An Ode to Dr. Demento, radio artist
Plus heart rates, virus transmissions, threaded frequencies, and Pierre Schaeffer's galaxy of sounds.
This Week in Radio Art and Unlicensed Transmissions:
Wind up your radios as Dr. Demento retires.
Pierre Schaeffer, brought to you by Radio France.
Kim Nucci and AC Diamond play with heart rates in Chicago.
Laura Splan and Luke Jerram transmit viruses in New York.
Alan Korn celebrates ‘Alice on the Radio.’
DR. DEMENTO
Dr. Demento, or Barret Hansen, announced his radio show retirement last week, and the broadcasting world was oddly quiet about it after 55 years on the air. There was a Rolling Stone story, another in The New York Times, and some shout-outs from the comedy world, but the radio trade journals were all silent on Dr. Demento’s broadcasting history and influence. The only radio “Ode to Dr. Demento” I could find, from KMA’s Mike Peterson, did not quite make the full point about Demento’s lasting influence on pop culture in general, and radio in particular. The best Peterson could muster was, “Dr. Demento did for music what ‘Doctor Who’ did for science fiction TV.”
For the unintiated, let’s get the plot-point biography details out of the way first.
Early in his radio career, Hansen played "Transfusion" (a controversial 1956 top ten hit about a reckless driver who repeatedly gets seriously injured in car accidents by disregarding traffic laws) by Nervous Norvus on the radio. DJ "The Obscene" Steven Clean said that Hansen had to be "demented" to play it. Thus, he became “Dr. Demento.”
The Dr. Demento radio show began in 1970 at KPPC in Pasadena, California, as his rock oldies program morphed into an all-novelty show. At the end of 1971, he moved to KMET in Los Angeles, and from 1972 to 1983, he performed a four-hour live show on KMET.
In 1976, Dr. Demento spoke at the future “Weird” Al Yankovic's school where Yankovic gave him a self-recorded tape of his comedy songs and parodies. Dr. Demento featured the first song, "Belvedere Cruisin," about the family station wagon, on the radio show. Then, Dr. Demento funded Yankovic's first EP, Another One Rides the Bus, and appeared in a many of Weird Al's music videos as well as in Weird Al's movie UHF.
Spinal Tap’s Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer appeared in full costume and stayed in character for a three-hour visit on a late 1980s episode of the radio show.
Dr. Demento was parodied in an episode of “Mr. Show” as "Dr. Retarded: Novelty Record Collector and Chief Head of Surgery, Mass General" as an expert in songs about "paranormal monster parties." He also appeared on “The Gong Show” and “The Simpsons.”
Growing up in the 1970s, with the radio playing in the car, the kitchen, and under my pillow, I never listened to Dr. Demento’s FM show (I was an AM kid then, in many ways). But his influence was still defeaning. He loosened up radio formats for the occasional eccentric hit such as "Fish Heads" or “Rock Lobster.” Dr. Demento’s rise dovetailed with, and fueled, the dawn of the morning zoo radio program, that needed lots of funny bits to fuel the frenzy. At the time, I listened to WFBR in Baltimore, with DJ Johnny Walker in the morning playing weird songs just like Dr. Demento (and had Ira Glass writing jokes from high school), and also playing some of Dickie Goodman’s break-in fake interview musical comedy bits. Dr. Demento did his own 1989 ode to Goodman called “Hey Dickie,” where he turned tables and sampled Goodman as the interviewer, cutting his questions up as answers from the interviewee. Listening to his radio shows later, it should be clear just how large Dr. Demento’s cultural influence helped make pop culture a little less uptight. And, he was also a master radio artist. For years, I have cited Spike Jones, Dickie Goodman, Dr. Demento, and Richard Foreman as the main influences on my own “Donald Drumpf Theatre” radio show. Undoubtedly, Dr. Demento also influenced many other current radio artists, whether they know it or not.
