Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Cleveland Rocks!

Regular readers know that I've recently begun digitizing the mountain of WPRB aircheck tapes I've accumulated since becoming a listener to the station back in the mid 80s. PRB DJs from that era like Josh Goldfein, Helen Petroff, Mr. Mike Shmelzer, and Rockin' Tim Kastelle remain some of my earliest FM heroes—not far behind Mr. Magic and DJ Red Alert—and certainly played a key role in setting my mind upon radio while still in my very early teens. I joined the WPRB airstaff in 1992 thanks to the encouragement of a few peers in whom I recognized a shared love for independent music and broadcasting. But the shift from idolizing DJs whom I only knew as on-air personalities versus those who would become close friends and creative collaborators was peculiar, to say the least. I still trade emails with many of them several times a week, whereas others vanished into the ether without leaving a single clue as to their next destination. One example of the latter was a woman named Corey.

She was one of WPRB's two music directors at the time I weaseled my way onto the air schedule. Corey was only a year or two older than me, but in many ways came across as the fearsome matriarch of the station. Though she never told me so, I'm sure she thought I was a dork. And she was right—I was a dork. I was a major dork. But I was also enthusiastic, willing to helm an overnight time slot, plus I had a vocal hatred for the band Primus (and therefore promised to deny any telephoned requests for them). It may sound strange now, but in 1992, that last detail was a major asset for townies hoping to land an airslot on the lauded commercial college station.

Corey was into really difficult music, for a student or otherwise. It's almost absurd to think of any current college-age DJ having her musical taste, which had somehow bypassed all the stuff I thought was cool at the time. Her aesthetic was rooted in the musical realm of John Giorno's Poetry Systems, the Dry Lungs noise comps, New Zealand weirdness like the Plagal Grind, the early Homestead Records catalog, and nobody garage bands who'd come and gone without a trace of recognition in their time. Unlike many of WPRB's programs (mine included) which were heavily mired in punk, pop, or indie rock, I recall Corey's show being truly freeform, and bound together by her brilliantly sardonic mic-breaks. After I got to know her, the sense that she was not one to trifle with became even more apparent. Corey was intimidating, she could be wicked mean if she felt like it, and she possessed an amazing ability to whip a bunch of unruly motherfuckers into shape in no seconds, flat.

Sadly, any airchecks I had of either her solo program, or the one she hosted with another female DJ (whose name I forget) called "The Three Bad Sisters" (each host comprising 1.5 of the sisters!) are now long gone, but I did manage to scare up this promo for a Cleveland-centric edition of WPRB's Spotlight which she hosted sometime in 1992.

Spotlight Promo from WPRB-FM [Listen]

Although it has long since disappeared from WPRB's schedule, Spotlight was a fantastic program in its day. It was hosted by a different DJ each week, and one had to sign up months in advance (on a clipboard in the station's lobby, of course) for a date and artist to focus on. Subsequently, each week's edition of the program was like a crash-course in rabid obsession over a particular band, label, or scene. I fondly recall listening to overexcited DJs drool fanatically over entities as varied as Einstürzende Neubauten, the Feelies, Flying Nun Records... I once hosted an edition of it that focused entirely on the band NoMeansNo, but 15 minutes into my one hour segment, I discovered that an electrical storm had knocked the transmitter off the air and that not a note of my meticulously selected music had been heard. With only 45 minutes left to cram in the hour's worth of music, I raced through the entire thing without doing a single mic break, thusly wiping out any educational value that might've been foisted upon newcomers to the band's catalog. Oh well.

In honor of Corey's more lasting contribution to Spotlight's legacy, here's a classic Cleveland track from the vault:

Sosumi - "Art Party" [MP3], originally from the brilliant Crash Course in Cleveland Life compilation.

and here's a more modern take on Cleveland [via WFMU's Lou Z]. Part of me really wants Les Black's Amazing Pink Holes to cover this.

Comments

[Tim Kastelle]

Hey Mike - thanks for the mention! I always figured that there would be at least one or two people listening - good to hear that this was true, and even better to hear that you went out and did yourself! A NoMeansNo Spotlight would've been worthwhile, with or without mic breaks if you ask me. Cheers- Tim (or, I suppose now it would be 'Readin' Writin' Teachin' Birdin' and still Occasionally Rockin' Tim)

[Ken Katkin]

Mike--
Although I too have lost touch with her now, I can tell you that DJ Corey M (who hailed from Florida) moved to Chicago when she graduated from Princeton. In Chicago, she was a regular player in my bi-weekly poker game (as was her fellow former WPRB DJ and difficult listening enthusiast Ken Yao). She was still in the Windy City when I moved away in 1996, but that's the last I heard from her. Thanks as always for the awesome post!

[SKM]

The other half of the Three Bad Sisters was Julianne, a grad student in the astrophysics department. She's now at the University of Washington and discovered a comet (since named for her).

I recall hearing that Corey went on to med school, perhaps after the stint in Chicago?

[Ethan Stein]

Great post. This is not relevant, but I saw Helen Petroff a few years ago on Jeopardy! As for Corey, I haven't been in touch with her for many years, but I appreciated her shows a lot too.

[r:m:b]

I'm sorry, did you say a COMET??! Wow. -Mike

[Chris Mohr]

Wow! How random is it that I decide to Google Helen Petroff and find this post only one day after it was published? She was a great person to be around. We painted the WPRB studios purple in the summer of 1983, I think it was.

Her stint on Jeopardy is recorded on a website, too.

Yes, agreed, nice post. Thanks for the perspective.

Hi, Tim, Ken, and Ethan!

-- Chris Mohr, WPRB alum, 1984-88; and an obsessive WPRB listener in my high school years in Bridgewater, NJ, 1980-1984...

[r:m:b]

Hey SKM, I seem to recall you hosting an edition or two of Spotlight. Can you refresh my memory? -Mike

[mike]

I was just going to mention Three Bad Sisters, which was one of my favorite WPRB shows of an amazingly solid on-air lineup. I tried never to miss that show or the Raw Deal.

[SKM]

I certainly did a few Spotlights, though I can't remember the subjects now. I might even have been the PD who placed the show on the schedule. WPRB couldn't do most of those shows today, thanks to the DMCA's insipid "sound recording complement," unless it turned off the webstream for the hour (or got advance permission from the subjects).

I have almost no airchecks in my crate of cassettes, and definitely no Spotlights. There's one from spring '94 (when some guy was supposedly replaying my airchecks for "Radio Jedna" in the Czech Republic), another from the day I killed Sunday opera with a three hour, three-movement Dead C-inspired audio landscape... otherwise, I only have the fading memories.

[r:m:b]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that detail of the DMCA... I think it comes shortly after the part about chopping down the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring, right?