Radio Death of Indie 103.1

Message from INDIE 103.1:
(January 15, 2009)

This is an important message for the Indie 103.1 radio audience.

Indie 103.1 will cease broadcasting over this frequency effective immediately. Because of changes in the radio industry and the way radio audiences are measured, stations in this market are being forced to play too much Britney, Puffy and alternative music that is neither new nor cutting edge. Due to these challenges, Indie 103.1 was recently faced with only one option --- to play the corporate radio game.

We have decided not to play that game any longer. Rather than changing the sound, spirit, and soul of what has made Indie 103.1 great. Indie 103.1 will bid farewell to the terrestrial airwaves and take an alternative course.

This could only be done on the Internet, a place where rules do not apply and where new music thrives; be it grunge, punk, or alternative simply put, only the best music.

For those of you with a computer at home or at work, log on to www.indie1031.com and listen to the new Indie 103.1 - which is really the old Indie 103.1, not the version of Indie 103.1 we are removing from the broadcast airwaves.

We thank our listeners and advertisers for their support of the greatest radio station ever conceived, and look forward to continuing to deliver the famed Indie 103.1 music and spirit over the Internet to passionate music listeners around the world.

This end reminded me of the beginning…

It all started with MARS-FM (1991-1992). The radio airwaves gave birth to a new station that allowed me to get away from the popular listening norm of KIIS-FM, POWER 106, and that KROQ endlessly playing Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Under the Bridge.” MARS-FM was the first time that I heard Rave or Techno music turn mainstream. It was awesome, energetic, and new, like a jolt of electricity to L.A. This is what L.A. was about, going beyond the radio stations of other commercial cities. I recorded hours of it on Maxell 60 tape using my dying boombox, letting it just sit and record before I left for school in the morning. It was the best. The talk spread about the station, the movement grew, Rave flyers started to pile. I remember having a wall of flyers, so many different designs, with most poking fun at media advertisements. It was “Chronic” instead of “Coca-Cola.” “Loser” instead of “Lottery.” It was art that stated the obvious of modern society. This was the first time I felt joyous that I wasn’t the only one that saw through the mass media pile of brown. From then, it all became a fascinating culture of art and sound for me. This new mainstream airing of music connected the kids. Though, I never did make it out to a Rave, never calling the number to find out where to meet to find out where the actual location of the Rave was at. My friends had all the candy fixins just the same.

Then the radio station disappeared. I had no idea what happened. I imagined the station got busted for something connected with this Ecstasy drug that started to become prominent along side with the popular pot. But, according to Wikipedia the station owners were seeking something more mainstream, causing the station to turn into Jazz. My favorite station was gone. First Gemco, now this?

I still had my tapes, access to party drugs, and the flyers that kept piling. It lasted for a while, a few months, until I was back on the KROQ & POWER 106 bandwagon to save myself from wide-eyed insomnia.

GROOVE RADIO 103.1 (1996 – 1998) broke in on the air a few years later giving wide birth to Dance & Electronica. It was Techno music in a less abstract form it seemed. This new stuff was listenable even without being under-the-chemical-influence. This is when the debate started as to what was “Dance” and what was “Techno.” Dance music was the new trend and techno was dying or slowing its beat into a new genre called Electronica. Public popularity shifted towards Dance Music because normal people could actually “dance” to it, and the sound was bubblier. This dance music blended towards the Hip-Hop sound and beat, which caused it to shift away from Electronica. Dance Music became the new pop music while Electronica became the underground sound, adding itself to the Techno scene repertoire.

GROOVE RADIO 103.1 and the short lived GROOVE 103.1 (1998) soon died as the likes of Dance Music was grabbed by commercialism and exploited into continuous air-play on stations like KIIS-FM. La Bouche’s dance hit “Be My Lover” became part of KIIS-FM’s regular five song rotation. As for Electronica, it was on KROQ’s late-late-night “Afterhours” Jason Bentley show. I was hooked on “Afterhours” as if it was the last morsel of glimmering hope for non-mainstream music. Meanwhile, 103.1 became a sort of Classic/Modern Rock station playing all the “great” mainstream popular hits.

