C'mon guys, Charleston NEEDED another morning show. I used to have to wait for my co-workers to give me a tedious recap of every American Idol episode. Thanks to 96 Wave, I get my update on my morning drive! Sigh... read more

When I graduated High School in 1999 I had by then amassed enough CDs to play 96 Wave's entire new format by myself. My collection consisted of less than 50 albums, mostly grunge or rock from the 90s. That is a pathetic statement, and this is a pathetic radio station. I'm not on board with the nostalgia trip for the mid 90s. It wasn't that long ago! Instead of bringing me back to the glory days of High Skool, their song selection reminds me much more of those thrice heat-lamped mashed potatoes in the school cafeteria. Crusty, lukewarm and definitely suspect. Remember that awkwardly named band "Live" that you can't talk about without running verbal circles of explanation around yourself? Yeah, they play them a lot. You get your grunge staples ( I never thought I'd hear so much Alice In Chains) and the occasional new song that reeks so badly of payola I could smell it through those unwashed shorts I wore back in the day in gym class every week. But enough about my athletic outerwear. The sad thing is, when I moved to Charleston this station was actually pretty sweet., as better articulated by the other reviewers here. They played obscure (but not too obscure) bands and new cuts from rising stars. I don't know about you, but I have lots of CDs, so I turn on the radio for new things, even if they're new to me. The current catalog of songs was already flogged like a vegetative mule a decade ago by the impatient plebeian of mainstream radio. Must it be again? One thing I can say about 96 Wave, their specialty shows (holdovers from the glory days) are still good, and the only reason they got a second star from me. Of course, they're only on when you're hung over at the asscrack of dawn on Sunday morning or when you're out at the bar the night before around 1am. The Critic, while sometimes annoyingly know-it-all-ish, is extremely knowledgeable and covers a lot of ground. Johnny Puke is a local punk legend, apparently, and puts on a decent show. Is that on anymore? The midday DJ Wendy is awful. She's one of those stoners that doesn't even seem to like music. The worst kind. She's got no worthwhile opinions and seems like she'd rather be toking up and watching reality TV than spinning records. And a morning show imported, taped in Minneapolis? Could there be any place less like Charleston in our country? I don't listen to much radio, so when I discovered 96 Wave upon my arrival in the Holy City, I stopped looking. I set it as my radio alarm and haven't bothered to find another station. But each day I wake up to it I'm filled with volatile mix of rage and boredom. That's a cocktail for trouble; just ask any suburban kid. It's certainly not the mindset in which to start your day. I was so angry when I woke up today, that I was forced out of my anti-yelping seclusion to retch bile on what was once a decent radio station. read more

Yep, we're all in agreement here. I used to wake up to The Critic, actually, it was mostly music--music, in the morning, what a concept! One day I stopped listening and switched to a beepy alarm. When I turned my radio on a few mornings later there were a bunch of dudes taking about hot wings or something like that. That's just how it goes. read more

I have to side with rebekah b. on this one. 96 Wave really DID used to be a great station. Now, it's just so-so. Every once in a great while you can tune in and hear that oft-overlooked Pixies, Screaming Trees or PM Dawn (I swear to God) song, but those occassions are fewer and further between. The Drive at 100.5 is pretty good, but I don't really like REM or Counting Crows enough to listen to them all the time. Oh well. read more