The Fine Art Blog of Daz and Holly

 20 years ago I hosted my last FM radio show, broadcasting to the students of the W campus in Columbus Mississippi and the whole area all the way up to the air force base which was my designated destination five years earlier. 

I got my lifetime FCC license and loved playing music, taking peoples requests and forming a community. 

Back then there wasn’t a whole lot of media that was "cool" so college FM was a big deal, and while it was flattering to have "fans", it was deeply satisfying to play music that literally had no other outlet.

Today you can hear alternative, punk and rap music on commercial radio but not when I started, and while there were some angry people who stood up for the status quo, the majority of listeners were very open to hearing the things that were essentially underground.

Of course I wanted to be Dr. Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati or even a punk rock version of Alan Freed.  I also wanted to play songs by my talented friends such as Biff Brown whom I had recorded many imaginary radio shows with around his original material.

I always wanted to have my own radio station where I’d pretty much do the same thing and now technology has become cheap enough where just about anyone can.

With a little knowledge in setting up a server, several computers for various tasks and VOIP you not only can broadcast a 24/7 stream but even put people from anywhere in the world, live on the air to have them make requests and dedications, just like the dinosaur commercial stations only without any censorship.

One thing that really surprised me in 80′s was how receptive people were to music that was considered too un-popular or dangerous for commercial radio. 

These days bands such as Janes Addiction, The Smiths and even the Misfits are ‘essential’ rather than extreme, and heck, they might even be considered cheesy to the younger generation but there’s one thing that is irrefutable, when you play from the heart and have talent, all you need is for people to listen and you will make it as far as you want to go.

In some ways I am re-capturing the old glory (hell, I’m playing mostly the same bands as I did back then) and my little micro-broadcast  is not going to musically break too much new ground (but I sure will promote the local bands I know!) but it is deeply satisfying to be following the advice of people who I respect.

Thank you Maximum R&R zine, I am DIY. Thank you Jello Biafra, I did become the media. Thank you Sha Na Na, dreams do come true.

Unamed Radio is made possible by the technical genius of Scott "DJ Disaster" Tranchitella, MC Jessica and I’m the DJ called Daz.

Right now we have a FaceBook fan page linked to http://unamedradio.com for the up to date and realtime information (you can request songs there or call our local phone number to request your songs or make dedications on the air). I’ll be hosting live every saturday night from US Central time 6pm to 10pm, and most likely sundays and wednesdays at the same time too. It’s been a big success so far and we welcome you to join us!

Here is my latest oil painting in progress, speaking of music!

The Girl with the Grand Piano, oil on canvas by Darren Daz Cox

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.