Judas Priest and Max Volume

Great Moments in Radio 3.0 -Judas Priest Trial Category: Jobs, Work, Careers
The American Dream. It's different for each of us, yet so much the same. And why is it inherently American? I read this book by the Dali Lama. To surmise the wisdom of it's many pages, we're all so different, yet so much tha same. We all want Love. We all want a warm safe place to sleep. We all want clean water. A nice meal. Yet, by virtue of being ourselves, sooner or later we're going to piss somebody off. So why purposely piss someone off. You're gonna do it anyway. I read a book by Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard's Almanac". What did I get from it? This quote: "Most people die when they're 21, but they're buried at 84". By 21 most of the masses have learned all they will learn. they've decided on which foods, which "brands", which styles, which music they enjoy. They become rotting sacks of flesh, consuming, and purging, flushing away yesterday. Some reinvent themselves. Some grow. Some contribute. It's all a big equation in some Vonnegut daydream. I give. I have always been in pursuit of my dream. To find love, make a home, and participate in the arena of life. I got an internship in radio my first year in college. It was 1982. KOZZ was Reno's only Rock. There was a cool AM top 40; KCBN. They were good. They had class, top talent, and did a great job of mixing up the hits. They all had nice haircuts. KOZZ however, was the long haired hippie rockers. KOZZ had a 75,000 watt transmitter, and a relentlessly good staff. Led by Daniel Cook, a.k.a. the "Sarge", KOZZ started the day with Bruce Van Dyke, who did some of the coolest, funniest radio ever. Steve Funk followed with a mid day buffet of tasty treats, pure sonic bliss. The Sarge drove everyone home with some of the harder stuff, and had the gift of theatre to his show. After 6pm, I came on. I played whatever I felt like. I came up with names for excursions into the fray. Headphones Only was prog rock heaven. Metal shop was teeth, radio with bite. Power. I had every record company in the world sending me product. I listened to everything, and played what I liked. As a musician in a band, I could make a statement, but as a Dj with a "Big Stick" (radio terminology for transmitter in excess of 50,000 watts) I could shape the musical landscape of 3 generations of listeners. More people listened to me than drove cars. I had a 48- 53 share of male & female's 18-49. I could make or break bands. Then something happened that would end up taking the music away from the Dj's, and into the hands of the consultants. Rock Band Judas Priest would get sued for alleged "subliminal messages" in their music. Our company and general manager would issue this edict: that we trust the judgement of our Dj's to play quality music popular to the audience. Yet on a national level, the impact of the Judas Priest Trial, spearheaded by Ken McKenna, in Washoe County, would have broadcasting companies opting for the conduit of consultancy. Hiring a third party to make the decisions about music. The music was put on trial. Here in Reno, Nevada people would became polarized into two factions: those who thought the belief that music made two Sparks teens form a suicide pact was asinine, and ludicrous, and those who believed Rock music was the Devil. It was a story that sold newspapers, and got big ratings for the evening news. It had parents groups in a fuss. It had preachers screaming from the pulpit. Did they attack Columbia Records? Did they drive to Hollywood and do their backwoods hick song and dance? No. They came after me. It put my ass right in the crosshairs of every right wing wacko, religious zealot, and fueled the fire for the competition. Newspaper reporters were in the lobby waiting for me to get to work. TV news teams would have a camera on me when I got out of my car. Nice to get your car on TV so some nutjob can slash your tires. I had a TV news team show up at my house. My house was on the evening news! Shortly thereafter, my house was broken into, and some wacko destroyed all my belongings, and spray painted "Child Killer" all over the walls. Legal recourse? Basically what I got from the "Powers the Be" was, that by playing the music, I should accept the consequences of my actions...wait, what? Some sort of Machiavellian twist on "Tacit Consent". Good thing my guitar was with me. My girlfriend, being quite scared, left me, moved out. I slept in a cave on Hidden Beach. People spit on me in restaurants. I got "roughed" up a time or two. Always 2 or 3 big "rednecks", never a fair fight. I did many interviews of clear intelligent rational thought. TV took the sound bites they wanted, and Newspaper wrote stories with a "slant" to further their agenda: that I was a messenger of Satan. There was one decent guy, Steve Timko, Sparks Tribune. Steve didn't buy into all the fear mongering. Steve wrote a good string of stories and chronicled the case. I could have left Reno, but that would be cowardly. I was in it to the end. I would see the day in court. I would be vindicated. You see, until 1987, (when the "Sarge" and I started KRZQ,) I was the only person who ever played Judas Priest on air. I was implicated as the sole accomplice to the band, an emissary of sorts, administering the doses. They wanted to hold me accountable. They wanted to make an example out of me. I gave them all the finger. I forged on. By the late '80s Metal would be the biggest selling music on the planet. Here's a little lesson in economics: Rock Bands are out to sell CD's. No one is going to make money selling music that makes you kill yourself. Not gonna sell too many tickets to your shows, if everyone dies rockin out to your songs. When the trial was over, and Ken McKenna lost his case, Rob Halford, KK Downing, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill, Skip Herman, several Sony Music Honchos, and I all broke bread, and drank of the vine...heavily. People from the biz still ask me: You still in Reno? You bet your ass. I'm still working on my American Dream, some jackass attorney gave me quite a detour.