Power Surge: The Personal Agenda of a Knob Twiddler

By Macedonia

Now, let me get this straight, I get to work my ass off making promotional radio spots for a student body that either: a)doesn't know that we exist, or b)takes great delight in ignoring the fact that we do exist. Ah, screw them. I totally get off on this stuff and I know it. I'm in another one of my perpetual "moods" and I need to do something about it. So I enter my laboratory - the production studio. It's the return of the audio masochist. Like the DJ Shadow loop so often said, "It, is, happening, AGAIN."

In a world where everything has gone digital, I remain two half-steps behind, razor blade in hand. John Lennon did it, Frank Zappa did it, Negativeland gets in trouble whenever they do it and at some point, I probably will too. If audio tape could bleed, we'd all be mass murderers. For those of you who have been wondering if those lasers, explosions and other state-of-the-art sound effects on our station are a mistake, they aren't. It's all part of my plan.

Why was college radio created? To send a middle finger over the airwaves to mainstream programming, of course. However, sometimes the oppressed must use the tools of the oppressor in order for their voice to be heard. In this case, the "POWER" sound of commercial radio has been tailor made to fit the "PERSONALITY" of college radio. The professional sound pulls you in, but the genuine, cutting-edge programming keeps you listening. Dig? Sounds simple, but it isn't really. It has taken years of disappointment and cynicism for me to reach this point. Besides that, if I had this power and didn't use it, I'd never forgive myself...and neither would the Urban Contemporary staff.

Yep, I'm still Production Director. And you don't even want to know what my mind's eye can see.

BACK TO CONTENTS