14 / matters magazine / summer 2019 I t all started out with a radio boom box and a Barbie disco record player. In the early 1980s, Michelle Lomuscio was attending Montclair Kimberly Acad- emy on a scholarship. She and her parents would make the commute to school from her home in Bloomfield. During those trips, the car radio blared a conglomeration of clas- sic rock, oldies, baseball games, Howard Stern, and commercial jingles. Lomuscio was listening and soaking it all in. “My dad made a deal with me,” she recalls. “He told me that if I got on the honor roll, he’d take me to the store and I could pick out any record I’d like.” Soon after she hit the honor roll, Lomus- cio took home Blondie’s album Autoamerican and played it on that Barbie disco record player. “I didn’t have to think twice about which record I wanted,” she says. “When I saw what Debbie Harry [lead singer of Blondie] looked like, I wanted to look like her. I wanted to be her. She was just mesmerizing to me.” Blondie was only the beginning of Lomuscio’s deep passion for music. And decades later, she is the founder and owner of Bone Pool Radio. It’s Maple- wood’s very own independent radio station, and it can be accessed at bonepoolradio.com. Since July 16, 2018, Lomuscio, who first moved to Maplewood in the early 90s, and her close-knit team have bathed the local airwaves with a potent concoction of music genres, including indie rock, ska, punk, local bands, and more. And while they are on the cusp of cele- brating their one-year anniversary, BPR’s program- ming continues to expand. “She is a fearless, smart, and incredibly intuitive leader,” says South Orange native Timmy Smith, a station DJ for the program “Timmy Smith’s Digi- tal Mixtape.” In addition to Smith and Lomuscio, the core team is rounded out by Diana Tynan and Frank McKeon, as well as support from Michelle’s husband, Ritchie Lomuscio. In order to broadcast diverse music genres, BPR boasts a lineup of impressive DJs, including Benny Campa, Paul Haley, Peter Sampson, and Freder- ick Zorn. “We’re all coming from similar musical backgrounds, and kind of speaking that language,” says Smith. “And we don’t want you to just listen to it and have the station be in the background. We have a common goal of trying to connect with our peers, and whoever else wants to join the party.” Any listener with Wi-Fi can access Lomuscio’s internet radio station. “I would like for BPR to be an alternative to Sirius [Satellite Radio] station so you don’t have to subscribe,” she explains. Her core team and DJs volunteer their time. But the hope Listen Up! Maplewood is Radio-silent No Longer. Bone Pool Radio celebrates one year on the air BY DONNY LEVIT Michelle Lomuscio, Bone Pool Radio's founder, poses with Bone Pool Bird.