Our friend Mr. Toast in Texas has a new online radio station -- he plays songs off of the albums that he collected (freebies from record companies) during his years as a dj. Below is what he was playing as I wrote this. He also gives a fun explanation of what being a dj was like.• DJ Tiesto - Magik Vol. 5 (Heaven Beyond) (01:13:57)
• The Trance Mix - Part 1 (01:48:25)
• Rod Stewart - Some Guys Have All The Luck (04:31)
• Devo - Whip It (with pad) (02:44)
• Depeche Mode - I Feel Loved (04:09)
Of course, it all reminded me of an Austin story (almost everything does). When I lived in Austin, one of the dj's on one of the radio stations lived under a picnic table in Pease Park (photo). It being Austin, no one thought that was especially unusual.
4 comments:
Austin does have it's share of stories.
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and, you cannot really tell the good ones online :)
In college, my buddy was the overnight DJ for an oldies station. He said the freaks definately call in during the overnight hours.
I decided to stay up all night and sit with him in the booth. He was right. A bunch of stoners seemed to be calling in requesting "Stairway to Heaven."
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in radio, the question has always been whether the "passives" (the people who never call it) want to hear the same thing as the "actives" (the people who call in) -- it's a little like blogging, do the visitors who do not comment want to read the same types of things as the people who do comment -- in both instances, the "stoners" and not nearly as scary as the "purely crazy"
When I lived in Des Moines, our statehouse correspondent lived at the radio station where I worked. There was a shower in the bathroom and he had a locker where he kept his stuff. He could sleep in the newsroom and the tv station had a cooking show so there was a kitchen. He was finally fired for sleeping in the greenroom at the statehouse. The governor came in and caught him.
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there was a law student in Austin who lived in a pickup with a camper shell on New 26th Street next to the law school -- it was assumed he showered at the gym, but he probably cooked in the camper -- who would hire a lawyer who couldn't figure out how to afford a place to live?
Anybody who was a jock during the late 70's to early 80's will confirm that "Stairway to Heaven" was legendary for being the longest song (at 8 minutes and 4 seconds) one could play if the need arose for a #2 during one's airshift. One station I worked at, however, had the foresight to install remote-start buttons for several of the cart machines in the crapper, which would allow for roughly 10-15 minutes of what was euphimistically referred to as "walk-away time". It was suggested that if you were unable to do your business within that time frame, you should consider a different career. :^)
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I assume many of the restrooms in radio stations were just one step above those at your average Shamrock station
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