Mark
CreativeMountainGames.com
Joshua Dyal said:
Around the time we were upgrading Studio A at WZRD here in gritty Chicago, I picked up a side job with my buddy John (who worked for MidRes) revamping the heating and cooling system for Wax Trax on Damen (the place they moved after Colorado. ( http://www.discogs.com/label/Wax+Trax!+Records )
Here's an article ( http://www.horizonmag.com/10/wzrd.asp ) that was written, I'm guessing, in the late 90's or so. My own stint as Station Manager of WZRD was in the 80's (a manager or two before Yadede, mentioned in the article, took over). It's a pretty good article and I'm proud to say that I took my turn behind the mike and helped to secure the funds that seriously upgraded the equipment for the station. WZRD was always a primary force in alternative music in Chicago (and by "alternative" I mean in its usage before "the Alternative Rock movement" coopted the term).
Through the early phases described above, when other radio stations (in Chicago, anyway) wouldn't touch most of what was on the Wax Trax label, it was being pumped out on the north side of Chi-town with a booming 10 watts of power!
But that was the mission statement on which our FCC licensing was based; we were required by law to play what no one else would play and not to "block program". It was a very cool way to run a radio station.Although I had started as a deejay, my later work as SM didn't allow me the luxury of a regular slot. However, I would often wind up filling in when one student or another missed their slot. Or I'd wind up late night on a holiday covering some time because we were also required to be on the air a certain number of hours per day/week and were sometimes coming up close to short because many of the students would be gone over a holiday or during the summer.
I remember one X-Mas Eve staring off an eight hour over night shift (so we wouldn't get fined) with Blue Christmas and going through the stacks playing Blues, anything with the word "blue" in it, and blue humor (which I had to censor myself on the fly, since it would make much sense to avoid one fine only to garner another
).As I recall, one of the staunchest Industrial jays at that time was Kurt Pipenburg (sp?). I seem to remember that he was also a part of a group that were known around the station as The Noise Boys, because of their affection for playing nothing but white noise for long periods of time.
Another deejay from that period, Tom Pazen, I think still spins at some clubs around the city. He was a lot more into early club music back then, but as I said the station played a lot of genres that weren't on other stations.
Joe Garza was one of the primary punk jays. It's odd this thread was started because I was just thinking of Garza. Someone with his name (I hope not him) was just mentioned on the news over the weekend as being picked up for murder. I didn't know Joe all that well but he seemed OK back then.
Some of my regular favorites to play back then (not all industrial) were Lydia Lunch, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle, Skinny Puppy, Naked Raygun, Front 242, Ministry, Black Flagg, Minor Threat, Misfits, the Defoliants (bass player Chuck Uchida was a deejay back then), among others.
Anyway, I ramble. Lots of fun back in those days and my musical tastes still run that way some days though most of the time I prefer classical while I'm writing because it is less distracting to me. I suppose I might count somewhat as "old skool" when it comes to some of that music from way back then.
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