Best Local Radio Show

Listening to Chuck "Haddock" host Fish Fry is pure comfort for the soul. With a deft hand at programming for the heart and feet, and a soft voice that can remake a bad day, Haddix is a DJ like no one else in town. Blues, both electric and acoustic; soul from the 1960s; rhythm and blues from post-World War II to the early 1960s; jumpin' jive from the early 1940s and the 1990s revival; and zydeco from Creole country in southern Louisiana are his forte. Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner, and Clifton Chenier are among Haddix's favorite artists, but whomever he spins, the delivery is personal and persuasive in moving people into a different frame of mind.

After 15 years, Haddix is still into the gig. "I enjoy going in and playing records, bringing a public radio show to people in their living room," he says. And he has no plans to quit or make the jump to commercial radio. "I don't think about that," says Haddix. "Fish Fry is out of the music mainstream. People discover it."

That distinction is part of why people keep tuning in. Another reason is the music's "timeless themes," says Haddix. The blues, especially, resonates with the trials and troubles of living: loving, losing love, getting drunk, being broke, getting in trouble, being done wrong.

Fish Fry always make such realities easier to take.