Tag: college radio

Reality vs 90210

My beloved wife is binge watching the shit out of Beverly Hills 90210. Since I am such a good husband, I am watching it with her. In season four there is a story line that does not line up to my personal experiences. Allow me to explain.

For three years I was a college radio DJ. 2002-2004 or so. Something like that. Maybe 2001-2004? Whatever. I had a show on UMass Lowell’s radio station. Once a week on Tuesday afternoons. It was a great time.

On the show, one of the 90210 gang also has a college radio show of his own. Outside of that, things aren’t really similar. For me, there was never a time when I opened a random desk and found a packet of crystal meth just sitting there. That literally never happened. I never even found a packet of sugar in a desk. Maybe it was just a California vs Massachusetts thing, but David 90210 and I had vastly different college radio experiences.

Dabbling in a New Tradition?

When I was in college (the last time) I had a radio show on the campus radio station, 91.5 FM WUML Lowell. For a stretch of time we did a 30 minute segment with the school’s men’s basketball coach. I don’t remember how we got on the subject, but there was a time when we were talking about Christmas for some reason. It was probably just before the end of the Fall semester and we probably all had Christmas break on the brain. Whatever.

The basketball coach (whose name is escaping me right now, I’m old and this was nearly 20 years ago after all*) was telling us about his Christmas tradition. He is Jewish, so he and some family members would spend Christmas day going out to eat at a Chinese food restaurant and then going home and watching Star Trek. I don’t know about the rest of you, but that sounds like a fantastic way to spend a day to me.

I joked with Jen the other day that, with Christmas day essentially being called off for us, we should follow the coach’s tradition. We laughed about it. Then we started planning what to do for Christmas dinner and we moved on with our lives. This morning, Jen changed her mind. We’re going to try and get some Chinese food for Christmas dinner. I don’t know if we’ll be able to get it delivered so it might not happen, but we’re going to take a shot.

That got me thinking. Is Chinese food at Christmas really a Jewish tradition? I know exactly one person who does it, but television and movies make it seem like they all do it. Do they? To the Google I go!

Why Do Jewish People Eat Chinese Food On Christmas?

So there you have it! NPR says it’s real so that’s good enough for me. That means we are officially stepping on the toes of a major religion’s (unofficial) Christmas tradition. I hope that’s okay with everyone, what with us not being Jewish at all.

I’ll let you know how it goes. Fingers crossed for delivery options.

*It was Ken Barer, the winningest coach in UMass Lowell Men’s Basketball history. Now that I have read this over I am starting to doubt that story a little. I am 90% sure that he was the one who shared this with us, but my usual sense of crippling doubt is making me question if I have the details right. It doesn’t matter to the post, really. I just like getting the facts straight.

Is My UMass Lowell Athletics Boycott Over?

From 2000 to 2004 I had my second stint as a student at UMass Lowell. During that time I had a show on the school’s radio station. We tried to run a talk show and for a while there it worked pretty well. We had segments with the head coaches of the men’s hockey and basketball teams. The hockey spots in particular were a lot of fun. A few times we had the director of athletics on as well.

It ended when the director of athletics sold out the station to the local newspaper. When the bullshit went down I vowed that as long as that director worked for the university to not have anything to do with the athletics department or the paper again. I think it’s been 18 years and I’ve stuck to that vow.

I almost broke it two years ago. Maybe bent more than broke. We were going to go to a UML at Vermont game with Bellana. I don’t remember why, but we didn’t get to the game.

When I found out Harry was in the Vermont pep band I thought about trying again. Obviously Covid will keep us away, but I still googled the UML athletics department staff. None of the people involved with fucking my radio station were there. I googled the director’s name and found that he retired in 2018.

I am free to follow my alma mater’s hockey team again.

I’m still never reading that shit rag of a newspaper though.