Friday, March 21, 2008

Christopher Matranga on Tim


Presented at Geoff Guy's, March 15


As I am sit here trying to collect my thoughts about
Tim, I find it difficult to compile all my thoughts
into simple words. I first met Tim when I was the
WHPK Rock Format Chief at the University of Chicago.
During my first semester as Format Chief, Tim wanted
to do a radio show that mixed punk, noise, and
traditional country/bluegrass. The show would be
co-hosted by Tim and Forrest Gregg. At the time I
bristled at the idea; what the hell were these kids
thinking? Luckily, Kareem Rabie, the previous Format
Chief, talked me into letting them have a show and
honestly it was probably the freshest programming WHPK
had seen in decades. The fact that Tim and Forrest
were on at 4 am did not seem to matter to them. They
put as much time and effort into their show as if they
were in a prime time spot with hundreds of thousands
of listeners. I never had the heart to tell them that
at 4 am and with only 100 Watts of power the only
listeners were the random kids on campus who were
overly caffeinated. The one thing I remember most
about this time was that whenever I stopped into the
WHPK record library Tim was there, usually wearing a
torn up hoodie, searching the record stacks and
playlists for something new and unusual to listen too.
I think I learned more about music by listening to
the radio of show of these two 18 year old freshmen
than I have in my 34 years of listening to and playing
music.

Tim was notorious for leaving his email account open
on the WHPK office computers. As you might expect,
mischief frequently set in with the office staff and
Tim’s account was the target of numerous, X-rated,
joke emails of questionable comedic content. Despite
having his email account abused about 4 times a week,
Tim never seemed to catch on to the fact that he
should log out after his email sessions. We of course
continued with the pranks. Tim never seemed to mind.
I still crack a smile about once a week thinking about
some crazy email we would send from Tim’s account to
his friends and other WHPK disc jockeys.

Even after I graduated in 2002, I still got occasional
emails from Tim. The last time I ran into him in
Chicago he was working at a law firm downtown and had
just decided he was going to attend law school. He
had a certain glow in his eyes that I had seen in
countless young students while I was working on my
Ph.D. It was a look of enthusiasm and hope; a belief
that he was embarking on something that was his
calling, something that he had to do to be complete.
I remember being thrilled for him, mostly because of
the look in his eyes. I knew he had made the right
decision for himself. With Tim’s intelligence and his
never-ending optimism, I had no real concerns that the
cold legal world would change him. I knew that the
legal profession was gaining something it sorely
needed: a hopeful, optimistic, and positive energy.

I know that we are all hurting from the loss of Tim,
but from my perspective we have gained so much from
him in the short time he was with us. These days I
like to remember all the clowning around we’d do with
Tim at the station, the crazy Rock Format parties at
Geoff Guy’s apartment, using magic markers to draw
mustaches on Tim’s face after he’d fall asleep at
parties, sneaking up the bell tower and ringing the
bells at 3 am, and countless other moments. Tim was a
great kid. I am a better person for having known him.
Christopher Matranga, 1010 Downlook, Pittsburgh, PA
15201, matranga at netl dot doe dot gov

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