Because Alterra doesn't make cups big enough to hold the fourth espresso shot he's craving. Rock and roll was banned from the house, but Crawford makes it sound like he grew up listening to everything but Elvis. He now has over 8,000 records in his collection. The extraordinary range of music testifies in part to Crawford's catholic tastes. That explanation may be true, but what it lacks is an acknowledgment of his intellectual curiosity.
Intellectual curiosity is something sorely lacking in much Milwaukee radio.
In one way or another, for money and for free, Crawford has worked at WMSE since November 1983. That makes him sound like a radio lifer, but he wasn't born with expensive headphones dangling around his neck. Around the same time, he discovered punk. Over the next few years, Crawford got into other kinds of music too unpopular or too dangerous for stations committed to endless medleys of 1970s rock. Flip the dial for long enough and from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine, you can always find Celine Dion.