Radio Daze

"[It's about] love of hearing something really cool and telling people, 'You've got to hear this.' So instead of irritating my friends, I get to irritate a whole city. I realize I have a red-rocking audience, so I know I have to guide them by the hand into my world."

The big frustration among local music devotees has long been that such examples of true music appreciation on the radio are relegated to specialty shows, buried late in the evening on nights when few people listen to the radio. It's not an argument that Mac contests, but his attitude seems to be that we should be thankful for small favors.

"Specialty shows in Phoenix are good," he says. "I've heard radio in other markets, and they're playing music that's going to end up on that station anyway. My show isn't a testing ground. Just because you hear it on my show doesn't mean it's going to end up on the KUPD playlist. I don't think Phoenix radio is all that bad. Better than some, worse than others.