But let me say one thing to those of you who are new. Please notice that among those people that have been here for a while, there is widespread agreement on WREK's mission and on what we should be playing. There are some disagreements, of course, but they are relatively minor. No one who has been here for very long thinks we should be playing Pearl Jam, for example.
Why is that? I would venture to say that it is not that those people have been _convinced_ so much as that they have _realized_ something. I think is is hard to put that realization into words, but it has something to do with realizing that there is music out there that is startingly honest and real, that has something to say about the human condition. The kind of writing that does that is called literature. Literature is not always pleasant or easy to read, and reading it changes you somehow.
It is the same with great music. This is not about being cool in front of your friends. Many of my friends don't listen to WREK and, in fact, hate it. That's their choice. Some of them, though, have listened to my show out of courtesy [New World Disorder, Saturdays 10 pm], and have ended up being changed because of it.