BOPPIN' THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' PLANET: An Interview About THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO

Power pop pundit Aaron Kupferberg (mighty curator of Powerpopaholic and The Power Pop Hall Of Fame) is writing a book about the power of pop. That oughtta be good, and we'll hear more about that project as its own jangle 'n' buzz percolates along. In the mean time, Aaron wanted to talk with me about power pop radio. The result appears below.



1.Tell me about your radio program and why you play Power Pop?

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl grew out of what my co-host Dana Bonn calls "The Joy Of Radio." As listeners, as rock 'n' roll fans, radio was so important to us. When I was growing up in the '60s and '70s, my head was practically stapled to AM Top 40 radio in Syracuse, and that formed my idea of what rock 'n' roll radio could be. Dana's revelations came from Syracuse University's (then) left-of-the-dial free-form WAER-FM. I soured on Top 40 by the time I graduated from high school in 1977, but I maintained the same expectations of radio's potential even as I switched allegiance to FM.

The first Dana & Carl radio shows began in 1992 under the title We're Your Friends For Now. The station itself lasted less than six months after we signed on, but we admit no culpability in its demise. The show was Dana's idea; we'd met in the late '80s, we were both Beatles and punk rock fans, record collectors, and we agreed that a three-hour radio show with us just taking turns playing songs we liked would be compelling, fun, and possibly even qualify as community service if we ever got in trouble with the law. In theory.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio commenced on December 27th, 1998. More than twenty years later, we're still in our same Sunday night 9 to Midnight Eastern slot, now heard on SPARK! WSPJ-LP 103.3 and 93.7 FM in Syracuse, sparksyracuse.org on the web. It's not much different from what we started doing in 1992: I play a record, Dana plays a record, and so it goes.

TIRnRR is nominally a power pop format, but that's just a convenient marketing phrase in our case. As a pop journalist, I have a definite idea of what I think power pop means, and we color outside those lines more often than we stay within them. But power pop is still at the core of our show, even as we supplement our Ramones, Big Star, and Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse The Flashcubes with Aretha Franklin, Buck Owens, and The Velvet Underground. The old slogan for Titan Records said it best: It's ALL pop!
2.What is the most challenging part of your operation?

Staying on the air. We're a community radio station, perpetually cash-strapped, using rickety equipment that would cause even MacGyver to turn up his nose and say, "I can't work with that!" Technical issues are a constant source of frustration.

Otherwise, doing the show itself is easy. What could be easier than playing great records for three hours? That part of the show just about takes care of itself.
3. Who would be a "dream guest" to have on your show?

Guests are a relative rarity for us. Paul McCartney? Micky Dolenz?

4. What was your favorite radio station growing up? Favorite jock(s)?

WOLF-AM in Syracuse, though I also listened to WNDR-AM, and loved 'em both. I'm not sure that I had a favorite jock at the time; I remember citing WOLF's Howie Castle when a teacher asked students that question when I was in middle school (or maybe high school). In the early and mid '70s, WOLF and NDR were playing Sweet, Badfinger, The Miracles, Rufus, Alice Cooper, Slade, The Isley Brothers, Johnny Nash, The Hollies, plus Chuck Berry. How could I not fall in love with all of that? By my senior year in high school, WOUR-FM in nearby Utica seduced me with the sounds of The Rubinoos, Graham Parker, The Kinks, Greg Kihn, Michael Nesmith, even The Sex Pistols, plus an absolutely killer Friday night oldies show, with The Beau Brummels and The Yardbirds.

One of the best radio stations I ever heard was WBNY-FM in Buffalo in the mid '80s. BNY is the student-run station at Buffalo State college, and its "New Music Radio" format was developed by Tom Calderone, who went on to significant success with MTV, VH1, and Spotify. Calderone's format allowed the student jocks to express themselves within an established framework, to learn how to do professional radio while still retaining personality, while still playing music they might actually like. Calderone's success with WBNY proves that college radio doesn't have to be a boring, predictable cookie-cutter, that students can learn the business and the technique without having to sound like every mundane mainstream commercial...thing monopolizing the airwaves. My favorite WBNY jocks were Cal Zone (Down At Lulu's) and Tina Peel (Hullabaloo au Go-Go).

In Syracuse, the gold standard for radio personalities is Dave Frisina, who was on 95X from 1978 to 2003, then with TK99 until 2012, and running The Rebel since then. Soundcheck, Dave's spotlight on Syracuse musicians, has been a Sunday night fixture in each of his radio homes since 1979; on The Rebel, Dave's weekly Soulshine has been one of the most refreshingly eclectic shows on commercial radio anywhere. Dana and I are also big fans of The Wax Museum With Ronnie Dark, which airs Sunday nights opposite TIRnRR over on WVOA.
5. What kind of social media responsibilities do you have?

On Facebook, we have a chat group called TIR'N'RR, and Dana and I are able to interact with listeners in real time as the show plays. Our weekly playlists have been sent out via email since early 1999, usually with additional commentary from me. When I began my daily blog Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) in 2016, the playlists also became a weekly fixture there.

Social media has been a boon for us. It's given us an opportunity to connect with pop fans around the world, and it led to the specific circumstances that enabled us to create and release four fantastic This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation CDs. In late 2006, when budget shortfalls forced our station to plan cancelling our webcast (which would have effectively meant the end of TIRnRR), our fans and listeners stepped up big time, donating money that allowed us to continue. If not for that level of support, we would not be here now. Without social media, this show would have died a long time ago.
6. If someone wanted to listen to power pop for the first time, who would you make sure that they heard first?

I regard "Please Please Me" by The Beatles as the first power pop record. But I'd probably play either "Go All The Way" or "I Wanna Be With You" by The Raspberries as an emblematic representation of the power pop sound. Actually, I'd play both.

Bonus: Name a young artist you consider to be the future of power pop.

Hmmm. Probably Kai Danzberg.

Kai Danzberg

Thanks, Aaron! Looking forward to your book. Keep the faith, baby.

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Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made will contain 100 essays (and then some) about 100 tracks, plus one bonus instrumental, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-greatest-record-ever-made-and-other.html

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.