This one’s going to be even more subjective than usual, denizens. I’d apologize, but I’m really not sorry. In fact, I’m quite elated.
I’ve blogged about Gina Crash before, during my Angry BloggerTM days. My anger was not focused at Gina Crash…rather at her abrupt disappearance from the D.C. radio scene. See, I thought Gina Crash was the shiznit. SHIZNIT. She started out as a DJ for 99.1-HFS, the local and best alternative station on the planet. This was, of course, back in the day when radio stations were allowed to be unique entities and not the cookie-cutter corporate crapfests they are now. HFS was legendary in the D.C./Baltimore radio scene, and its DJs were effing awesome.
And then there was the ultimate awesome of Gina Crash. I first noticed her on HFS’s “Trancemissions” show. I love trance music, and I credit this show with introducing me to it. Score for DJ Gina.
Then there was “The Morning Crash.”
Let me just get this right out here now: I can’t stand morning radio shows. Same feeling about the afternoon shows. I don’t give a good goddamn about sports talk or Howard Stern-esque humor or shenanigans. The big ticket show here in D.C. is the “Elliot in the Morning” show on DC101. I’d rather have someone shave off my taste buds than have to listen to his show. The one good thing that I can say about Elliot and his ilk is that the dearth of decent morning radio is one of the prime reasons that I switched over to listening to podcasts. That was one of the most life-alteringly awesome decisions I ever made.
However, back on track, there was once “The Morning Crash,” which, as far as I know, remains the only D.C. area morning radio show hosted by a female DJ. I’m not talking about sidekick girls…I’m talking main attraction, center ring kind of deal here. If I’m wrong, please by all means hit that “Contact” button to your left. But I don’t think I am. Gina Crash and her on-air partner-in-crime Allen Scott got me through hours of Beltway driving, both during my college years and my early professional years, when my commute was 2 hours each way on a good day (and they were never “good days”). Together, they were funny and smart and they didn’t have to tell fart jokes or talk about football or be crass or disgusting to keep me laughing and non-homicidal behind the wheel of my car.
HFS went through a massive retooling in the early 00s and “The Morning Crash” was replaced by “The Sports Junkies.” Obviously, I am quite in the minority in regard to my hatred of sports talk and fart jokes. Needless to say, I never listened to the Junkies. Then, on January 12, 2005, HFS was no more. At noon, TPTB pulled the plug on the alternative awesomeness that had literally been the soundtrack to such a huge part of my life.
Gina Crash had disappeared from the D.C. scene prior to the death of HFS, and I was left with nothing but happy memories and a deep sense of Whathafu?
Thank goodness for the stalking capabilities of teh Interwebz!
Gina ended up back in her hometown of Philadelphia, where she’s been making the rounds through various hard rock stations that play to Philly and suburbs of New Jersey. Right now she’s the afternoon DJ at Philly’s hard rock station WWYY-FM 107, “The Bone.” I listened to her today while at work…first time I’ve heard her since probably 2002. She’s doing the afternoon DJ routine, which is far more limited than her days as a morning show host…but it was still awesome to hear her once more. Plus, her playlist was mint, with Aerosmith, Ozzy, Foo Fighters, GnR, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, STP, Alice in Chains…see? Mint.
I’m sure I’ll listen to her again, but it’ll be with the same sad smile I had today, remembering “The Morning Crash” and “Trancemissions”…Weasel, Neci, Bob Waugh, Graeme, Paula, Pogo…HFStival, Nutcracker…all of it wrapped around some of the greatest alternative tunes to hit the airwaves. If that station was still around, it’d be kicking the Jonas Brothers’ asses all over the place. And I’d be loving every minute.
If Gina Crash ever stumbles upon this post, I hope it lets her know how awesome she and her fellow HFS DJs were, and how D.C. radio just hasn’t been the same since…
