The first radio station I found when I moved to New Hampshire a decade ago was Boston's WFNX. I had moved here from Raleigh, N.C., which had no commercial alternative radio station, though some programs on the college stations were pretty good. If you didn't like the same 100 classic rock songs played on all classic rock stations, rap, or top 40 pop and country, there wasn't much to listen to. FNX was the alternative station I longed for for years (even thought it played way too much Nirvana and Pearl Jam).

I programmed FNX into my stereos at home and in the car, and it's been my default music station ever since. Yesterday's news that it is being sold to, of all companies, Clear Channel Communications, produced a reaction similar to listening to 16 straight hours of The Cure.

I can't say I was here for FNX's glory days. But for the last decade it's been the only station willing to play a lot of the hard-edged bands that aren't poppy enough for mainstream commercial radio and aren't boring enough for "classic rock" radio. It's been the only regional outlet for punk-style alternative rock. And now it's sold to the owners of KISS FM.

FNX was not the perfect alternative station. It would not or would seldom play some bands it should have (Bowling for Soup, Billy Bragg), and it overplayed a lot of mainstream pop, which it tried to pass off as alternative (Coldplay, etc.). But it had the guts to play bands like the Silversun Pickups, Louis IV, the White Stripes, Modest Mouse, the Shins, Two Door Cinema Club and tons of others before they had big hits (and sometimes even if they never did). Plus, it introduced me to the Dropkick Murphys.

Probably most endearing to me, FNX is the only station I've ever encountered that was willing to play obscure Clash songs, such as "Know Your Rights," which it played today.

I don't know how many young people listen to broadcast radio these days. Maybe everyone's finding new music on iTunes or Amazon.com or a pirate files haring site somewhere. But with FNX going off the air, the culture just got a little more homogeneous, a little less interesting, and a lot less musically passionate. No one plays pre-selected corporate rock for the love of the music. They do it for a paycheck. The FNX djs loved the music they played, and that was something rare, which is soon to be all the rarer.

A lot of people switch on the radio to have something distracting, something uplifting or something soothing in the background. It doesn't much matter what's on as long as it's not offensive to the ears. For others, the musical blandness most people seek out is the biggest offense. FNX was for them. Its disappearance is going to leave a gaping hole in the New England music scene and a lot of people, like me, spending more time listening to our iPods and less listening to local radio.

The big question is: When FNX goes, will Boston (and southern NH) tune out everything different? Will there be a regional source for alternative rock and roll, or will we all be fed what the executives in San Antonio decide? And if we are, will we just accept it, or will we seek a new alternative?