Good Afternoon, Yap

One of the more enjoyable things about living in a small community is the opportunity that it provides for full participation. It would be a lot easier to sit on the city council of a small town, for example, than it would be to run for mayor of Denver. The tradeoff, of course, is that the resources are limited in small communities. Some things that we take for granted living in the West simply aren’t available here. The reasons for this are various. Cultural norms and traditions are obviously important, as are the realities of living in a secluded and sparsely populated part of the world.

We traveled to Yap with our eyes open to these circumstances, and with a simple resolve that we would make the best of things while we were here. KC was resigned to the fact that she probably wouldn’t find a running group, but hoped that she might be able to find a partner or two to coax onto the road on occasion. Matt wasn’t optimistic that Micronesia would have competitive soccer leagues, but was determined to continue his athletic participation in one way or another.

Taking this approach requires us to seize opportunities as they’re presented, and Matt heard about a great one shortly after our arrival here. There’s no community orchestra on Yap (Matt is a violinist in the Denver Philharmonic back home), but there were openings for radio hosts at KUTE, FM 88.1, Yap’s only radio station. Talk about a captive audience! KUTE has popular music and news programs for most of the week, but from 5:00-6:30 p.m. on Sundays, Matt has the local airwaves to himself. So what if he’s never been on the radio before? He’s been learning as he goes. The weekly show, with a working title of “Bach to the Future,” focuses on Western classical music, from the Renaissance through the present day.

Here are a couple of pictures of Matt hard at work in the studio.

He readily admits that he’s no Garrison Keillor, but he’s enjoying the opportunity to play some music that isn’t often heard in this part of the world. The reviews so far have been positive. If you’re interested in listening to the program yourself (and you have some serious insomnia), try tuning to KUTE’s internet stream by searching for “KUTE Radio FM Yap.” The program should air at 3 a.m EDT, 1 a.m. MDT, early Sunday morning.

Although the radio show is fun, we aren’t particularly happy with the title. We like puns, but “Bach to the Future” is uncommonly terrible. We thought of a few others, like “Mostly Mozart with Matt,” and “The Mad Dog Classical Music Hour,” but nothing really clicked. We’d love to hear suggestions!