this whole thing got going back when i was 12, and me and my brother would sleep outside during the hot summer months in Central California. camping out in the back yard, armed with Salems we stole from mom’s purse and our trusty transistor radio, we would stay up late into the night, smoking like punks and listening to Wolfman Jack, who was playing his records and howling at those who dared to call in. we were both very impressed by the guy. “man,” we said,”the wolfman is cool.”
then, cut to the movie American Graffitti. and the central character in that whole churning psychodrama of George Lucas was none other than The Wolfman. remember? he was stashed away in a little shack of a radio station down by the river, playing his tunes and driving all the kids crazy as he filled the night with music and madness. for me, the movie was influential. how cool would that be, i thought, as i mulled over my career choices in life. how cool would that be, to be the guy in the little shack by the river, rockin’ the locals with fab records and pithy comments. and so, that image got installed in my cranial hard drive.
so cut to now, and here we are, 50 years later, carrying on with Jive Radio, playing our tunes into the night…..or the late morning…..or the mid-afternoon. and not just in central california, but also in the Great Desert West, and heck, all over the world, thanks to technology that’s a lot more powerful than XERB, the Wolfman’s mighty Mexican transmitter. we’re playing our tunes in hopes that some 17 year-old boy in Bend or some 17 year-old girl in Dusseldorf hears something on Jive Radio one day that makes him/her say to him/herself……”whoa! what the heck was THAT?” and in some essential, mysterious way, in that very instant, his/her life is changed forever.
Go ahead, write me: bruce(at)jiveradio.org
Bruce’s “Bucket of Tunes” is a constantly curated playlist of Schizoclectic musical fare which airs M-F from 6-9am on Jive network stations.
Gratuitous Echo airs Sats @ 9pm and repeats Weds 9pm.
The Current Gratuitous Echo: