Tonight, I turned on the radi-adi-o, and I found out that one of my favorite DJs, Jim Riecken of Fairleigh Dickinson's WFDU, succumbed to pancreatic cancer a week ago. Taking a moment to think about my musical tastes, I have to say that Mr Riecken's influence on my musical tastes is second only to the influence of the legendary WLIR. Jim was a champion not only of punk and post-punk music, but surf rock, 60's sci-fi instrumentals, space age bachelor pad music, ska, moldy oldies (the record's gotta be old, and it's got to have mold, but not Bob Mould)... his music tastes were eclectic. He was also a prolific IMDB reviewer and incorporated a lot of clips from 50's sci-fi B-movies and film noir... I bought the DVD of Kiss Me Deadly, now one of my favorite movies, simply because I was intrigued by the clips he played during his show. He was also a big fan of Forteana, which went hand-in-hand with his interest in sci-fi.
I guess the best way to pay tribute to a DJ is to embed some videos of artists I first heard on his show, in no particular order:
Saturday nights aren't going to be the same without him. Rest in peace, old pal.
Because of his love for nature and the outdoors you could always find him at the Closter Nature Center exploring all the trails and ponds.
ReplyDeleteSounds like he was a great guy, B^4.
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I'm sure I heard the guy at one time or another. WFDU was one of my favorite stations when I lived in NYC, right after WFMU and up there with WFUV which was, IIRC, Fordham's radio program. WLIR: I had trouble picking up its signal when I lived there. It faded in and out so I never wound up listening to it for very long.
ReplyDeleteOf all the weird east-coast things that I find endlessly fascinating, even weirder than calling Best Foods Mayonnaise "Hellmans" like it's Hell Boy's dad or something, is the radio stations starting with Double-U.
ReplyDeleteThat's gotta make the station jingle-writers crazy, gnome sane?
Forteana? (ears perk up)
ReplyDeleteDamn shame, B. I grew up in radio hell (save for my endless fascination for 70's AM radio cheese {Stephen Bishop, anyone?}), must have been nice to have an inventive station/DJ.
Actually, we did have one morning DJ (morning zoo - type) who took a mental vacation, locked his door and played "Bang The Drum" by Todd Rundgren about 35 times before someone found a key and relieved him of his duties on a more or less permanent basis. Not necessarily inventive, but in small city WI, you take your fun when you get it.
I was present for my friend getting canned for an all FUCK songs radio show. Fun!
ReplyDeleteJim and LIR were two of my musical saviors as well. Still miss him.
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