Half a decade later, KDL 103.1 (2003) arose feebly in an attempt to capture back the GROOVE RADIO 103.1 audience by playing that Dance Music and bits of Techno. It was the “best of” combination between GROOVE RADIO 103.1 and MARS-FM, the stuff that survived and became popular years later. Nostalgic to those that knew, and new to those that never heard. But this station died dead and gone before the year was over, and for me, marked the end of the last bit of the Rave era. “James Brown Is Dead” played continuously that December, and for a while, I thought the DJs were on holiday break and the equipment had malfunctioned with nobody noticing.

Then came INDIE 103.1 (December 31, 2003 – January 15, 2009). It sure wasn’t KROQ. And, it wasn’t even close to being a rehash of MARS-FM or GROOVE RADIO 103.1. This was really something new, but I felt weary of falling for this 103.1 station once again, knowing the consequences of finding such tragic love on this station frequency many time before. This new station was now just another preset button on my radio. The music scene, in general, wasn’t much interest to me anymore after the death of KDL 103.1.

Somewhere in late 2006, early ‘07, I found myself listening to this Mark Sovel "Mr. Shovel" more than often on INDIE 103.1. And he’d talk about all this local music and fun to be had on his special Sunday radio show called “Check One…Two…”

I’d always miss this special show, but Mr. Shovel kept reminding listeners to tune in, and then a few months later, he mentioned that this “Check One…Two…” show was now available for download for Free as an iTunes Podcast! I downloaded as many shows as possible, as soon as possible, because I realized that they disappeared after a while. Then one day I checked iTunes and it was no longer available for download! I found them all on INDIE 103.1’s website, but unable to download them (in legal terms). But it was okay, because by then I was going to Mr. Shovel’s “Check One…Two…” at The Viper Room. Live Indie music for Free! And cheap drinks. Mondays were great!

Mr. Shovel & INDIE 103.1 got me interested in the local music scene. Live music is the place to be, and the local music is great, and a lot of it, and repeat: cheap! Mr. Shovel discovered diamonds that he shared with audiences, while MySpace allowed other seekers to add to their own musical pleasure. 405 East has been my attempt to share my music pleasures with anybody passionate with the local music scene. Mr. Shovel was the enterprising endeavor, but after it’s over, he’ll be remembered and I’ll go on being the trudging explorer. INDIE 103.1 & Mr. Shovel will not be forgotten. If it wasn’t for INDIE 103.1 and Mr. Shovel, I’d still be listening to KROQ as it plays, still to this day, Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Under The Bridge.”

As of what the future holds for radio frequency 103.1? Something commercial pop friendly is likely what’s going to happen for a while. Then something else may arise afterwards that might be worthy listening, maybe. Bring back MARS-FM? Or a rehash of INIDIE 103.1 called INDIE RADIO 103.1? Or kill the radio frequency entirely, ending the era of radio 103.1?

In the meantime, I’ll instead be dropping in on 89.9 KCRW when the station plays music. Though, of recent, I started listening to 88.9 KXLU, which is a college station broadcasting out of Loyola Marymount University. No Commercials, ever! Fifty-plus years and still cranking it Indie. A variety of unheard music in a very very Indie operation. The music and the DJs will grow on you after a while. Now that I think of it, I wonder what’s on it now? Oh, how commitments wander…I’ll listen to INDIE 103.1 when I’m near a computer, if I’m not listening to Little Radio. Likely, I’ll just reminisce with my collected months of Mr. Shovel’s Podcasts instead.

Once again, Thank You Mr. Shovel & Indie 103.1 for breaking new ground in expanding music awareness of the independents. Your contribution to the Indie Los Angeles music scene will always be monumental.

*(Show air dates and memory jogging provide by: Wikipedia.)