Indie 88 – I Am What I Play (Toronto)

Since completing I Am What I Play, I’ve been outreaching to the radio community with an interest in discussing the key theme of the film: disc jockey creative control.  I continue to be curious about who is still out there on the dial, doing radio in the spirit of free form so a couple of weeks go, I dropped into Toronto radio station Indie 88 for a chat with Program Director Adam Thompson.

Indie 88 burst on the Toronto radio scene a little over a year ago with the mandate to give a voice to truly independent music.  I wanted to get Adam’s thoughts on programming music, his approach to radio and get a sense of the amount of freedom he gives the DJ’s.

Three encouraging things:

1)Adam is clearly a radio guy.  I mean that in the most positive way.  He clearly knows the business but is coming at it from deep love and knowledge of the music, rather than from some kind of marketing and PR background.   He is a decade younger than me but grew up a radio die-hard.

2)The DJ’s have input into the music they play.   The station definitely thinks in terms of shows, not shifts.   As the name implies, the station is independently owned – family, not corporate.   There are DJ’s on the show who program their show entirely and most at the station are involved in the music programming.

3)The music is not narrow-casted.  Of course, they have a target audience but they program a wide spectrum of artists.

Indie88

They vow to put music first.  There is even a manifesto:  http://indie88.com/about/indie88-manifesto/

As any good radio station should, they are slowly but surely integrating themselves into the Toronto community and giving a voice to indie artists and events.  And hey, they even threw it open to the general public to not only audition to be the voice of the station but to vote on the finalists once the field was narrowed a bit:  http://indie88.com/jen-is-the-new-voice-of-indie88/

As a voice talent agent, how can I not love this?

It will be interesting to keep an ear on Indie 88 in the next couple of years as they gain more of a foothold in the Toronto scene.  Will the reins tighten a bit on the format or will they continue to push forward in “the spirit of radio”?

This is the first in a series of pieces exploring radio programs and stations where the music programming is unpredictable and the DJ’s are given freedom.  We are interested in hearing from you.  Do you host a radio show or work at a station that fits this description?  Or maybe you listen to one?  Drop us a line: distraction@distractioninc.com

We’d love to publish your blog piece about the show or station.   We aim to spread the word about current radio operating in the spirit of “I Am What I Play.”

I Am What I Play trailer

Every film needs a trailer and we’re excited to share it with you now.   Here’s a first look at I Am What I Play.

 

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Be sure and follow the film:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Am-What-I-Play/297875140261718
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/radiodjmovie

Free-Form Ambassadors

As we shop the film and start to do promotion at the same time, the question keeps coming up:  why did we choose these 4 particular radio jocks?  I think once you see the film, you’ll agree we’ve chosen wisely in terms of personalities/characters.   That was the idea:  to showcase 4 DJs who have had ups and downs in their lives, just like the arc of a movie character.  But the big picture was to present 4 jocks whose careers would be symbolic of the profession, the medium and the heyday of rock radio.  We’re very happy with the subjects of the film but no doubt there are other worthy disc jockey choices as well.

The common theme among our 4 DJs is very much about freedom.  They fought throughout their careers to be able to continue to do what they wanted to do.  One of the things we hope the film will do is to generate a discussion about the current state of radio.  So here’s the ongoing question that we want to be a part of this film blog:

What DJs currently on air are still doing their shows in the free form tradition?  Who is still playing what they want to play and saying what they want to say?

In the comments section, please name names:  the DJ, the name of the show (if there is one), the city and the station.  Give us a short description of the show as well.  We would like this to be a place radio fans can visit and get a sense of the great radio shows that are still out there and where they can be found.

If we start to get enough of a DJ list going, we may create a separate Facebook group or web page dedicated to these free-form ambassadors.

I Am What I Play Facebook page

Although the plan is to continue to update this blog, we live in a world of social media now, in case you didn’t hear.   We’ll be posting regular updates about the film on the newly launched I Am What I Play Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Am-What-I-Play/297875140261718?ref_type=bookmark

Be sure and go to the page and “like” it and then you will be part of the I Am What I Play family and see those regular updates in your news feed.  We’ve posted a few pics and other odds ‘n ends not seen on this blog so have a look and…like it!

Or if Twitter is more your style, we’re at:

https://twitter.com/voiceovercanada

But more to come here on this blog/site as well.

Testing, Testing

In February, we completed two test screenings of the film.  Intimate locations – the screening room of a post-production facility.  About 15 people in attendance each night.  I served wine.  I know it’s rock radio so an Australian Merlot doesn’t immediately come to mind but I’m just trying to add a touch of class to the proceedings. (Editor note:  I even took a picture of the wine and glasses but my picture upload is not cooperating!).

Needless to say, it was a thrill to sit and watch the finished product with a live audience.  Now I knew almost everyone at both screenings but it was still a nice mix of a few radio/voice over types, a few old friends, a couple of people who worked on the film and even a couple of strangers who have nothing to do with radio, TV or film.  The feedback was universally positive – people really seemed to love the film.   And I do have friends and colleagues who can dish out the constructive criticism when it’s warranted.

In this case, it was mostly constructive praise.  Criticism was mainly of the “tweaking” variety.  I gave them all a questionnaire to fill out at the end.  Some comments:

You meted out the story telling with each character in such a way as to make the point on that portion and move on to the next. I thought your timing was excellent.

” Well produced!!  Very interesting subject matter, a great range of music, and visually compelling. ”

“The best film about radio I’ve ever seen.”

I was looking for any obvious holes or segments that didn’t work or make sense.  There was very little of that so here we go:  I have begun the outreach to broadcasters and distributors.  Another journey has begun.  I am trying to avoid the pounding the pavement on the film festival circuit, though Friday was the deadline for submitting to the Toronto International Film Festival and I dropped it off in person.   Updates to follow!

