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Review:
Saturday night before my radio show, a good friend crucified my evening with a noisy public scene peppered with the F-word. There was also a lot of stomp-stomp-stomping back and forth. My initial response, “Huh?” could not save me from the black cloud his bad mood left behind.
After my show, I was angry and depressed and decided to just stay awake up at the station to watch Maki, our engineer, gut the transmitter room which was filled with gear from 20-years of someone else’ pack rat habits, vacuum it, build a wall of new steel shelving units, and then put everything back dust free to approximate a kind of grocery store logic.
He even found the reel-to-reel tape machine which I started looking for several years ago.
This went on into Sunday day, until about an hour before the LMU Alumni Barbeque and KXLU 50th Anniversary and Reunion Party when folks would tour the station.
Maki pschaawed my suggestion to just shut and lock the door, “And then no one will see the mess!”
Also there past midnight, Lydia Ammossow, the station advisor, and Daisy Buchannan, KXLU GM, and a handful of volunteers hung up on walls, inside the station and out down the long hallway, photos from the station archive. This was history given the weight of Tradition (capital “T”) once framed in IKEA.
After they left, I couldn’t help marching around the beautiful facelift, joking, “Why, this is a facade! This is not KXLU! Where is the REAL KXLU that was here yesterday? Hmmmm? Well???”
When I started over a decade ago, the station had the ambience of Al’s Bar, the infamous downtown LA venue on Traction and Alvarado. It was dark and stinky, with band stickers covering every surface, flyers, gum, graffiti on the walls, and cigarette-burned, beer-stained carpet. KXLU oozed attitude and punk rock. It was as down-to-earth as you could possibly get. I loved it.
Since those days, each floor of this building has been stripped down to its steel frame and rebuilt. KXLU now has bright fluorescent lights, cubicles, matching furniture, a new phone system and the latest speedy computers. We have a brand new production room with new board and a ProTools workstation. Floor-to-ceiling windows on the outward facing walls ends the era of radio-station-as-cave. Anchoring the far end of this floor, the university built a banquet room on par with one at The Biltmore (having now visited The Biltmore, let me downgrade this to “on par with The Marriott”). It has a terrace overlooking the city.
The party was held in these two rooms, radio station and banquet hall. At the KXLU end, there was a table of fresh tropical fruit, hummus, dolmades, rolled prosciutto, grilled eggplant, marinated mushrooms, and a cheese and olive bar. A second table had Mexican food.
In the banquet room, they served decent champagne and there were two tables of desserts including strawberries dipped-in-chocolate, mini fruit tarts, and a selection of pate a choux.
Some of the alumni in attendance looked “past middle-age,” with the exception of Nestor and Yolanda who don’t age.
People also brought their toddlers, who in turn stalked my pet chihuahua for hours. I snuck him in and he was stuffed in the backpack I had on with his head sticking out. The little ones wanted the chance to shake Tommy’s furry paw, kiss his doggy nose, and be blessed by his inner light. This cheered me up.
Lydia started it off with a long emotional speech. A nod was given to Stella at the open and to Reverend Dan who was minding the decks. Daisy followed with a short toast. Laney Bove, VP of Student Affairs, wrapped up the ceremony with a funny anecdote.
I later asked Dr. Bove how long she has been at LMU because I remember her when I attended the university in 1989.
Her speech made me laugh. In the early to mid-90s, there was a sentiment among DJs that KXLU was like a troublesome mongrel she’d been stuck with and if she had the choice would just banish the station and its culture.
Things changed dramatically once she hired a station advisor, Lydia Ammosow, to clean up our act with respect to The Law and what I’ll put under the umbrella of “station hygiene.”
I suppose the culture is more-or-less left intact, but with less chance of DJs and their guests spilling beer all over the board and leaving a trail of vomit from station to restrooms down the hall. Pot and garbage no longer perfumes the air late at night. And the University’s fiduciary responsibility is protected against FCC fines for things like cursing.
Laney Bove’s speech reflected a softening towards the station, perhaps even a growing respect. Having read, “Why We Love The Dogs We Do” by Stanley Coren where he mentions familiarity as a driving force for human attachment. KXLU, the stray dog of the airwaves has come back from the groomers. It’s the same dog with the same heart. The prettied up exterior is not a facade, but a reflection of positive change.
