OUR STORY SO FAR: More than six years after the end of our short-lived 1992 radio series We're Your Friends For Now, Dana & Carl were back, courtesy of Syracuse Community Radio. The new station was WXXE-FM in Fenner/Syracuse, and the show was called This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio.
December 27th, 1998, approximately three minutes and fifty-three seconds after 9 pm Eastern time. The intro spin of our theme song "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" by The Ramones concluded:
This is rock 'n' roll radio. Stay tuned for more rock 'n' roll....
And we were on the air.
"This is The Double X, and this is indeed Rock 'n' Roll Radio. And if you disagree, well there's something wrong with you then, now isn't there? This is the Dana & Carl show. I'm Carl."
"And I'm Dana."
"And This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio. Welcome friends to the origin show, who we am and how we came to be. We're gonna be playing for the next three hours or so little selections from Dana's collection and my collection. The way it works is pretty simple, but take notes just in case there's a quiz later on. I'm gonna play a record, then Dana's gonna play a record...."
"I better play a record. Because if I don't get to play a record, I'm gonna be very, very angry."
"Dana, you can play... It's fine with me if you wanna play records, 'cause I'm afraid of you. I'm gonna play...."
"Well, that's the way it it should be."
"Hi, this is The Double X...oh, we're past that part already. And then, y'know, before we know it, we'll be three hours older, no wiser, and, like, worthless. Let's get right under way. We're gonna start things the way we like to do it, with a shot of local music circa I think 1979 or so. This was an all-female group called The Poptarts, who should have been The Go-Go's, but they broke up and then The Go-Go's became The Go-Go's. This is a track called "I Won't Let You Let Me Go," from The Poptarts on the big Double X."
Go!
The Poptarts. Shonen Knife. The Monkees. John Lennon. The Raves. Cake Like. Go! Our first set done! The second set commenced with TIRnRR's first miscue, as we meant to play "Pressure Drop" by Toots & the Maytal and I accidentally selected Toots' cover of John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" Instead." Oops. This would be our first of many, many in-studio errors over the next two decades. It makes us seem more human, I think.
After the introductory six-song set, we switched to a format of ten-song sets. Let 'em fly! Toots, The Donnas, The Dickies, The Muffs (twice!), The 'B'-Girls, Mary Lou Lord, BMX Bandits, House Of Love, Benny Spellman, Supergrass, The Flashcubes, Cockeyed Ghost, The Jellybricks, Ming Tea, The Plimsouls, Matthew Sweet, The Rare Breed, The Bevis Frond, The Dukes Of Stratosphear, Tommy Roe, The Richards, The Pixies, Frank Gorshin, Droge C69 (from the soundtrack of Vampyros Lesbos), Arthur Alexander, The Beach Boys (two in a row, "Don't Worry Baby" and "'Til I Die"), The Beatles, Myracle Brah, Big Star, The Experiments, The Undertones, Sonic Youth, The Creation, The Basement Wall.
That's all we know for sure about TIRnRR # 1. I'm pretty confident we also played "See You Tonite" by Gene Simmons. We didn't think to keep a copy of the playlist. We either didn't think or weren't able to record the show on cassette, but someone else at the studio--probably either Frederic Noyes or Danny Danhauser--had the foresight to pop in a blank mini-disc and preserve these shenanigans for posterity. The mini-disc captured all but the last thirty-five minutes of the show, and that mini-disc is the only surviving document of what we played on our debut. We didn't even know it was being recorded. When I found out, I was delighted, and I purchased that little mini-disc from the station, just to make sure I'd have something to keep for the archives. I didn't even own a mini-disc player yet. That would come soon enough.
It's been a few years since I listened to that first show. I recall we were still gawky and tentative, yet absolutely certain that we were doing the right thing, playing the right records, creating the right radio show. A week later, we began TIRnRR # 2 with Squeeze and Lyres, and bopped from that point forward. Within a day or two after the second show, I had the bright idea of sharing the playlist via email. I had some (very) small notoriety in underground pop circles, thanks to my work in Goldmine and my active on-line presence in pop discussion groups; why not tell folks about this cool new radio show Dana and I were doing? This simple notion allowed us to spread our goofy and informal manifesto far beyond The Double X's modest signal range.
That would turn out to be important for us in the long run. While WXXE-FM could initially be heard on the air in Syracuse, a new and stronger competing signal from a different station would bring an end to that almost immediately. Before long, we were just broadcasting to the cows out in Fenner. The playlist emails at least allowed us to provide a virtual listening experience, as fans around the country and around the world marveled at the sheer snap of our selections. Reading our playlists from his home in Los Angeles, musician and Permanent Press Recordings label owner Ray Paul wrote to us: "I live in the world's biggest media hub, and there's no around here doing anything like what you guys do for three hours every single week." Thanks, Ray!
So there was an audience for us, out there, somewhere. They just couldn't hear us. Nobody could hear us. There had to be a way to remedy that.
WHEN BOPPIN' THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' PLANET RETURNS: Sound Of The Radio
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Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. A digital download version (minus The Smithereens' track) is also available from Futureman Records.
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