Anecdote: “A short or amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.”
Well, with hundreds of volunteer DJs, dozens of board and staff members, plus numerous supporters and observers, anecdotes from the past 40-plus years are plentiful. Let’s start with the pre-opening night at the Crystal Theatre, on July 18, 1985.
KDNK was located in the Dinkel Building, right above the Crystal Theatre’s screen in downtown Carbondale. Pre-opening night was a grand affair, with many attendees dressed in their finest Bonedale funkwear, for an event that was more than a year in the making.
As audience members began to filter in, co-owner Bob Ezra was rushing between the stage and projection booth, dressed in work pants, faded red suspenders and barefoot. He was working on a minor last minute detail: the theater speakers were picking up rock ‘n roll from the radio station.
KDNK station manager Virginia Squier came downstairs to the rescue and met with Bob in the projection booth stairwell. After a brief negotiation, Squier agreed to take the station off the air until the film was over, “Just this once.” Bob told me the out-of-state technician who set up the projector was “impressed with Squier’s cooperation.” (Most of this anecdote comes from a Free Weekly newspaper article from July 1985.)
Next up, Maggie Seldeen, aka Mugsy Fay, and the time about 20 years ago when her dad left her and some friends alone in the studio to spin tunes. Seldeen told me she was about 12 at the time and had substituted before. After her dad took off, she accidently played a punk rock song with “explicit” lyrics. Within minutes, her dad came “barging in” and told her she was going to be in “big trouble” for airing the F-bombs. (Note: When Virginia Squire was station manager in the early years, she told DJs not to play anything they wouldn’t want their grandmother to hear. Times have changed. These days, the FCC operates under “Safe Harbor” broadcast rules, which means DJs can broadcast just about anything between 10pm and 6am).
And then there was the time the “Jake and Jane” show went Orson Wells, as in the “War of the Worlds” scare (disclaimer: I’m Jake). This incident took place in the mid-2000s. The band Widespread Panic was playing in Aspen, and someone started a rumor they would give a surprise show at the Ship of Fools bar/restaurant on Main Street on Saturday night (our night).
Jane and I went on-air at the height of the rumor mongering and thought it would be a good idea to expand upon it. Ringo Starr had a house outside Aspen at the time, so we told KDNK listeners he was also coming to Carbondale and would play at “Sleeves Guitars” (aka Steve’s Guitars). A couple of the Eagles were also in Aspen and were headed to “The Smore House” (aka The Pour House).
We came up with one or two more bands with Aspen or Colorado connections and said they were going to play at the “Blue Nugget.” Jane and I were having a great time until we got a phone call from either the mayor or chief of police (can’t remember which). He’d figured out the joke and was getting calls from people, asking if these bands were really playing Carbondale that night. I don’t remember whether we just stopped our shtick or told listeners they’d been had. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted.
From the “Department of Good News and Bad News” comes this one (as told to me by former program director Luke Nestler). A DJ who went by the name “Social” had just finished his first show. As he was leaving the studio, station director Allen Scott told him he had good news and bad news for him. “Social” opted for the bad news first and Scott said, “Three people called and hated your show.” Social sighed and asked for the good news. Scott smiled and replied, “You’ve got listeners.”
In the station’s early days, Mike Speer and Lee Swidler broadcast a weekly show from various locations called “Mike and Manny in the Morning.” One day, they were doing their show at the old Lariat bar (now Juicy Lucy’s) and a guy from one of the senior housing facilities came in and gave them each a belt buckle with “KDNK” inscribed in big letters. “He made the buckles out of scrap copper pipe,” Swidler told me.
Notes:
– From a May 22, 1986 “Across the Fence” blurb in the Valley Journal: “This Friday from 5-7pm, Brad Hendricks will host a discussion on Carbondale’s economic future … titled “Put your money where your mouth is, a hard look at our sexual attitude toward tourists.”
– From Luke Nestler: KDNK’s original mixing board from the Dinkel building was used for the production studio board when the station moved to the old town hall building. One day, people in the KDNK offices started smelling smoke. “It was coming from the mixing board,” he said. Later, the station donated the board to a community radio station at Standing Rock Indian Reservation. “That was kind of cool.”
– Lynn says he’s still accepting KDNK related anecdotes, stories, memories and names of DJs, board members and staff, volunteers, supporters and anything else that might fit in compiling the first draft of KDNK’s history. You can send your thoughts to kdnk4lynn@gmail.com