Yes, it’s a miracle. There is life after CHOM-FM, which I listened to since I was a teen.

You may recall I decided to boycott the station after its parent company, Bell Media, layed off my two favourite on-air personalities — Rob Kemp and Ronny Mack — a month before Christmas. They were two of more than 300 people cut from Bell Media properties across Canada, despite the fact that Bell Media’s parent company, BCE, posted a net profit of more than $700 million for the third quarter.

The move so sickened me — the greed and the apparent lack of social conscience — that I could not in good conscience ever listen to CHOM again.

So, I switched to The Buzz (99.9 FM) in Burlington, Vermont, where I am being turned on to a lot alternative music you probably won’t hear on CHOM. I’m particularly taken with the X Ambassadors and two of their songs, Renegades and Unsteady. So much so that I bought the band’s debut album today, VHS, which features both songs.

I’ve been watching their videos on YouTube, and I like the messages these folks are bringing the world. They appear to have social conscience, especially in the Renegades video. At first I thought the intro about people with disabilities was part of a documentary advertisement, but then I realized that it’s all part of the video.

And I fell in love with this band and their music even more.

Here are both videos: check them out. I think you’ll like them.

Love

— Jillian