Radio Radio
Radio is a sound salvation
Radio speaks to us, whispers to us, transforms us, awakens us. We are alone at night and radio is our companion. But most radio stations are owned by big corporations, they are managed, homogenized, distorted from the true intent of freedom of the airwaves.
photo credit: MEDIODESCOCIDO
Elvis Costello's song Radio Radio is a scream against homogenization and control, a hymn to the power of song, a cry of rage and power. It is most famous for causing Costello to be banned from Saturday Night Live in 1977 (a ban lifted in 1989). Costello wanted to play Radio Radio on his guest appearance, but he was told to play the more familiar Less Than Zero. After the opening chords of Less Than Zero, he yelled, "Stop! Stop!" and led his band in Radio Radio instead.
I wanna bite the hand that feeds me
I wanna bite that hand so badly.
Rebellion against the corporate masters. Banned from SNL, somehow his career survived.
Dar Williams is a very different artist, but she, too, has written about radio. In Are You Out There, she sings in the voice of an isolated and confused teen who finds companionship and understanding in the voices of late night radio DJs.
No one knows the truth, there is no future here
And you're the DJ, speaks to my insomnia
And laughs at all I had to fear.
In the song, the unnamed protagonist, full of self-consciousness after her first all-night party, turns on the radio for comfort but someone else, not her usual DJ, is on, and she feels like she's being told she's no good.
The song speaks powerfully of the way that radio can become a presence in our lives. We feel we know the disc jockeys who speak to us in the night, even though most of them no longer play discs, even though most of them are no longer "jockeys"—they're not actually driving. They're not "playing" the songs on corporate radio, which is fully pre-programmed and computerized, they're "on-air personalities." We listen to their voices and we enjoy their presence (it is to be hoped) but in fact, they don't play music.
There are still a few true jockeys. They're found on college radio, on independent radio, on livestreams and podcasts. There are even still a few voices, so popular, so revered, that they are allowed to do their own shows on big, mainstream non-corporate (college or NPR) radio stations. For example, Vin Scelsa is a legend of New York radio, his freeform show "Idiot's Delight" combines music of a wide range of genres and styles with lengthy interviews, such as with author Pete Hamill, a frequent guest. "Idiot's Delight" would start on time but end whenever Vin felt it should, sometime between 2 and 3am was the norm. He was able to spin his freeform style on corporate radio in the 1970s through the end of 2000, a remarkable achievement in an increasingly controlled industry. Today he is on WFUV (Fordham University's radio station in New York City).