Long gone, but not forgotten station "The Quake"

I am a college and community radio loyalist and these days I never listen to commercial radio unless someone else has put it on and I have no way to control the radio (during cab rides, in doctor’s office waiting rooms, and perhaps via cheesy hold button music, etc.).

Since coming up with a list of my favorite commercial radio stations is VERY difficult for me, I’ve had to turn to the last commercial radio station that I can proudly declare myself to have been a fan of: KQAK-FM out of San Francisco in the 1980s.

I’ve heard that people are most passionate about the music of their youth and that many never get past that period musically, becoming permanently stuck in the sounds of their teen years. Well, for me, I was a teenager smack dab in the 1980s and my favorite commercial station helped me transition from the heavier rock sounds that I listened to in the late 1970s (on KSJO and KOME) to the emerging new wave sounds of the 1980s.

“The Quake” was on the air from 1982 to 1985 and is most known for its “Rock of the ’80s” format (which they launched in April 1983 after an initial stint as an album rock station). The station went off the air in June 1985, just a few months before I headed off to college. Many of us were saddened about its demise and tearfully sat by our stereos tape recording its final hours of programming. Somewhere in a shoebox is my tape of the last hours of The Quake and tidbits from recordings by others can be found online.

The station played a mix of new wave, punk, rock, reggae, ska, pop and goth sounds. On “The Quake” I heard bands like Depeche Mode, Book of Love, Strawberry Switchblade, X, The Cure, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, and Siouxsie and the Banshees for the first time.

I also enjoyed Alex Bennett’s morning show (take a listen to his first show on The Quake here) and found him to be much more entertaining and intelligent than his counterparts on other stations. He also introduced me to the Bay Area comedy scene, with his multitude of guests.

Quake DJs in general were a lot of fun, from the comedic Tim Bedore (with his segments like “The Bible According to Tim”) to the approachable, music-loving Big Rick Stuart. On his website, Rick Stuart shares some memories about The Quake, including the program director’s philosophy about adding music to the station. Rick writes, “I would sit in with Oz sometimes at music meetings and he would add weekly current songs with a nice theory. One for the boys, one for the girls, one for the older rock fans, and sometimes a weird song.”

For me, one of the lasting influences of the Quake was that it brought me to college radio. It opened my ears to a wider range of sounds and when it ceased broadcasting in June 1985 I switched my listening to the left side of the dial, becoming a college radio fan. I discovered all of the amazing stations at colleges south of San Francisco and started listening to KFJC, KZSU, KSJS, and KSCU. A few months later I was off to college near Philadelphia and became a fan of the student stations at University of Pennsylvania (WXPN) and Drexel (WKDU) and started DJing at my campus station WHRC.

Another “modern rock” station, Live 105, appeared on the commercial radio scene in San Francisco in 1986. Attempting to replicate some of The Quake’s adventurous programming, Live 105 caught my attention periodically from about 1989 to 1995 (when I couldn’t get college radio reception in my San Francisco apartment). But, my heart still belonged to the long-departed Quake and increasingly to college radio.

KUSF Offices

For me, the main reason that I’m so addicted to doing a radio show week after week is the music. I’m interested in new, independent, underground, and underexposed sounds and artists and the easiest way for me to get access to this music is by volunteering at a college radio station.

I’m lucky that at my station, KFJC, we add as many as 40 items to our library every week. The music that KFJC adds isn’t necessarily new, often the Music Director is adding things that are decades old that may not have gotten much exposure when they were initially released.

Even though I’m at a station with a  massive record library and am exposed to new sounds every week; I still get the chills when I hear an amazing artist on the radio who I have never heard before.

For my #1 Top Radio Show I have to give credit to a college radio DJ at University of San Francisco station KUSF: DJ Schmeejay, the host of Radiodrome every Tuesday morning from 9am to noon. On several occasions while listening to his show, I’ve had to pick up the phone and call to find out more information about the incredible music that I was hearing. A few of the artists that he’s helped me to discover are Vashti Bunyan and Virginia Astley, two women producing ethereal sounds with folk and psychedelic influences.

KUSF

I remember calling to find out about Virginia Astley and he told me that it was a hard-to-find release that he’d picked up at a KUSF Record Swap. Probably that very night I headed up to KFJC and found numerous Virginia Astley LPs in the library and learned that may of them hadn’t been played in over a decade. So I played her music on my show as well, exposing more listeners to the treat that I’d heard on a fellow college station.

What I like about DJ Schmeejay’s show is that he crafts interesting sets of music, with a mix of new and old across a range of genres that make sense sonically. You might hear lovely folky sounds from the 1960s, beautiful atmospherics from the 1980s, or a seriously old school Jimmy Durante piece.

