Spinning Wax on Air

[Eric Iverson]

Just out of curiosity, did any of you guys do any DJ'ing (as in playing recordings on the radio)? I'm including all styles in the question, from your AM jockies with their high energy BS raps (sometimes entertaining, usually not....) to the free-form FM guys (back in the day they got pretty OUT THERE sometimes, and even sounded somewhat substance abused on occasion).

Nowadays, there are also stations where college kids, doubtless volunteers, come in and play records, usually just announcing the name of the record and who played on it. And of course, there a few who are actually quite knowledgeable.... it's quite a gamut!

Anyway, did any of you guys ever DO that?

I'd love to, provided I didn't have to adhere to some set list from somebody else - I guess my late '60s roots are showing!

[Danzilla]

I was a college radio DJ for 2 years. Loved it! I tried to make it more of a show, rather than just playing songs. Have a theme day, occasionally take callers & requests, etc. The great part was that the stations booth had a big window that saw into the quad, and I could see who was coming into the student union center where we were. If it was an ex girlfriend, I'd been known to play something for them, like Sam Kinison's version of "Wild Thing", Eric Johnson's "Off My Mind", etc. We had free reign, for the most part. We did have a playlist of 20-30 songs, of which we had to play 2 per hour, but it was our choice. We had turntables, cassette players, CD players, and "cart" players (basically 8-tracks) for the programmed commercials and PSI's (this was the mid-late 80's).

 

Around 2007, A friend of mine took over a Christian radio station. I helped him do some of the station set up, and manned the cans for a few shifts, too, until they got up and running. I wish that had turned into a full time position (for either or both of us), but it wasn't to be.

[Scott Fraser]

I had a once a week show on the Pacifica station KPFK back in the 80s & 90s. It was absolutely free form. One week I might just play field recordings I'd made of waves, birds, rivers, crickets, etc. Another week mixed classical, jazz, free improv, unreleased tracks, soundsheets, spoken word, etc. Always different, but mainly it was what I wanted to hear, & what you definitely couldn't hear on any other station in Los Angeles.

[whitefang]

Eh, the closest I came was playing "disc jockey" in the basement's "rec room" when I was a kid. I'd haul the old "portable" phonograph down and a stack of my mom's old 78s and a few 45s and have a blast fully nestled in that fantasy.

 

A lot of guys had that fantasy in their early teens, mine spurred on by seeing some kid my age on the old show "To Tell The Truth" who had his own AM radio station operating out of his house. I thought, "what a lucky kid!"

 

Back in the '70's, a local radio station (WLLZ, nicknamed itself "Wheels") had a thing going in which listeners could send in their names, and they'd be pulled out of a barrel or something, and the one who got picked would be put on the station to do an hour of whatever music they wished to play. Sadly, I sent my name in four or so times but never got picked.

 

In deferrence to Eric, there have long been college stations with the mics and turntables manned by students, likely communication majors, but nonetheless existing. Some shows were even picked up by major stations, like a show out of Ann Arbor's U of M campus called "Michigan Movin' " which featured folk music on Sunday nights. It was on premier AM Detroit station WXYZ. It ran from the mid '60's up until 1971. I was a BIG listener!

Whitefang

[Eric Iverson]

Bob Dylan had a radio show for a while back in the '90s, or so I understand. Maybe I can find a sample on the Net, come to think of it.

I would like to hear Eric Clapton or Paul McCartney do a couple, and other artists I admire - even if they didn't do it on a regular basis.

[whitefang]

ALICE COOPER had some sort of syndicated(I think) radio show that our local "classic rock" station used to broadcast in the early 2000's. They still MIGHT, I really don't tune into the station much anymore.

Whitefang

[Scott Fraser]

Steve van Zandt has (or had) a show on Sirius (I believe).

[Eric Iverson]

Then there is "American Roots", which plays a lot of classic blues and R&B with interviews with the original artists (if still alive); and Phil Schaap has a jazz show with lots of anecdotes and musical history - Phil has been doing it for 30+ years and really knows his stuff. philscaapjazz.com is anyone is interested.

I enjoy shows where artists come on the radio to play live, plus a cut from their latest CD - most of the time, anyway, LOL. Few of them are doing anything new and exciting, but that's probably just OFD (old fart's disease). Still, more power to them - at least they're entertaining somebody!

[whitefang]

There WAS a time when some artists, some new and not much heard of, and some established, recorded "live in the studio" of some radio stations. But the only one I can think of off the top of my pointed head is ELTON JOHN's "11-17-70" Which I THINK was released AFTER he made a name for himself, at least I never HEARD of, or heard it until then.

 

It was broadcast on WABC-FM on that date, and the sound engineer was none other than PHIL RAMONE! Just Elton, a drumer and a bass, it's pretty damn good. There was a small group of listeners assembled in the studio as an audience. And I think there were other artists who've done the same sort of thing, but can't name any.

Whitefang