We’re all part of the same generation and the music was popular in the ‘70s, but the lyrics just weren’t to be found in my gray matter.
As I pondered this I realized that I had been a dj when the songs were popular. The more thought I gave to this, the more I realized that there is a large hole in my knowledge of lyrics. It’s the time I spent playing the stuff on the radio.
It’s understandable if you examine the situation. Jocks are multitasking while the audience is listening to the music. We had to find and cue up the next record, answer phones, clear the news wire, find and organize the spots for the upcoming break. It wasn’t hard work, but there wasn’t any time to actually sit back and listen, much less pay attention to the lyrics.
There was a time when I was on three stations – morning drive on one, afternoon drive on another and weekends on a third. Each had a different format. I don’t remember many of the lyrics from that period. And anyone who was ever a jock can give you a list of the records that got old very quickly. You had to turn down the monitor just to keep your sanity.
So I’m impressed when I come across a jock who really knows the music. I’m not talking about someone who is reading stuff off a computer screen. Those of us in the business know when it’s coming from the jock and when it’s coming from liner notes or computer screens.
Which brings me to a guy I recently discovered on satellite radio, a guy I can also enjoy on Internet radio on Saturday nights.
Vin Scelsa doesn’t sound like a radio announcer. His New Jersey accent comes through loud and clear. It’s hard to imagine him being polished enough to hit the post. But he’s damn good at what he does.
Scelsa takes his listeners on a journey. His radio show is the kind we remember from the early days of KSHE. Music sets are based on various themes, but they’re not limited to any music genre. You may hear semi-classical, jazz, folk, new music, obscure artists, deep cuts – they’re all there, just like the heyday of WXRT in Chicago.
His broadcast experience gave him the perfect foundation to do what he’s doing today: WFMU, WLIR, WBAI and then on to the commercial rockers: WABC-FM, WNEW-FM, WXRK.
Scelsa is a Boomer, born in 1947. He has cut his chops as a music director, music reviewer and personality, interviewing artists and apparently committing everything to a very deep memory. On his show, “Idiot’s Delight,” Scelsa uses all this experience and knowledge to provide the kind of stuff we all wish we could find on the radio. And yes, lots of it is available in podcast form on the WFUV website.
Admittedly his stuff is too esoteric for today’s short-attention-span audience, but at this stage in life, I doubt that he cares about that too much. He’s from a time when radio and music were meant to be enjoyed, even savored.
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