When I was in college, I made the 370-mile trip in a green between Sioux Falls and Kansas City in a green Plymouth Valiant almost as old as I was. No air conditioning, no cruise control and a radio with (gasp) no scan function. A trip in the heat of summer would leave me windblown, stunned and partially deaf and I remember the experience, now, with great fondness.
I still make the trip several times a year to visit my father in Sioux Falls and for nervous-making reasons I've made the trip four times in the last two weeks.
Nothing makes the northern half of the trip any better than being able to catch Swingtime with Robin Buchanan on
KWIT. I came across the show last summer on my way north to a wedding. From 6-8 weeknights Robin plays a great mix of classic swing and modern reconstitutions of the form. Last July, I was impressed by when she followed up a set of
Andrews Sisters with a tune by
The Boswell Sisters, a group that was a huge influence not just on Patty, Maxine and Laverne, but also on a young
Ella Fitzgerald.
KWIT's signal comes out of Sioux City and, given the Missouri Valley's long gentle slope, you can listen for hours. Driving back to KC last week, the signal was strong for almost three hours, so I got to hear the last hour of Swingtime and most of PRI's
American Routes before finally losing the signal in a cloud of static around Percival.
Here's a handy map link for map-loving dorks (you know who you are).
For me there was only one clinker in the hour I heard, Manhattan Transfer's Scotch and Soda. To be fair to the host, it was a listener request and bound to suffer coming as it did in the midst of a salute to two immortals, Artie Shaw and Rosemary Clooney.
Terrestrial jazz radio these days is in a tough state, with the pod and the disc and the satellite all stacked against it. So if you're passing through Northwest Iowa, lend an ear to Robin Buchanan.
> Or check her out online at
the KWIT website.
