Exit Strategy

After 13 years in Philly radio, Jim McGuinn is signing off and moving on.

by A.D. Amorosi

Jeff Fusco XPAT: When Y-100 flipped formats in 2005, McGuinn co-founded modern rock Web radio station Y-Rock and eventually partnered with WXPN. McGuinn's leaving to become program director for The Current in Minnesota.

It's a late Friday afternoon in December and Jim McGuinn is getting into a funk. Two funks, actually. There's the WXPN-FM "Funky Friday" show that McGuinn is preparing for that afternoon.

Then there's the deeper funk he's getting into, the one where he's preparing to say his final goodbyes.

After 13 years, a founding father of "Philadelphia Modern Rock" radio at WDRE, WPLY Y-100 and WXPN, is leaving town. McGuinn, program director at Internet and HD2 music channel Y-Rock On XPN as well as an on-air personality, will take a new job as program director at The Current, 89.3 FM, in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

And that's not a bad gig for McGuinn. The Current is the WXPN of the Midwest, the indie music arm of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), one of the biggest public radio stations in the country. Besides the three regional services MPR provides — there's The Current, a "WHYY-esque" news/talk station and the WRTI-like classical station — the station also syndicates popular national programs like "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Marketplace."

"Within that framework The Current is just about to turn four, so it's still a pretty new station," says McGuinn who grew up in chilly Chicago and got his first radio gig in almost-as-chilly Providence, R.I., before coming to Philly in 1995.

That's great, Jim. The Current is young. MPR is blossoming. You're used to the chill factor. Fuck you. You're leaving. We hate you. No. We love you. You can't leave. After three years of that Frankenstein thing you do now — that Web radio-meets-regular-radio schmutz thing you call Y-Rock On XPN — we were just getting used to the call letters.

"I know, I know, I love it here," says McGuinn while preparing for his last Friday on-air shift. "WXPN is a really great family, we have tons of friends, and in that tiny way being on the air everyday is kinda like updating your Facebook profile every three minutes. I run into lots of friends who are able to stay in touch with me by hearing me rant on air."

McGuinn had no plans to leave Philly or WXPN. In 2006 he and his wife, Christine Weeks, had a son, Jameson. Last year they bought a ski house in Vermont, fulfilling a lifelong dream. After all those years of programming WDRE and Y100, McGuinn only recently was acknowledged for being a pretty good DJ by winning Radio & Records newspaper's AAA Radio Personality of 2008 award.

"We thought we were pretty rooted here for the next several years," he says.

But after soaking up knowledge from WXPN Program Director Bruce Warren and General Manager Roger Lamay over the years, and falling in love with the way public radio works and how it "super-serves the audience," he couldn't refuse The Current's offer.

"There are few stations and cities I would ever work for at this point in my career. WXPN, KEXP in Seattle and The Current are pretty much it where the combination of the city's culture, radio station and people are attractive. Instead of losing our current friends, we're really just expanding our circle as we embark on a new adventure. And yeah, we know it's cold there."

There've been more than a few drastic changes for McGuinn the radio man since he's been in Philadelphia. It's funny to think that he's leaving now that he's got a great home at WXPN. He didn't leave when DRE flipped to hip-hop in 1997 or when Y-100 did the same in 2005. McGuinn didn't know where he would end up. But he knew he wasn't going back to commercial radio. The business had become too corporate, cruel and removed from actual communication with the listeners. "I had offers to move, and to go to satellite radio, but that was no better. I got a job at Drexel with their Music Industry/Mad Dragon projects, so that was an opportunity to re-invent myself after many years of being a program director."

What eventually became Y-Rock on XPN started out in his spare bedroom as a cool little science experiment. Following Y-100's format flip, McGuinn and other former staffers launched a Web site and radio station to keep alt-rock alive in the city. "If you build an Internet alternative, will they come? How will this emergent new media of Web site-radio-podcast morph and grow into itself? How will partnerships like the one we struck up with WXPN work?" McGuinn recalls wondering.

"So far, if imitation is flattery, pretty well," he says. "Several public radio stations have created Y-Rock-like entities in the past three years."

He seems proudest of that achievement.

So doing the home-radio morph and getting in with WXPN re-invigorated McGuinn after he'd burned himself out in corporate radio. And what do we get? Memories.

McGuinn won't miss the trash, the crime (having someone murdered on your block is a good way to freak out parents), the wage tax and having to explain that water ice isn't two states of H2O. What will he remember and miss other than fans and friends?

"There're so many musical moments — getting Iggy Pop to play the Khyber was probably among the best — but the one that makes me smile the most was just a few weeks ago watching the entire city celebrate the Phillies' World Series win with the parade down Broad Street. After years of hearing about the parades of yore, I'm glad I got to see one for myself with my young son. It was a beautiful day, people were happy, and for a few hours we could forget about the budget crises and all that and Philly was just perfect. I'm gonna carry that one with me for a long time."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)