THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610250013
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 29 lines
I was very saddened and at the same time frustrated by reading that Carol Taylor had passed away due to cancer. The local music scene will miss her very much. I, for one, owe a personal debt of gratitude to Ms. Taylor. To use a couple of worn-out metaphors, she ``broadened the horizons'' and ``widened the spectrum'' of alternative music in Hampton Roads.
When she was on the air at FM99 in the mid '80s, there was just no other evening shift like hers. While other stations overplayed Wham!, Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, she was turning us on to The Replacements, Violent Femmes, R.E.M., The Call, etc. Carol was the ``alternative'' radio in Hampton Roads. Yes, maybe she bent the station rules, and maybe an FCC rule here and there, but that was Carol ``Hell-Yeah'' Taylor.
I wasn't a close personal friend of Carol's, but the music I played in and around the Hampton Roads club scene was greatly influenced by her. Why should I play some droll disco thing when I could groove to ``Blue-Eyed Soul'' by the Waxing Poetics?
The local radio stations here also owe a great deal to Ms. Taylor. When Carol was on the air, there wasn't a 96X or The Point or The Coast. Carol was the ``alternative,'' and she will be greatly missed.
RICHARD P. DURDEN
Virginia Beach, Oct. 17, 1996 by CNB