I just checked the “This Day in History” section of my local (online) newspaper. Two interesting birthdays today: Rodney Bingenheimer and Alan Freed. Both, in their own way, revolutionized radio; they made it into something bigger than themselves. And both ended up in their own relative obscurity.
Alan Freed, for those who don’t know, virtually created the term “rock and roll” and was the biggest radio DJ of his time. His career transcended radio as he presented some of the first rock concerts and promoted black artists at a time when that was considered extremely unwise. He once said, “”rock and roll” is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat.” He was right.
Freed’s career ended in a haze of payola and scandal. But it doesn’t, and it can’t, take away from the mountains he helped build for artists like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and many others.
Rodney Bingenheimer is one of the most unique individuals I ever got to spend time with. His story was well documented in “Mayor of the Sunset Strip,” and it’s definitely worth checking out. Beginning in 1976, Rodney on the ‘ROQ debuted on LA’s KROQ-FM. Featuring a bizarre mix of old, new, indie, and superstar it’s a mix of music as only Rodney could play it. And while many famous folks praise Rodney, he leads a simple life which is unaffected by the rich and famous he’s befriended.
But so what? Freed’s long gone, and Rodney only matters in LA.
Here’s the thing. Radio used to be full of folks like this. I grew up listening to the coolest people on the radio. Folks like Charles Laquidara, Mark Parenteau, and Sunny Jo White. They were the people you wanted to know, the guys you wanted to party with, and they had the best stories, the coolest music, and you made time to listen to them on the radio. They had personalities and opinions that weren’t dictated by corporate overseers. And they talked. They talked to you, with you, and they weren’t confined to 30 second breaks every 45 minutes.
This type of radio doesn’t exist, and now -not surprisingly- people are tuning out in droves. As the format evolves, and as technology streamlines our world, creative decisions become few and far between. But instead of realizing that radio is equally driven by music and personality, radio plays to the lowest common denominator. The fear of possibly offending anyone leads stations to never take chances, never risk offense, and repeat the “tried ‘n ‘true” over and over and over. When we get those unique personalities on the radio, they resonate. Think about Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, and others. But when their musical equivalents are missing, we end up with jukebox stations that play music without context and thus no focus and no real listener interest.
Or worse, we get HD channels which sound great, but offer little. More music, but again, no vitality. Ask those programmers why I shouldn’t just listen to the same stuff on my iPod, and there’s no convincing answer. Folks bemoaned the end of the once mighty WBCN, but the truth is it died a thousand deaths en route to its ultimate demise. The tigher the programming, the more restricted the air talent, the lifeblood of a generation was squeezed into uninteresting, ineffective blather.
I still love radio, if nothing else than for the possibilities it has. Take a chance, roll the dice, and do something exciting. Do something that matters. Do something worth giving a shit about.
Rodney is an original. There’s truly nothing like his broadcasts. Alan Freed made a generation stand up and take note. How many DJs today can say that? There aren’t many.
Happy Birthday Rodney. You’re truly Godhead.
