Article Published: Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 2:15:23 AM EST

Nothing but static

We'd shed more tears for the death of radio station WBEC-FM if the so-called "Live 105" were actually a vibrant, community-oriented radio station playing cutting-edge rock and roll and other vibrant forms of contemporary music. It's not. Corporately owned since 1981, WBEC relies predominantly on canned programming and functions mainly as a vehicle for advertising and a cash cow for its owners. Visitors to Northern Berkshire can tune in the high-power signal of WEQX out of Manchester, Vermont, and hear what the Berkshires are missing, a real rock and roll radio station with real hip, young disc jockeys excited about playing new music. The Berkshires are a small market in a hilly region notorious for poor reception, so it makes sense for a company like Vox to concentrate its resources in the more lucrative Albany and Springfield markets. When WBEC goes out, we'll have the same mediocre programming, with more static, until it's replaced with a clone. This is a good place to plug the enthusiastic cadre of volunteers seeking to establish a low-power FM station in Great Barrington. Town voters should give them the go-ahead next Tuesday.