strange currency
Posted on 13. Aug, 2010 by Nick in music
words > TROY R. WELLS
What does it mean to be voracious listener of music? Is it a constant exploration into the future and past, a sense of urgency to know and understand every small nuance of what drove the artist to create and assimilate tones and melodies, or is it just a way for a teenage boy to find something to talk about with girls? It can be some of those things for most people, but for Jedd Beaudoin that would probably just be scratching the surface.
Jedd is one of the busiest and musically well-read guys in Wichita that I know. He moved here from the upper Midwest in August of 1998 in order to get his MFA in Creative Writing. 12 years later, Jedd is an English Comp instructor at BCCC, getting his masters in Public History, host of Wichita Sessions on KPTS, and most importantly is employed at KMUW 89.1 as host and producer of the newly expanded Strange Currency.
From early on in his life, Jedd was more than just a fan of music; it was something that consumed him and helped in his early development:
“I can remember being 4 years old and having my brother show me how to use his record player. I would just sit there for hours and listen to music while he was at work. I even started to lean how to read by memorizing album labels and song lists.”
With that seed planted early on in his life, Jedd would work tirelessly to find music and people with common tastes to help explore his passion, from befriending the guy in high school with a Slayer patch to understanding that a group of guys in upper Michigan could put out a record on their own and have it played on the radio. He came to the understanding that there are artists from all around that people don’t have to rely upon mainstream avenues to discover:
“Local music is important and shedding a light on that is important, [in order] to let people know… what great bands Wichita has and that they are rubbing elbows with some extremely talented people.”
Jedd’s show Strange Currency is based around the idea of music as a passport, the kind of thing that can help you find commonalities with other people, start friendships, or give you something to talk about with that one gal you like. Jedd hopes to treat his show (which airs nightly on KMUW 89.1 FM from 10pm – midnight) like an evening in his living room: the kind of thing where one song or album will trigger another memory, and so on, as well as highlighting new national and local talent.
Jedd grew up in love with radio, and his show is definitely filling a long-empty void in Wichita’s radio market. Strange Currency is something that people can bend their ear to and end up transported back in time, while their eyes remain fixed upon innovative pieces of the future.
