ROCKOLLECTIONS: THE FALL OF FM RADIO
Oct 18, 2008 Rockollections, WLSO NEWS
Posted by
Mike Pell
CHAPTER SIX: THE FALL OF FM RADIO
Anyone who has ever listened to my show or podcast knows that I do not have any rules about what I am going to play.
Most times doing a theme, the opening or the last song comes to me, sometimes both.
After that, I think of every song I can on the topic.
Then the most important part- I play them!
And while one is playing, the song that should come next becomes apparent to me.
No other song will do.
I have spent days looking for that next song- it HAS to be that one!
Most times I find it, sometimes I have to give up and think of what might be the 2nd best song to play next.
Sort of like an artist searching for a particular color, but I am not so egotistical as to regard that as a real comparison.
Then I go to the station, and sometimes because of time, I have to cut that song from the set, lol!
But for me, that is how I play the music.
No playlist, nobody tells me what I can or can’t play.
I am very aware of how lucky I am.
However, there was a brief time when that was the accepted way of doing radio.
For example, we had two commercial free-form stations here in New York- WABC-FM/WPLJ and WNEW-FM.
At ABC/PLJ that free-form format lasted less than 3 years, 1968-71.
Scott Muni, bless him, fought the good fight at WNEW-FM from 1967, as Program Director and just because he was the way he was, for himself and all the other DJ’s, until 1981!!!
If you detect some lingering animosity and bitterness on my part, you are correct.
Now, I will go after those sleazy beancounters who changed all that.
First up, a song about a guy after my own heart, who will hang up on you if you question why after Madonna he played George Jones.
Because he WANTED to!
And notice the statio he was at is WANT…as in what the people WANT?
Then the highlight, the centerpiece of not only this chapter but the whole series.
An epic poem by the singer/songwriter Mike Agranoff- Ballad Of The Sandman.
If you have never heard it, you are in for a treat and will never forget it.
If you have heard it, it is like a fine brandy, taken out on special occassions and savored.
In any case, it captures what 1960’s radio was like better than I ever could.
It is just a BRILLIANT piece of work, and I always get a huge reaction when I play it.
I will close this episode out with a song concerning something we all have experienced; losing our favorite DJ!
They hardly ever say anything and we are reduced to searching for him or her Around The Dial.
Now in this case I will admit to some ego in the lyrics, “you never gave in to fashion, you never followed any trend”.
Yeah, that’s me- just trying to play what I think is the best music!
There’s Magic in the Radio, Enchantment in the Ether!
Come join me for a look at how good the Radio COULD be, if it would DARE!
Mike
Tags: Around The Dial, Ballad Of The Sandman, George Jones, Madonna, Mike Agranoff, Scott Muni, WABC-FM, WNEW-FM, WPLJ
October 20th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
The late great Utah Phillips played part of the Ballad of the Sandman on his show out of KVMR a few years ago but ran out of time. Glad I found it here. I do radio on KPFA and KALW in the Bay Area, where KSAN and KMPX are but a distant memory. We’re an endangered species, hunted to extinction.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Dear Kevin,
Utah Phillips eh? He died this year, right?
Always found him interesting.
Well I am glad you found The Sandman here too.
And oh man, are we an endangered species.
When I was playing Tom Petty’s Last DJ, I considered talking about what it would be like to BE the LAST one.
But I talk too much anyway, lol!
Thanks for listening and especially writing,
Mike
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
That’s the first time I’ve ever heard The Sandman. What happened to all the “sandmen”? Never mind, I know, power and greed, the same thing that ruined radio.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Let me clarify my previous post. I didn’t mean power and greed of the DJ’s. But you probably know what I meant.
October 24th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Dear Tish,
Of course I know what you mean, poor bum that I am, lol!
The first time you heard Ballad Of The Sandman, eh?
I wish I could have been with you!
But there are some of us Sandmen types still out there (I consider myself one, sorry, lol), wondering who will be the LAST one…!
Thanks for listening and all the enjoyable feedback,
Mike
April 27th, 2009 at 12:21 am
[…] the new. A great exclamation of this type of radio can be found in detail on Mike Pell’s ROCKOLLECTIONS: THE FALL OF FM RADIO Chapter 6. You can find that show with the others from The October Archives. You gotta listen to […]
April 27th, 2009 at 12:21 am
[…] the new. A great exclamation of this type of radio can be found in detail on Mike Pell’s ROCKOLLECTIONS: THE FALL OF FM RADIO Chapter 6. You can find that show with the others from The October Archives. You gotta listen to […]