The station the Taliban hated!

In August, I provided a partial list of things that were taboo at the youth confinement center where I was illegally locked up without a hearing in 1990 for the "crime" of getting expelled from a Catholic high school.

Last night I was reminded of something else that would've been on that list: now-defunct radio station Power 94½ of Lexington, Kentucky. (Those in the know called it WLAP-FM.) I thought of this because I got so bogged down by work last night that I listened to music instead - much like what happened often when I was in high school during Power 94½'s heyday.

Why did the programmies crusade against an out-of-town station? Power 94½'s signal reached northern Kentucky, but it hardly seems like it would've drawn that much attention this far north. Besides, the station in some ways seemed so innocent.

But what's fairly tame by the standards of myself and many other normal individuals is a cause for eternal damnation in the minds of the programmies. It seemed like their problem with ol' 'LAP-FM began when the station failed to censor a line in the song "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe that said, "Gettin' paid, laid." The facility's grudge against the station probably predated that tune, but this song became popular around the time I became incarcerated there.

Most of the time, my parents were not Power 94½ fans, but they weren't militant about it like the program was. Their distaste for this station stemmed from the fact that I listened to it instead of working on homework I didn't know how to do.

The programmies were against music in general - unless it was music they knew the detainees didn't like, which the program used as a torture device by piping it into the "quiet room."

From the list I posted in August, it's clear the program had a particular dislike of Motley Crue, because they considered it "druggie music." One of my fellow detainees said that he tried smuggling in a Motley Crue cassette in the front of his pants. He told the guards, "My dick's square." But then they strip-searched him and confiscated (stole) the tape.

Motley Crue was also heard quite a bit on Power 94½. Although one news article claimed the station failed to play the legendary metal band, this claim is debunked by my own personal memory and by audio clips on LKYRadio.com.

In case you're one of the 3 people who still listens to radio, WLAP-FM is now WMXL and has become part of the greedy Clear Channel wimpire. The programmies must be pleased, in light of Crap Channel's sanitizing of "dirty" lyrics.