I talked to DJ Schmeejay over email about his nearly 7-year-run hosting Radiodrome and he shared with me some of his thought process behind the program and also how his role as one of the Music Directors at KUSF leads to some interesting finds. Here’s a bit of our conversation:

Jennifer: What’s the basic format/flow of your show and how do you prepare each week?

DJ Schmeejay: “Visceral, cinematic radio” is what I like to call it – psychedelic music, that is, if you consider flapper-jazz and contemporary minimalism psychedelic – which you should!

I love pop, acid rock, barbershop music, polka, noise, grime and Jimmy Durante. I like to celebrate birthdays that might otherwise fall through the cracks each week on my program and I do quite a bit of research for that. Last week we celebrated Alice Babs, Paul Pena and Eartha Kitt.

My “The Joyful Noise” and “The Best Album in the World, Ever” segments are always fun. I want my show to introduce and induce at the same time – but first and foremost, it’s gotta be fun. And it often is, you can hear me laughing a lot on the air – I’m having a blast.

Jennifer: How does being one of the Music Directors at KUSF influence your show?

DJ Schmeejay: Being an MD means I’m exposed to a lot more music than the average DJ each week. This can often be a good thing, but it can also be really exhausting. I’m very lucky to be able to grab an unmarked CDR some unknown has sent us with some crazy free-jazz sax and drums and bird sounds and put it into rotation as I did last week (Zach Kouns).

Jennifer: Did you do radio before KUSF? Where?

DJ Schmeejay: I did a little radio in the 80s at a small college station in Wisconsin.

Jennifer: What do you love about doing radio?

DJ Schmeejay: I love doing my show every week. I love that the show has reached people of all ages and geographies. The internet has made the radio dial so huge, it’s just amazing. Hearing from listeners in New Zealand or Italy or Holland or St Louis each week is a gas – it never ceases to thrill me.

I’ve been an avid record collector for over 30 years now, and having a chance to get some of these recordings out of the house and let them breathe a little is one of the things that I love about being at KUSF.

When someone calls and says they had to pull the car over because they haven’t heard some particular song for years and are having a memory-moment, I know I’m doing my job.

Jennifer: Anything else?

DJ Schmeejay:  I’m also a co-producer of “The Classical Salon” our 3 hour Saturday night classical show, where I play only early music and contemporary composers, with nothing in between. KUSF offers such varied programming, I’m trying to get involved in as much as I have energy for while I’m here.

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KUSF now offers online archives of recent radio shows, so you can catch DJ Schmeejay’s show from this week, in which he threw Eartha Kitt, Felt, and Aztec Camera into the mix.

Even though I’m giving this #1 slot to Schmeejay, there are lots of other college and community radio shows with skillful DJs who have talented ears for music. Don’t be afraid to seek out the stations in your town or take a listen to some of the following:

The Brian Turner Show: Airs on community radio station WFMU-FM in New Jersey on Tuesdays from 3-6pm Eastern time. Archives also available on their website. A wide range of sounds from heavy stuff to pop, live performances and interviews (including Yoko Ono in a few weeks!).

DJ Pop Tart “The Pop Tart Show”: We were actually both DJs in the 1990s at WBGU in Bowling Green, Ohio and I always dug Pop Tart’s infusion of girl energy into her playlists. Now she’s in New Orleans at the Tulane University radio station WTUL with a show on Friday mornings from 8 to 10am Central Time. On her show you’ll hear a range of ladies, from the Japanese band OOIOO to Ellie Fitzgerald to hipster folkies like Julie Doiron. You might also hear some dudes, ranging from Tom Waits to Robyn Hitchcock to the Beastie Boys.

DJ Hallogallo’s “Infinite Eargasm“: His show airs on the online-only community radio station East Village Radio on Thursday afternoons from 2-4pm Eastern time. You’ll hear Neu, maybe Negativland, retro sounds by perhaps Elvis Presley or Dusty Springfield, and newer artists like Julianna Barwick and !!!.

KZYX- Home of "Trading Time"

One of terrestrial radio’s many benefits is that is has the capacity to be a resource for the local listening community. Since in recent years there has been less and less local content on commercial stations, there’s a great opportunity for college and community radio stations to put even more emphasis on the needs of the listening audience in one’s backyard.

My all-time favorite local radio show is on the community radio station KZYX in Philo, California. “Trading Time” is call-in swap show (airing every Saturday morning from 11am to noon) that allows people in Mendocino County to advertise goods for sale, rides needed, or items that they are looking for. It’s like a community bulletin board on the radio (or a live version of Craigslist).

The folksy hosts of “Trading Time” introduce callers, repeat details about the various items for sale, and read off emails and snail mail-delivered listings that have come in from other neighbors. Although on the surface listening to a bunch of people calling in with items to sell or trade might sound mundane, there’s something about the show that is riveting. It provides a real slice of life for the local community and you get to hear a cross-section of folks sharing news of what their current list of cast-offs might be.

