Here’s a radio story, folks!
But if you only read one bit, read this:
I’ll be on the air this afternoon, calling in to the Jeff Katz show to talk about Cities on a Hill and the book signing in Richmond this Sunday.
If you’re not local to the River City, here’s a listen live link for you. I go on at 4:35 pm eastern for a quick chat.
Lighthouses
“Brian! What a cool lobby, man…saw the tower on the way in. And there’s Jeremy!”
“Duuuuude!”
“Duuuuuuuuuuude!”
A radio station is a lighthouse. Hasn’t the beacon guided you through a long night, too? I’d wake up often to the traffic report, confirmation the life continued, a communion with the everyday. Sure, I worked a midshift in suburbia, and never needed to know if there was a slowdown on the expressway–or did I? Sometimes quirky, usually not, the radio, the radio, the voice of humanity. The 80’s night saw me home many a Saturday evening, and as a kid, I’d play name that composer with Dad while the classical station offered up….. “Mozart?”
“Yes!”
To become a Keeper, ah, yes. To descend into the forgotten stairwell under the faded metal sign “WDCE 90.1 FM”, punch the lock combo, the another, with the hum of a distant air handler to greet me.
The studio lights out, except above the DJ before me, sitting in the driver’s seat, headphones serious about his ears.
He could say anything, and it would sound cool.
“And that was a rare basement tape of Gonzo and Kermit’s first bluegrass demo, recorded on a four track in 1973, right here on dubya dee cee eee RICHMOND.”
Then it would be my turn. I’d talk between every song because “practice” (and I could never get enough of the call sign).
Bands in the studio for their interviews: “Well, our creative process is….” Once, a cop stopped by and startled me. “How ya doin’?”
Why do they always ask that?
Turned out he had a PSA to read. Whew.
“Oh, right!” (So it was okay to park there.) Super cool dude, and he ended up selling me two victrolas later.
Brian started his show a little after mine, and we’d always get food on radio days. Jeremy started his show a bit after that, stopping by the studio one Saturday for the mandatory training. I pointed out the three buttons to push, the old school paper logbook, the future archeologists delight of the shelves and shelves of obscure CDs that nobody ever seemed to use, but everyone treasured. (I think I recognized two bands on there–me, and some famous one.)
The studio, with the well-used pair of 1200 turntables, the lounge with the requisite battered couch, the vinyl on plywood shelves, the mildly ugly punk posters, the weak light creeping in through the basement window, all gave the aura of a church of the creative. Indeed, the station seemed a Yin of chaos (in a good way) to the Yang of the order of posh tennis courts across the way, the Connecticut license plates on the BMWs driving to law school, the chants of the frat boys, the manicured boxwood hedges and prestigious trees reaching towards vintage brick towers.
Nobody noticed the quiet basement steps and the faded metal sign.
Radio waves hung silent in the air around the sycamores and visiting parents, as the chaos of the world always lurks, ready to transform and renew as needed.
“And that was a live cut of the Electro Coffee Grounds and the Flippin’ Good Spatulas from their Chicago house party in ‘87.”
COVID happened, the station got hit pretty hard, I moved, and then wrote the book. I lost touch with most of the guys there, but saw Brian for lunch a few months ago.
The Email
“Hey Josh...
You may not remember me but years ago you trained me when I came to watch your show on WDCE.
Now all these years later I am the Executive Producer for The Jeff Katz Show on 1140 WRVA.”
It was Jeremy. No way. I’m doing a book signing in town Sunday. Brian gave Jeremy a copy, and this is such a fun way to talk about the event and the work.
Yesterday
The road lead to Richmond yesterday, and I stopped by to say hello.
There they were, at work, Brian and Jeremy, in the lobby of WRVA, “the legendary.” It’s bigger. It’s the biggest in Virginia. There are offices, and records on the wall, and studios. The couches are newer.
But there’s still that glorious lighthouse feel to it. That quiet electrical hush of we’re putting something out for people to hear, so do be careful about which button you push.
It seems like everyone in the building knows they’re keeping that signal alive, keeping the beacons lit, keeping the voice of humanity rolling outwards on the AM band, through the sweltering noontime and windy nights, waving back at the stars with fifty thousand watts.
Jeremy runs the coolest radio board. There were all sorts of lights and blinking things. I behaved, and didn’t push any buttons. I had to get a picture in the lounge, though.
(Dig the Spice Girls CD display)
Today
“I’ll call you at 4:33 or so” Jeremy said. “Then we’ll get you on the air.”
I’m going to talk to Jeff about my book, Cities on a Hill. It was two years ago that Martha, the little grandma in lockdown, looked at me seriously and said “don’t forget about us, Josh, okay?”
All of those good deeds they did, the grace that they acted with, the suffering and endless loneliness and uncertainty and stifling masks that didn’t work…
This afternoon, I get to pick up my phone, and know that Jeremy will push a button, and Jeff will talk, and I’ll tell him about Martha.
She’s gone, but now her story is immortal. We’ll remember.
Tune on in at 1140 am local to central Virginia at 4:35 pm est, or listen live at
https://www.thejeffkatzshow.com/
And hey, I hope you can stop by the book signing this Sunday. It’s at 2nd & Charles on Broad Street.
In whatever way you do so, keep the beacons lit.
Catch ya on the flip side….
Listened to your part on the radio. All points came across loud and clear. Good job.
Time for the next round, don't stop.
Cool getting on WRVA. They have a big signal and is a good place to discuss your book, sending that message out into VA countryside and the stars. The lighthouse feel is familiar, I used to get it back in 1967 going with my mother to the WSMD studios and transmitter site outside LaPlata, MD because the radio station had a photo copy machine where you could make copies of printed or typed documents, even pictures and drawings too!