 

Radio Survivor piece on I Am What I Play

Matthew Lasar has a nice piece on the Radio Survivor website about the film.   Have a look:

“I Am What I Play”: Documenting the Rock DJ

 

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2014/01/30/i-am-what-i-play-documenting-the-rock-dj/

The Spirit of Radio

Since we started shooting the film, I have obviously been posting here and there on this blog, at least trying to capture bits and pieces of the process.  Now that we are finished the rough cut – the editor, post-production supervisor and I finally watched it on a big screen last week and it looks good (whew!) – I plan to update this space more frequently and I realize to this point, I haven’t talked about why I made this film.

I graduated from University just over 20 years ago.  One day I skipped an early morning history class because the local rock radio station was going to play the new Robert Plant single for the first time.  Being a die-hard Led Zeppelin/Plant fan, I had to hear it now.  And my only option for doing so was to tune into this one radio station at the exact right time.  I simply had to cut class.

This likely seems absurd to people born in the year I graduated.  Not the skipping class part but having so few options for accessing new music.  This was part of the excitement and power of rock radio.  I think mine is the last generation that understands that, or has any real connection to radio.  Might be the last generation that even owns a radio!

I see lots of blogs and hear lots of podcasts about what’s wrong with radio now – why this connection to younger generations has been lost.  And I know the standard line is to blame corporations.  While it’s true that many corporations have tried to control the message and the music, I think where radio sits today is the result of a number of factors besides just the present-day radio execs not understanding the charm of the psychedelic era.

I prefer to focus on what was right with radio when it did have a hold on generations of listeners.  It’s the job of those of us who were moved by the medium to pass that torch – to sing the praises of the originals still doing their thing (and they’re still out there, if you’re paying attention), to take note of ways in which “the spirit of radio” is still alive and well – or could be – and to bend the ears of younger generations without sounding bitter or out of touch.

I try to capture “the spirit” when I talk about how much time I spent with rock radio.  Those DJ’s were the ambassadors.  They didn’t just play the records. They gave me an entry into the world of that band and they lived the music.  They drew links between bands, between songs, between what might be said in a song and what you might do in the real world:  politically, sexually, culturally…or just whatever on a Saturday night.

There was no quicker way to connect to the public than through radio.  DJ’s could move music, and occasionally public opinion.  I just loved hearing intelligent voices discussing the bands I love – and spinning stories about the music and what they did after the show.  A talented DJ would spin an evening for me – it was an event.  “It was never a shift, it was a show.”

Their identities were wrapped up in the music they played.  With few exceptions, there is no way a top radio jock would put a record on the air that he/she didn’t believe in. Which is why I’ve always liked the David Bowie line from his song DJ:  “I Am a DJ – I am what I play.”   And in the spirit of that lyric, I decided to make a film.

Megless!

We decided there was something noticeably missing from our documentary – the perspective of a female DJ.  Though there were only a handful of women active in rock radio in a major market during the 60’s and 70’s , we have found one who definitely qualifies.  Meg “Megless” Griffin did the free form thing at legendary New York City station WNEW during its glory years and she went on to spin tunes at WPIX, K-ROCK and now still plays what she wants on three different Sirius satellite radio channels.

She was hired as one of the first VJ’s on MTV but quit one week in because they wanted her to give up radio.  She has been honored by the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame.  Her close friendship with Howard Stern has lasted almost 40 years since they both began their careers in White Plains, New York.  In short, we think she has some stories to tell and can’t wait to sit down with her in The Big Apple in early July.  Stay tuned!

Boston’s WBCN back from the dead – on HD

An interesting New York Times piece below on the return of Boston’s WBCN – on HD.  It doesn’t mention our man Charles Laquidara but we are tracking any news connected with WBCN and free form radio in general so it is posted here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/business/media/wbcn-progressive-rock-station-returns-on-hd.html?_r=1

The Mars Bar

We have been shooting our interviews with David Marsden at The King Edward Hotel in Toronto.  We had wanted to shoot in the hotel bar but there are clearance release issues with the hotel.  Plus, a waitress I know there tells me that a businessman reserves the table we had in mind every day between 12-7 pm.  Sometimes he is joined by others; sometimes he’s alone.  He drinks an average of 5-7 martinis a day while doing business.  His bills range from $200-$500 daily. We were tempted to stop work on I Am What I Play and immediately begin the documentary on the guy with the permanent table at The King Eddy!

We shot over 6 hours of interviews with Marsden and there are still stories I realize we didn’t get to yet.  We did cover a lot of ground though.  From his days as mouter-mouthed David Mickie at CKEY in Toronto – and the hosting of 2 TV shows to go with the radio work – to being a major part of the free form radio movement in Montreal at CKGM-FM (now CHOM-FM) and in Toronto at 70’s powerhouse CHUM-FM, the stories just flow, with playfulness and good humor.  The early days of FM radio, the FLQ crisis and John & Yoko’s bed-in in Montreal, the gay club scene in 1960’s Toronto, and of course the creation of CFNY and the alternative rock format for which Marsden is best known.  These are only some of the topics covered during our lengthy sit-downs together.

And the best part is – Marsden is STILL doing the free-form thing, on 94.9 The Rock, Saturday and Sunday nights – and at www.marsdenglobal.com

You will love David Marsden on camera!  He is truly full of life.

Director Roger King with David Marsden on location at The King Edward Hotel, Toronto.  In background, sound man extraordinaire, Kevin MacKenzie.

David Marsden in The Marsden Theatre at 94.9 The Rock.  DOP David Cain climbs new heights to get the shot.