Hansen earned a master's degree in folklore and ethnomusicology at Reed College and UCLA, and is well-known for re-popularizing the odd sound works from the past from Spike Jones, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, and many, much more obscure artists. Please share your Dr. Demento stories in the comments.
He has been a 55-year force for good in radio, wishing us all to "Stay Dement-ed!"
PIERRE SCHAEFFER
On June 18 the “Schaeffer Galaxy Exhibition” opened at the House of Radio and Music in Paris. The show was commissioned by Radio France, so there is an agenda. They claim in the exhibition text that Pierre Schaeffer, “heralded the era of ‘Recording Arts’ - what he called relay arts - cinema, radio, television, and today the Internet - which have brought about a fundamental shift in social values and modes of expression. Commissioned by Radio France, this exhibition in his honor marks a double anniversary: the 30th anniversary of his death (August 19, 1995), and the 50th anniversary of the INA, which he helped to create in 1975. It takes the form of a 40-meter visual and sound fresco imagined by Jean-Loup Graton and Marc Jacquin using numerous audio and audiovisual extracts taken from the INA archives, the Schaeffer family collections, and other institutional sources. It traces the life and activity of the musician-inventor and media theorist, from his professional beginnings in 1936 in an under-equipped radio station with little control over its means of expression, to the heyday of the ORTF Research Service and the creation of the INA, which he initiated.”
KIM NUCCI AND AC DIAMOND
Kim Nucci and AC Diamond collaborate on “Heart/Time” on June 29 in Chicago, which continues to be the current American hotbed of transmission art. “We’ll be presenting an immersive AV set working with real-time data from heart rate and motion sensors,” Nucci writes.
HISTORIC TRANSMISSION
The Mount Beacon Amateur Radio Club reports that, “On Friday, 19 June, a historic transmission was made from the Armstrong Alpine NJ FM tower, the world's first. Frequency was 42.8 mHz, very different from our usual ham-known freqs.”
LAURA SPLAN AND LUKE JERRAM
Laura Splan and Luke Jerram explore the, “hidden beauty within the invisible world of viruses” in this transmission exhibit at the NYU Langone Art Gallery through July 25, with a July 8 reception.
DORIT CHRYSLER
Dorit Chrysler writes, “Join me July 11 for a Theremin workshop at @sirenfestival at the beach before I jump on stage at #arenainfiera.”
RADIO WORM
LOVID
“Threaded Frequencies,” by LoVid at the Gazelli Project Space in London includes recent and historical works following the transmission artist duo’s digital residency in November 2024. It is up through July 26.
MAGZ HALL
England-based radio artist Magz Hall writes, “My Radio Air Garden Coils, expanded sound art sculptures for the garden, designed from radio transmitter coils which I repurposed for their electroculture properties and will be part of The Garden and The Hedge Exhibition at Kulturhus Björkboda (Kubu) Finland from Thursday, June 5, to August 31.”
SHORTWAVE COLLECTIVE
RADIO NEWS
Radio World reports that there are now enough co-sponsors, 233, to pass “The AM Radio in Every Vehicle Act” in the U.S. House of Representatives. The proposal would mandate cars continue to be made with AM radio receivers. It is a battle between an industry that wants to retain their largest source of listenership, and therefore business, with another industry that wants to cut costs. In the Hudson Valley, Democrat Josh Riley and Republicans Elise Stefanik and Michael Lawler have signed on to the radio industry side as co-sponsors. A vote would need to be taken in the House, and then the bill needs Senate and Presidential approval before their is an assurance of AM radio in new vehicles in the United States.
RADIO WEATHER
Inside Radio reports that Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell has released a report claiming, “Nearly 13 million Americans live in communities under threat of losing their local public broadcast stations. What’s worse, these stations serve large swaths of the Western, Midwestern, and Southeastern U.S. at risk of wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other public safety emergencies.”
