Is this thing on???

Demetrio, an old family friend, invited me onto his radio show at WHPK in Hyde Park after we traded a few stories earlier this year. His show, Chicago is the World, broadcasts on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 5PM CST and can be listened to on the internet at WHPK's stream.

As filipinos born in Chicago, we share similar perspectives on the experience of traveling back to our families in our parent's islands. They make for some humorous, poignant, and sometimes tragic moments, some of which I had the pleasure to share on the air yesterday.

I was so excited to visit this legendary radio station, and to be beckoned by the University of Chicago's gothic archways for the second time in a month. The history of hip hop and house music in Chicago evolved in that studio. Generations of underage backpackers found new beats and styles the old school way, ears glued to boomboxes with raised antennas like a true music head.

A long time before music blogs and internet streams, access to the best recordings hiding in the niches of culture could only come from programming from stations. I always learned something new from listening to WHPK. So many rappers, djs, and musicians passed through there, and so much great music has been brought into the public ear through those broadcasts.

In a world in which the rest of the dial plays such trite, predictable and generic music that my ears weep, I find these microbroadcasts and small pockets of innovative and thoughtful programming to be a heroic effort. It is a sanctuary of brilliant cuts, a treasure chest full of jewels of songs, rare and excellent.



Through these decades of music, the station has accumulated a vast library of records. The station is a music lover's dream.



We discussed an issue close to my heart, the plight of migrant workers from the Philippines who leave the country to enter a world in which they often have no basic human rights. Demetrio played an amazing set of music, from Balkan beats to Colombian electro music. I can honestly say I had a phenomenal time during my visit to WHPK and was honored to have been invited, as I exited to an amazing dub set.