Music Art Culture Rebellion Volume 1, Issue 1 The Story of X Off The Record A rogue radio station, a local Interpreting the grooves of music scene, and the team the most memorable eras 3 that brought them together 12 through experimentation February 2019 Page 3 INSIDE Finding himself Founding member Joe Kule- wicz of Skeeter Creek shares his thoughts on today’s country music, finding his birth father and losing 200 pounds. Page 5 Courtesy Jessica Micelli Radioradiox owner and general manager Art Fredette, left, unveils the Internet radio station’s banner during a 2018 event at Hangar on the Hudson in Troy. ‘X’ marks the spot RadioradioX promises never to be boring By Art Fredette As always, the local music community stepped up and helped out. The funeral for the “X” was not only a 018 started off as a promising year. I was work- way to say goodbye to a beloved station, if short lived ing for A radio station that I was programming, station but a chance to let everyone know the would be sales were coming in and the future looked Telling her story a re-birth! bright. No group of old style “radio” guys were going to stop Peggy Legee shares her travails 2Then the Empire crumbled. this format. They were/are the problem with what radio as a transgender person in a By April, everything I had worked for since June has become and we are/were the solution. The answer pair of comics produced with 2017 had ceased to exist. What do I do now? artist Raymond Lowell. Drink? Ok, a little. Get pissed off? A lot! Get going to 300 song playlists, heavy repetition and mindless Page 8 and do something about it? Damn straight! on-air drivel. The idea that radio should be more than a I decided I would not give up on the format I had spot vehicle, radio should be exciting. Features worked so tirelessly to bring to the area. People liked RadioradioX.com began “broadcasting” on July 15, Liar’s Almanac 20 what we were doing and I believed in the power of good 2018, keeping the format alive and taking it to a new Sassy Says 21 music. level. Local music is a staple in what we do. Every Program schedule 22 The answer ... RadioradioX.com. hour features at least two local artists and the lunch hour Club listings 22 First thing you do is throw a funeral….. The old weekdays is devoted to only local music. The rest of Between the Lines 23 station was gone. There was nothing we could do to change that. So, why not throw a party? Continued on Page 4 Page 4 February 2019 RadioradioX offers unique experience Continued from Page 3 On December 7th, we hosted a format but some amazing specialty Sassy is also a blogger, model, fash- concert with Big Frank and The Bar- shows. Jim Barrett has been kind ion expert and tattoo culture expert the format is comprised of great gain Bingers, Blasé Debris and Joe enough to throw his years of knowl- We continue to add content to the songs by artists both familiar and Mansman and The Midnight Revival edge and talent into the mix and host website and are very proud to have obscure. The mission is a simple Band. A great night of celebration to Kaleidoscope every Monday night local author Liam Sweeny as a blog- one, provide something to listen to, kick off the Christmas season. Every from 8 to 10 pm. master -in-chief. Liam’s approach break the corporate stranglehold on band involved played a stellar set to Kaleidoscope in many ways has to a band interview is anything but radio, and do it without begging for a great crowd and helped spread the been the inspiration for Radiora- same old same old. If you haven’t contributions. NO EASY TASK! gospel of live, local music and the dioX. The longest running show of checked out Liam’s work on our The stream has been running and abundance of talent right in our area. its kind, over 51 years, it is a musi- site, do so, then go buy his books. there have been hiccups but we sol- The following week Radiora- cal journey that is always enlighten- It has been an eventful year to dier on. Working on the technical daioX presented “Xmas Strings” ing and entertaining. Ralph Renna say the least. The work put into problems and striving to get better at with Michale Graves, Ike’s Wasted came on board early and is our RadioradioX by myself and Ralph what we do every day. World, Bad Mothers and The Tra- production director, afternoon on-air has been a labor of love but above In October, RadioradioX held a dition. A benefit concert and food personality and every Friday night all the culmination of a dream. We series of concerts called, “The Octo- drive, this show delivered on every Ralph brings us Shuffle. Shuffle is realize this a completely different ber Explosion”. The shows featured level. Food was donated to help the a genre blending 3 hour tour of all approach to local radio. We realize The Plimsouls, The Split Squad, The hungry, money was raised for veter- the things get Ralph fired up. With that old habits are hard to break and Fleshtones, Trailer Park Moonlight, ans suffering with PTSD and once over 30 years of radio on his resume that listening on-line is new to many Knock Yourself Out, Smittix, Black- again, local musicians were the key. Ralph never disappoints. but we believe in RadioradioX and cat Elliott, The Jagaloons and The On the programming side we Tuesday nights, I host Tuesday above all, we believe that music Lawn Sausages. It made for a hectic have been very fortunate to be able Tributes, a show that devotes a full lovers are starving for something and amazing month of great music. to offer not only a unique and varied hour to one particular artist. We different. have featured Tom Waits, Jimi Hen- I would like to thank our spon- drix, The Buzzcocks, The Smither- sors for sharing that belief. I also, eens, The Grateful Dead, and John want to thank all the local bands that Cale to name a few. have shown us so much support and In early 2019, RadioradioX will most of all, I am deeply indebted to be turning things up on Thursday our listeners. You guys make it all nights with The Loud Hours featur- worthwhile. ing a healthy dose of metal, punk, 2019 is going to be a huge year hardcore and everything LOUD. for RadioradioX and we promise to Weekends on RadioradioX keep true to our word and never be features Sassy from 10 am – 2pm boring radio! on Saturday and Sunday. Sassy is a Stay tuned! former sports talk radio host who is thrilled to be back on the air talking Art Fredette is the owner and about one of her true passions…. general manager of RadioradioX music. A true woman for all seasons, and publisher of Xperience. Xperience is published monthly by Radioradiox and can be found at locations around the Capital Region. Publisher: Art Fredette Editor: Mark Robarge Associate Editor: Liam Sweeny Mailing address: Online: radioradiox.com 35D Saratoga Ave. E-mail: [email protected] Waterford, NY 12188 Phone: 518-326-1673 February 2019 Page 5 Change of perspective We were approached by a local Skeeter Creek radio station to participate in a co-founder seeing contest at the Saratoga County Fair. The first year, we did it as a 4-piece life differently after bluegrass band, and we did OK, but didn’t place or anything. A singer finding birth father, from another band, who was quite dropping weight arrogant, approached us and put us down and said we never had a By Paula Marks chance of winning or anything. So it kind of lit a fire under me, and One of the biggest country music I decided the next year we were fans I had ever met friended me on going to do it in a surprise way as a Facebook soon after I opened the country band because nobody knew mic for the first time on WGNA us that way. They knew us as a four- seven years ago. Sue Bogucki was piece bluegrass band. the biggest cheerleader for all local So we added a drummer, country bands and supported new another guitar player, and we artists coming out of Nashville. formed a country band just for She invited me to join her at a that competition. We practiced local venue to see Skeeter Creek, religiously for three or four months and I instantly became a SK Creek just to beat this band, who was very Freak. During a break in sets, I was well established. We went to the introduced to Joe Kulewicz, the lead fair, and we won the competition guitarist, who was extremely down that year. It shut everyone up. We to earth and the next day accepted did it under a totally different name. my Facebook friend request. We went back the following year In discussing our life experiences and won it and then went for a third over time, we discovered a few year and won it yet again. At that significant things in common, the point, we decided to switch from biggest of which was our shared bluegrass to country, and the phone desires to find our birth parents. started ringing. People wanted to Joe, who was born and raised in book us.