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.
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.
ReplyDeleteI 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