The year was 1997…
In the years that I called college, I was a bright and cheerful young man… and not the weathered old salt that lies here before you. I was awesome, frankly. And being awesome, I certainly didn’t need to do stuff like, oh, go to all of my classes, study or display any manner of professionalism once so ever. I could do damn well what I pleased and at college there are more than enough opportunities to do whatever that damn well is, like joining the Army or plunging neck-deep into crippling credit card debt. Luckily I chose neither of those, but I did very much enjoy music, technology and (perhaps my greatest trait) making an ass of myself in a public manner. Now, where could a young ebullient man like me-in-the-past go to do that while at University? Oh yes, that’s right… THE CAMPUS RADIO STATION!
An aside: I love radio and technology, largely due to two friends of mine, Matt and Jason Chanda. Jason (the older of the two) was into computers and Matt went that way as well, having a computer long before I had my own. Matt was the first guy I knew with a modem and a connection to the Internet, way back in ’93! Jason worked at Radio Shack, back when they, you know, sold radios, built his own mini-studio in his bedroom, made his own antennas and radio gear and generally was a handy guy to have around if you wanted to raise some techie hell. They also introduced me to the 1990 film Pump Up the Volume with Christian Slater. Young boy moves to new town, gets bored, sets up pirate radio station in his bedroom. I loved it. Probing that great wireless unknown, sending out your signal to those who were listening. It did and still does fascinate me.
I attended the University of Louisville from 1996-2000, and the UofL Belknap campus sported WLCV, Louisville’s Campus Voice, 570/1590 on your AM dial. Yes, good old tired AM. Then a grinding vortex of talk radio poobahs and unlistened-to visitor information on the highway and now… well, the same, but even sadder. So the story goes, WLCV tried to get an FM license for low power, but by the time the FCC was ready to give it out, those who had applied for it were long gone, and they gave it to WLOU, the now PRP owned classical music station. And, to make matters worse and the tale I tell all the more pathetic, the AM transmitter we were using wasn’t exactly functional. The only place to hear us was directly outside our tiny study via a Public Address system in the Student Activities Center, right across from Uncle Chen’s Chinese. We didn’t even have control over the volume of the PA. I still have my WLCV t-shirt that says “If you can hear us, you’re standing too close”.
The mascot on the shirt? An angry squirrel (I assume albino) hoisting a frothy beer mug giving a thumbs up. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about WLCV – drunk, angry and resigned to its fate as second-class institution on campus that subsisted off of peanuts. Rules were lax, there were occassional memos like “play the playlist and log it!”, but ultimately all that stuff was ignored and people came and did as they wanted. The “studio” such as it was an oddly-shaped glass-walled place in the lower level of the UofL SAC. It was filled with the relics of past DJs, promotional trash, signed posters and LPs, and just a ton of college music. We had racks of CDs, crates of vinyl, a mixing board, some mics, CD and tapes decks and two in-decent-shape Technics SL-1200 wheels of steel. In short, everything I could possibly ever dream of to recreate my Pump Up the Volume dreams.
I did the lone jock thing for a while, kicking out the assorted jams that I wanted to hear, attempting (in vain) for someone to please call up the studio and request a song (this never, ever happened). But I needed something more, some sort of straw to stir the drink that was that whole radio experience. That man, that catalyst, dare I say it was none other than Hunter Dixon. The extent of our radio experience prior to this had been recording tapes of us reading X-Men comics and various low-brow skits. Hunter and I entered the booth and things went immediately to LUDICROUS SPEED. The first few of these shows were lost into the ether, but soon we realized our own genius and we began taping our 90 minute shows. The rest is history…
So, sit back, relax, and enjoy Episode 1 of a 5 episode series.
Finally, I will say this before you even listen: Who do you think you are, judging me?*
Hunter & Ben’s Radio Fun-time, Episode 1, November 1997
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* Seriously, I was 19 or 20 and thought no one could hear me. What did you think I was going to do? Play it clean like Bob Newhart in the 60s? Oh no, not at all. I didn’t even know Bob Newhart did stand-up in the 60s until well into the 2000s. Also, Hunter is the potty mouth, he made me do most of that stuff. Total Svengali sorta thing. As an upside, he did keep the show running pretty well, so instead of me just groaning ‘uuuuhhhhhh’ into the mic, we actually played music.