1.2 Op/Ed + Pics April 24
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ON THE COVER. April 24, 2008 Volume 19, Number 15 to write ‘zines in Lexington is now a major Hollywood comedy writer. One of our early gen- ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Rob Kirkland eral managers now runs national tours for the [email protected] ‘Everyone’s Good Idea’ renowned Actors Gang Theatre founded by Tim DISPLAY ADVERTISING Robbins, and takes her show featuring the music 859.225.4889, ext. 235 WRFL was what Lexington needed of Johnny Cash into California’s prisons. [email protected] One of our first music library staff now runs the CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 859.225.4889, ext. 237 By Kakie Urch circulation department for the library at Harvard. —◊— Steve Holland, a UK economics professor who did ACE COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD ack in those days, when I was looking for a flown in for the Monday night gig (despite being a show on the first staff became an economist with Bruce Burris Sandy Davis classic conservative look, I pulled on the booked at New York’s Blue Note all week with the Federal Reserve Bank. One of our early Jim Embry David Schankula BCuban-heeled magenta suede cowboy boots. Stanley Clarke’s band) because WRFL had meant so staffers who was a great punk rock devotee, now —◊— And walked down to clubs like Café LMNOP, the much to him growing up in Lexington. with her Master’s of Social Work, operates one of DISTRIBUTION Bottom Line, Wrocklage, Great Scott’s and later the commonwealth’s most successful facilities for Karen Burns BabylonBabylon to see local bands like I.S., Paul K., troubled youth. Wyn Morris, the publishing —◊— Kiya Heartwood, Velvet Elvis, Active Ingredients expert who is opening Morris Books on Southland CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Matt Dacey and the occasional out-of-town act that braved our Drive, is one of our original staff. We have the Kim Thomas little college market without a college radio station. author of a major book on GIS systems who keeps CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mark Beaty, I wrote the column “Radio Free Lexington: track of all the real estate and public projects in Rob Brezsny, Chuck Clenney, What UK Needs” in 1985, not to start a college radio Contra Costa County, California, and the person Alan Sculley, station, but to be able to listen to one. who ran the California Digital Newspaper Project Frank Swietek, Kakie Urch, I was the UK Concert Co-chair and just loved at Berkeley. Historian David King’s book on Ainsley Wagoner, Todd Wright music. Without a student radio station, I was spend- Vienna 1814 has just been published. And of —◊— ing most of my money on records and cover charges course, Ashley Judd, who did a great women’s ALL ACE STAFF CAN BE to see live bands. But because my name was music show as “Holly Austin” on our first staff REACHED VIA EMAIL: first initial plus last name attached to the idea in that column, people all over and still to this day is a strong supporter of @aceweekly.com campus kept coming up to me and asking “When women’s causes and the Wildcats. e.g., [email protected] are we going to get a radio station?’ I really thought There are at least three people from the first —◊— that when the UK administration learned that we group who have gone on to major radio careers. Please request writers’ guidelines were the only school in the SEC except Mississippi Paul Miles, who does your news on WLAP and via email at rkirkland@ aceweekly.com prior to submitting State that didn’t have a student radio station, they WHAS in Lexington and Louisville everyday, was queries. ACE is not responsible for unsolicited materials. ACE is would just build one. a key WRFL “Original Gangster,” a major player. published 50 times a year. In the end though, it was up to us — the Larry Joe Treadway, who was the incredibly pop- entire Lexington community, the entire reader- First day on the air. Mark Beaty and Kakie Urch ular talk jock on WLXG, originally hit the radio copyright © 2008 ship of Ace [it hit stands in 1989] — the folks who airwaves with the “Brains on Film” movie show WE LOVE MAIL! were looking for something different. with George Maranville on WRFL. And Jack K. SEND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: We looked at the methods available on campus Smith went on to run a group of Hearst [email protected] 250 words or less. Or mail to: and decided to model ourselves after the most In junior high school, Brock said, he tuned into Communications radio stations before he 185 Jefferson Street Lexington KY 40507 successful independent student media—the WRFL, “the