Our latest radio love is a little scrappier than usual. The online-only Plaza Midwood Community Radio is the city's new hyperlocal neighborhood radio station; it offers a free-form mix of DIY shows, the best of which is Armando Bellmas' Ecléctico. As Bellmas points out in his warm, soothing voice at the top of each show, his mission is to "lovingly blend English and Spanish music and culture." That means he may read a poem by Roberto Bolaño or have John Giorno read one of his own, then mix it into a playlist that moves seamlessly from My Morning Jacket's "The Bear" to Nina Simone's "Pirate Jenny," from "Búfalos" by the Chilean band Los Mil Jinetes to "Tengo Frío" by Mexico's Ely Guerra, then back to sweet home Carolina with Whiskeytown's "Midway Park."
CHARLOTTE TALKS, WITH MIKE COLLINS