“Public media’s link to EAS comes mainly through the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS), which receives national EAS feeds directly from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On top of that, PBS also provides additional redundancy through its Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN), which partners with FEMA to enable stations to broadcast geotargeted emergency alerts to cellular devices. And with more severe weather outbreaks, that distribution channel is becoming even more important. In 2024, over 11,000 alerts were transmitted over the PBS WARN system, marking a 30% increase from the prior year.”
RADIO POP SONG
The Cat Heads included bassist Alan Korn, now a broadcasting lawyer who works with many community radio stations in the United States, who had a birthday last week. If you enjoy “Left of the Dial” from The Replacements, you’ll probably like this song too, as it evokes the same radio longing, with many more broadcasting metaphors.
RADIO DRAMA
Tom Roe, the writer of this column, makes this weekly radio show.
Donald Drumpf Theatre #243: War and Regime Change While The New/Old President Plays With His Erection
Bombing and killing can wait on the new flag poles.
This week: “War and Regime Change While The New/Old President Plays With His Erection.” The new/old president blows things up this week on the “Donald Drumpf Theatre” radio show. Opening theme includes clips from Rod Serling; Bill Cosby; Donald Drumpf; Eric Cartman; Jon Stewart; Richard Nixon; Kent Brockman; and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Thanks for the songs from Golden Earring ("Twilight Zone"), Edwin Starr (“War”), Vince Vance and the Valiants (“Bomb Iran”), and Boston (“More Than a Feeling”). Clips and excerpts from Seth Meyers; Jordan Klepper; Tucker Carlson; Ted Cruz; John Oliver; Kaitlan Collins; Benjamin Netanyahu; Jon Stewart, Jacob Soboroff; Steve Bannon; Marjorie Taylor Greene; Stephen Colbert; Karoline Leavitt; J.D. Vance; and Kristen Welker. Episode 243.
RADIO DRAMA
Note: The writer of this article has an axe to grind with Wave Farm.
Tom Roe, the writer of this column, adds this weekly update about the non-profit organization that he founded that still won’t let him retrieve his personal belongings. My work as station ombudsman will end when I am allowed to retrieve my personal belongings from Wave Farm.
When Wave Farm started the community radio station WGXC, overnights, midnight to 6 a.m., and all day Saturdays, were dedicated to airing transmission art. Later, 2-4 p.m. also became an time on the station for experimental music and transmission art. And, more recently, transmission art was featured regularly during the hour before and after WGXC’s most popular program (“Democracy Now!”), so very prominently on the station. But now WGXC instead airs non-transmission art syndicated programs from outside of the listening area at 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. on weekdays. Transmission art is no longer regularly featured at 3 p.m. and all day on Saturdays. There is less and less radio art on the supposed center of American radio art. It is very strange. Wave Farm also used to create unique transmission art events, such as Tune In))), Radio 4x4, and Microradio Sound Walk. But that was decades ago. Where is the radio art at Wave Farm these days?
Where is the local news on WGXC these days?
Where is the local music on WGXC these days?
Where are the live remote broadcasts out in the community? WKZE was on Main St. in Catskill last week, and WAMC was live at Kinderhook Books the week before. Does WGXC come out of the studio any more? Do they air live broadcasts from within the community anymore, or does the new program director only want to work hours when there are not live performances, workshops, and candidate forums going on in the community.
Local music and local news used to also be included on both sides of “Democracy Now!,” time slots that are now filled with pre-recorded syndicated programming originating from outside the listening area.
The station with roots in the free radio movement of the 1990s has now banned its founder, myself, from following its social media accounts? Why, a year later, won’t they let me get my baseball that I got signed by most of the 1979 Baltimore Orioles when I was a kid. Why won’t they let me get my interviews with transmission art makers and pirate radio legends? It is very weird. Wave Farm has not contacted me since late December. I am at 518-947-4806, call me so I can quit being your ombudsman. I would like to get my belongings.
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