ultimate rebel station,” and was switched over to the Internet, which he built, Include full name and daytime Kentucky Kernel. So we became a student organi- exposed to all types of music from his home on with or without Al Gore’s help. phone. zation with the Kernel, Student Government Easton Road. Then the classically trained It’s an incredibly impressive roster but no, none Display Ad deadlines Association and Student Activities Board mem- Lexingtonian picked up his axe and played violin of us had any idea that things would turn out that are every Friday bers on the first board. WRFL’s founding was a like Charlie Parker blowing Birdland any old day. way. The biggest concern was the next fundraiser, for the next week’s issue: Email [email protected]. perfect example of collaboration between a num- In building the station that got out there to the next bake sale, next step in ordering and building Space reservation, production art, and payment should be delivered ber of student groups, UK administration, the junior high schoolers like Zach Brock, we were the equipment and of course, the next live show by no later than Fridays by Noon community and local musicians. I like to say that somewhat protected by our youth. We simply didn’t local and national musicians in Lexington’s great WRFL was everyone’s good idea. understand or accept how impossible this task was. clubs. We had fliers to make and put up on tele- DISTRIBUTION Ace is free, one per reader. And 20 years on, it still is. Coming back into So, we kept moving forward. phone poles, classes to go to, airshifts to do. The new Removal of more than one paper town for this weekend’s 20th Anniversary The WRFL playlist from an average disc jock- Sonic Youth album was coming out. from any distribution point Celebration, I tuned the car radio to Lexington air- ey was in fact, the first iteration of the iPod We knew that we were building something To advertise call waves just outside of Waddy-Paytona. And there it playlist. Play what you like, what goes together in important and tangible. A radio transmitter on the top 859.225.4889 or email was: Pyromania by Def Lep. I thought, “I never left.” your world, whether it’s Patsy Cline into Husker of the Patterson Office Tower was proof of that. But [email protected] Then I went down to WRFL-FM and there was “The Du into Robert Johnson into Active Ingredients the specifics of it, with WRFL staffers telling me that constitutes theft. Black Fist,” an amazing array of hip-hop that I had into Calexico into Bill Monroe. they were tuned in to our first broadcast at their high never heard, all pushed out into the Bluegrass As we hit our 20th anniversary, the early WRFL schools in Lexington and Richmond and the great suc- Ace racks and boxes are private property. Saturday night and then explained by a dj who staff has reunited online, more than 100 strong. cesses of station management that has really kept the Distribution of any other traced the connections between groups, techniques Amongst that first group of 60 or 90 alone, we station amongst the top in the country in college radio, publications in an Ace rack or Ace box constitutes and the songs he’d just played. have people who have become major players in are really only coming clear to me now as we look at criminal trespass (trespass includes but is not limited to: For free on a Saturday night in a crap rental car, I got their fields, both inside and outside the common- 20 years of history. The current music director of college publications, Yard Sale flyers, an education. And that’s part of what WRFL set out wealth. Not only do we have doctors, lawyers, WRFL was born in 1988, the year we went on the air. tagging, and so on). to do and still does every day—bring new horizons pharmacists and college professors, but also pub- All of us who were involved are glad to be part of a To report a crime, the Lexington Police Department’s to new generations in the Bluegrass. On Monday lic accounting, Internet, advertising, public rela- legacy that keeps reinventing itself every day. non-emergency number is night, I sat at the fundraiser for the new WRFL tions and publishing executives. There are world- Um, the new Sonic Youth album is coming out. 859.258.3600. tower and listened to the amazing Lexington jazz renowned artists, photographers, musicians and Listen for it on WRFL. We made it for you. ■ violinist Zach Brock tell the audience that he had filmmakers amongst the group. The guy who used 4 ACE Weekly April 24, 2008 ON THE COVER Radio Free Lexington The guy who brought you the umlaut and held the antenna By Matt Dacey rowing up in Albuquerque, heavy metal was also held the antenna as it was to a wider audience.