Scenery near Philo

Someone might call in offering an old truck. Another caller could be seeking a ride to San Francisco. And yet another might be looking for a couch. In addition to calling in live during the show, members of the community can also submit their listings of items they’d like to buy, sell, trade or barter to the station by snail mail or by using an online submission form.

If you don’t live near Philo, similar shows air all over the country, including the following:

KSCJ 1360 AM in Sioux City, Iowa:  KSCJ Swap Shop is on the air Saturdays and Sundays

WJXR 92.1 FM in Jacksonville, Florida : Swap Shop airs Monday through Saturday mornings

Mid Kansas Radio in McPherson, Kansas: Swap Shop airs daily. You can also check out some of the daily listings on their website. Today they’ve got free puppies and someone is looking for a lava lamp.

WGNS Talk Radio in Murfreesboro, Tennessee : Swap ‘n Shop has been on the air since 1947! Some of the latest listings include hay, pit bull puppies, and a “wheel barrel” for sale and someone who is looking for help fixing their “fridge.”

KGAS in Carthage, Texas: KGAS Radio Swap Shop is on the air weekday mornings. Callers can list up to 4 items in 30 seconds. No firearms allowed and only clean and sanitized mattresses.

Skulltime for Kids Pirate Shirt

Debuting back in 1987, way before pirates were ever deemed cool and a full 8 years before “Talk Like a Pirate Day” was ever conceptualized, Skulltime for Kids hit the airwaves of Foothill College radio station KFJC 89.7 FM in Los Altos Hills, California.

Captain Jack, the creator of the show, told me that the original idea for the program was born during a graveyard shift that he did with a fellow DJ in which they pretended to be pirates. He said that those initial late night shows were hilarious and that other station staff members encouraged him to base a show around that concept.

So, in 1987 Skulltime for Kids began as a Wednesday afternoon “children’s show,” hosted by the pirate Captain Jack.

The early years were a solo operation, with Captain Jack playing children’s records and spinning tales about his pirate life. He always alluded to a character called Skully, who was the “phantom bartender on Skull Island,” but it wasn’t until 1992 that another DJ offered to join the show in order to bring Skully to life. By 1996 or 1997 Skully was a regular fixture on Skulltime for Kids and around that time I started listening to the show (and joined the staff of KFJC).

There are a lot of things to love about Skulltime for Kids. There’s always plenty of banter about pop culture and music trivia and over the years I’ve found the show to be the “go to” place for news about dead celebrities, as they do rousing tributes to recently departed pop culture fixtures. Both Captain Jack and Skully are also thrift store junkies, so they often play amazing vintage children’s records with songs and stories from the past.

Various other station members (and even visiting musician Will Oldham) have come on the show playing a number of characters, from Bubba (voiced by former Music Director Ken “Spiderman” Hamilton), to the Sea Hag, to Crow’s Next Willy (Will Oldham’s alter ego).

When I talked to Captain Jack and Skully about some of their favorite moments from the show, they both shared with me the fun they had in crafting a 9-week-long “Skull Island Saga,” in which they revealed an elaborate backstory about how Skully used to own Skull Island. Skully told me, “we were trying to get Skull Island back…and then Bubba came in…He’s a Budweiser truck driver…and he ends up saving the world.” Apparently the ongoing drama included cliffhangers and a helium balloon sent up to save people.

Captain Jack told me that one of the other central characters on Skull Island was the Blood Ape, “a fabled experimental musician.” He said that they actually made a Blood Ape demo that was made available to lucky listeners.

Surprisingly, the majority of what happens on Skulltime for Kids is not scripted and just occurs in the moment as improvisation. Since it’s an afternoon show, there are some children who do listen to the show, although Captain Jack and Skully point out that some of the content is a bit “over the line” for kids. The talk can get saucy, but it’s all veiled under clean language and tempered by pirate voices. Like crotchety old punk rockers, they talk about the good old days, music, heroes from the past, and their dreams for the future. Throw an old Disney record or two into the mix, and it’s pure genius.

You can listen to Skulltime for Kids on Wednesday afternoons from 5 to 6pm Pacific on KFJC 89.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or online from anywhere in the world.

Dr. Demento (image from www.drdemento.com)

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Dr. Demento show began in 1970 on Los Angeles freeform station KPPC as a “rarities” show.

By 1974 the popular radio program, which specializes in a mix of music and comedy, moved into syndication all over the country.

Hosted by former college radio DJ (at the Reed College station), music historian, and record executive Barret Hansen (aka Dr. Demento); the show has celebrated not only novelty recordings, but also rare musical and comedic gems.

