercial-free.

The station went on the air right after Labor Day (a much better post-Labor Day surprise than Christmas wrapping paper appearing on store shelves) as KDAV, playing nothing but the Dave Matthews Band, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The KDAV era didn't even last seven days, though - it was just a time for the station to get its technical bearings.

The station, which I am plugging shamelessly here despite the fact I am not happy to be considered on the upper end of its age target, still plays lots of Dave Matthews. But as an Adult Album Alternative station (AAA in radio jargon) it also plays music from groups lots of "adults" might not have heard of - The Raconteurs, Jane's Addiction, Franz Ferdinand, Gnarls Barkley, Death Cab for Cutie.

Though these names might sound intimidating to those whose latest CD purchase was "The Eagles Greatest Hits," the music is in general fairly tame, low on screaming guitar and screaming singers.

And there also are familiar mellower tunes on the playlist, from singers like Sheryl Crow and Jack Johnson, though program director Brew Michaels said the playlist will widen considerably over time.

Michaels said he believes this is the first radio station in the Flathead Valley to report to Billboard under the "alternative" label.

An "alternative" playlist can be a hard concept to pin down. To me, it means that you won't be assaulted with songs that you know all the lyrics to and don't know why, because you've hated the song since you first heard it in junior high.

The best part is - a shocking concept - that much of the music will actually have been recorded in this century.

And we hope that, unlike their retail counterparts, it also means they'll hold off on the Christmas music until we've made it past Halloween.

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4431 or by e-mail at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com.