There few times in life when you really, really get to experience each moment to it's fullest. We'd all like to live by the mantra of grabbing each of one of them as they pass by blah,blah, blah... but for the most part they're lost in the mundanity of paying the mortgage, trying to relax, or stopping the kids from hurting themselves. I feel pretty lucky because on Monday night between 8 and 10pm I get two hours when all the moments are mine. In those two hours each moment is slowed down inside a pair of headphones just long enough for me to put my spin on it, and in between a small, stinky room in the Oneroa arts complex and any number of radios on this island the moments that go out on the air waves are in the order that I want to put them. I am not the artist (my musical ability is sorely lacking), but in this pursuit I am the jigsaw maker, I decide which piece will be cut from the larger matrix of music to fit in with the other peices around it. And for those two hours I can live each moment, not only can I live it, I can make it what I want. If I want to make it sad -- easy (I do have a country music theme going on after all), if I want to make it rebellious? easy.... feel like drinking? You get the picture.Why do I and a whole bunch of other Beach Radio DJs do it? We don't get paid for the time, or all the hours doing things like gathering new music, loading it on to computers, blogging playlists, making stings, etc. Not speaking for the rest of them, but I do it because I really like the feeling of making a show up, of getting into the groove and pulling one out, because a "show" becomes more than the sum of it's musical parts. This is why listening to the station's computer play music just doesn't really do it for most people. It's the DJ that really makes this thing hum, because the DJ is a transmitter. S/he is the soul of radio.
If you're reading this blog you probably already listen to the Beach and you may have heard a bit of the rumour or press of our somewhat troubled existence. The one thing about this station seems to be that it's bloody resilient! This island needs a radio station. That's all there is too it; and it seems to know it, because it would appear that the place has been on the brink more than a few times, but it's still here - transmitting. Keep listening, cause we're doing our best to keep thing going to keep the soul of the DJ what it's all about.
And maybe it just is the best little radio station in the world.
Who knows?
Image: Unhindered by Talent
