Radio used to be the gateway to new music for the general populace, with DJs acting as the disembodied-voiced gatekeepers. But when everyone has an MP3 player that’s 100% tailored to their own tastes, how is radio trying to stay relevant to modern music?
The film visits Vermont’s MP103, a commercial radio station that plays a tightly controlled group of songs from a wide variety of genres and decades—provided, of course, that they were hits. Even more interestingly, the station operates without any DJs. Bob Rowe, MP103′s general manager, talks about ethos of a DJ-less radio station that relies on classic hits instead of cutting-edge new music.
On the flip side, WOMM-LP 105.9 The Radiator is a non-profit, low-power radio station that started in 2007. Unlike nearly every commercial radio station, The Radiator is totally free-form, meaning that its volunteer DJs are free to play any song they want at any time. Brian Nagle, a.k.a. DJ Disco Phantom, is featured while hosting his show Beat Connection. Nagle talks about having total control over his playlist and why a DJ is more important now than ever in an age of musical oversaturation.