When I was a kid my sister and I used to spend hours and hours listening to the Dr. Demento show, cracking up over the silly comedic songs that were aimed at just our level of maturity.

The program’s bread and butter is both novelty songs like “Fish Heads” and full-on parodies of popular hits by Weird Al Yankovic. To this day, I am always reminded of “Another One Rides the Bus” when I hear “Another One Bites the Dust” and I smile when thinking of Weird Al’s “Eat It” (and its accompanying video) which pokes fun of the Michael Jackson hit “Beat it.”

But, probably more important for me, is that the Dr. Demento show was the first show that inspired me to “play DJ.” My sister and I would not only listen to the show together, but we would also pretend to do radio shows modelled after Dr. Demento using my portable tape recorder.

Somehow the personality of Dr. Demento invited us into that radio world and gave us the idea that radio might be fun. Although my actual radio shows bear zero resemblance to the antics of Dr. Demento, his program still holds a place in my heart for showing me the joyful aspects of radio. And, clearly, Dr. Demento is still having a ball with the show. A scan of some of his recent playlists reveals that he’s been keeping things interesting by doing theme-based shows, including a whole set of vegetable songs last week and a bunch of “I Want” songs on his January 10th program.

You can listen to archives of the Dr. Demento show online, catch it on a handful of terrestrial stations, or purchase any number of Dr. Demento collections or oddities on his website.

P.S. Another Dr. Demento-esque show worth checking out is the Uncle Al Show on Sundays from noon to 3pm Pacific time on KFJC 89.7 FM (yes, the station where I DJ too). Like Dr. Demento, he plays a selection of comedy, novelty songs, and retro music from the “Hippy’s Graveyard.”

The Shadow Radio Drama

In sharing my list of my 5 favorite radio programs, I’m going to be mixing it up a bit by offering up some selections from both my past and present. So, I thought I’d begin with some of the earliest radio that I remember listening to. I’m pretty much a non-commercial radio loyalist these days, but like most people my early years of radio listening tended to happen on the commercial slice of the dial.

I have vivid early childhood memories in which I’m in my bedroom late at night, with the lights off listening to the radio drama “The Shadow.” I can’t remember the station that aired this, but chances are that it was a San Francisco-based AM radio station (most likely KSFO).

Listening to these suspense-filled shows as I nodded off to sleep as a small child not only was one of my first introductions to the concept of radio as a companion; but was also the first step in my eventual embrace of horror fiction. Listening to “The Shadow” probably paved the way for me reading creepy Stephen King stories by the age of 11.

These days radio dramas are few and far between, but you can catch archives of “The Shadow” and various other vintage dramas online and over some terrestrial stations. Here are a few suggestions of both classic and contemporary radio dramas:

The Shadow (classic episodes): Here’s a collection on PirateTV Theater. Episodes can also be purchased on CD and heard on various syndicated shows featuring old time radio.

Radio Drama Revivial: Airing on community radio station WMPG-FM in Portland, Maine (and via podcast), this show highlights contemporary radio drama, some vintage material (dating back to the 1980s), as well as reworkings of old-time shows.

Twilight Zone Radio Dramas: These contemporary radio dramas came to the airwaves and satellite radio in 2002. Check this list to see if your local stations may be airing these. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, KNEW broadcasts Twilight Zone radio from midnight to 2am on Sunday mornings.

Old Time Radio Drama: Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) airs old time radio drama from the 1930s to 1950s every Saturday and Sunday night from 8 to 11pm Central time.

Unshackled!: Apparently the longest running radio drama, the religious-themed “Unshackled!” has been produced by Chicago’s Pacific Garden Mission since 1950. It can be heard on more than 1800 terrestrial stations all over the world and has even been translated into Arabic, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, Russian, Romanian, and Korean.

Northwestern University Radio Drama (N.U.R.D): Airing on college radio station WNUR, N.U.R.D. produces radio drama every week using both new and vintage scripts from Northwestern University students. The show airs on Sunday afternoons at 5:30pm Central time on WNUR in Chicago (and via podcast) and you can catch a selection of archived shows here.

So, beginning this month each of us will run down our own personal Top 5 of something radio-related. For January that Top 5 will be our favorite radio programs. These programs can be local or syndicated, commercial or noncommercial. But what joins them is that each of us thinks they’re amongst the best that broadcast radio has to offer. We’ll be counting down our Top 5 radio programs beginning this coming Monday, January 25.

We’ll share our Top 5s the last week of every month. We also hope that you’ll share your responses to our picks, along with posting your own favorites in the comments.

We’re also interested in your suggestions for future Top 5 countdowns. If you have an idea post it as a comment or drop us an email to editors@radiosurvivor.com.