Radio daze

The low-power solution

by Brett Milano

Of all the truisms in the rock world, few are more universally accepted than "radio sucks" -- just ask anybody waiting to hear his favorite underground band, or his own underground band, on the airwaves. By now the structure of most commercial radio is so ingrained that one could never imagine it being shaken up, unless something radical happened.

The news, however, is that something radical may be about to happen. Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broached the possibility of low-power radio -- meaning that it would grant licenses to small commercial stations, ranging from 100 to 1000 watts, and allow those stations to share airwaves with the multiwatt megaliths. The content and quality of these stations would depend on their owners, but literally anything could happen, whether nonformatted music radio or uncensored political content. At the very least, the FCC policy change would means that radio could suck in all sorts of adventurous new ways. It could also mean the return of radio with a truly local slant (it would have to, since FCC restrictions are for an 18-mile broadcast diameter). Particularly in cities that don't have Boston's college-radio circuit -- and don't even have locally programmed commercial stations -- there are now creative possibilities that didn't exist before.

DC musician Jenny Toomey is lately emerging as a low-power radio activist. Having fought the good fight as the frontwoman of Tsunami and co-owner of the great pop label Simple Machines (which was quietly laid to rest last year), Toomey well knows how lack of radio possibilities can affect a label or band. "Running the label, I could see the moments that we had radio play or large-scale press, it would immediately have a bump on record sales. But it became impossible to get the amount of radio play that we needed to survive." Yet she has a fan's interest as well as an artist's. "I'm a little bit self-interested, in that I would like to hear better music on the radio," she says. "Washington, DC, is a uniquely barren radio town -- I'm not some famous artist, but I've never heard myself on the radio in DC, and I've heard myself in a lot of different cities. Maybe I've heard Fugazi here once."

One of the last blows against DC radio was struck in the late '70s when Georgetown University, which Toomey later attended, unloaded its station. "Until then, WGTB was a real radical, left-of-Communist station. And, of course, it embarrassed the administration of the school, which is mostly Jesuit Catholic -- they didn't want to deal with things like Planned Parenthood ads. The president wound up selling the transmitter for a dollar. Before that happened there was a benefit to save the station, with the Cramps playing. And if you talk to any of the DC scenesters, like the ones who started the Dischord label, that was their first punk-rock show."

Georgetown is now applying for a low-power license. And Toomey is working to assemble a coalition of musicians and industry types to help make the plan a reality. She was energized by a recent talk she had with FCC chairman William Kennard. "He's the one who proposed giving the presidential candidates free airtime, which all the broadcasters hated. And he's committed to bridging the technology gap. You can understand why this is happening: there's a narrow number of licenses to be had -- in DC, two recently sold for $11 and $13 million dollars. You've got conglomerates buying several stations, programming from one site, and sending it via satellite feeds, with the content based on surveys and polls. So there's no actual pleasure involved."

If low-power radio becomes a reality, one of the first local results would likely be a revival of Radio Free Allston, which was shut down last year. With its mix of indie rock, foreign-language, and public-affairs programming, the station was a rare example of true community radio. "It was there to represent the community who are underserved by radio, which is getting to be more and more of the population," station founder Steve Provizer said last week. "Everyone's agreed that something will happen -- the question is, will it be something that really gives communities access? A thousand-watt station would be financially out of the range of most grassroots organizations. So far the FCC hasn't put a cap on national ownership of low-power stations, and the key is to keep it local. But you're going to have a lot of competition for the 100-watt frequencies." Still, he points out, Radio Free Allston was able to operate with only 20 watts and a $1000 investment.

The FCC proposal is still under debate: things will likely heat up as big broadcasters get into the fray. But the floor is open, and a good wrap-up of the basics, with links to contact the FCC, can be found at www.lowpowerradio.org. Provizer's group, the Citizens Media Corps, is holding a public forum February 19 at Allston's Jackson-Mann School at 7:30 p.m. "If this gets shut down, it could take another 20 years to come up again," Toomey notes. Adds Provizer: "What we're about is making people understand that they have something to say in this process. The system actually does allow it."

BOY WONDER

With each new incarnation of Boy Wonder, singer/guitarist Paula Kelley gets closer to her true calling as a displaced '60s popster. In a previous life she would have been hanging out at the Troubadour on Sunset Strip, sharing a table with the Turtles and the Association. Instead, she's devoted herself to channeling the sound and spirit of that era, and the new Boy Wonder EP -- Break the Spell, Etc (Jackass), featuring an overhauled band lineup -- is her purest excursion into classic pop. But as usually happens when songwriters get closer to what's in their hearts, it also comes across as her most personal effort. To these ears, "Break the Spell" (which first appeared on last year's Twisted Rico compilation) is her breakthrough song. Its mix of bubbly hook and sad overtone is what she's always done, but she's never brought it off this touchingly before.

"That was one of those old 'write it in 20 minutes and not know where the hell it came from'-type songs," she noted in a phone chat last week. "It's a real personal song lyrically, but if I try to explain it, it's going to sound like drivel and I'll be embarrassed." Asked to give it a shot anyway, she volunteers, "It's another variation on my self-loathing. But there's always a glimmer of hope, because I can loathe others as I loathe myself."

One doesn't think of Kelley as the self-loathing type, but there evidently was a crisis of confidence about the current EP: at first she wasn't sure if she wanted to include all of the available songs, so it was originally mastered in both a six- and a seven-song version. Then she decided to release only five, so it had to be remastered yet again. My advance copy includes one of the rejected tunes -- a perfectly good ballad, "Left & Right" -- but the finished EP finds her sharing the spotlight more, singing lead on only three tracks (bassist Josh Arkelian handles the cover tune, the Turtles' fab "Elenore"). "I like the idea of everyone in the band being interesting, instead of just me -- though of course it's debatable whether we're interesting or not," she said. "No offense to any of the former members, but these are the people I always wanted in the band, and it took three frigging years to find them."

Given her musical taste, it's surprising that Kelley first appeared locally as a member of the grunge-inspired Drop Nineteens ("You gotta start somewhere," she now says). One could never imagine that band doing something like the new EP's "Over Your Head," on which Kelley realizes a long-time ambition: to write her own Bee Gees ballad. That unfashionable group has always figured prominently in her world -- when we spoke last year she opened up about her long-standing crush on Robin Gibb. And she's lately joined with some other local popsters -- Permafrost's Ad Frank among them -- to form the Boyjoys, Boston's first, best, and only Bee Gees cover band (the next show is March 18 at the Lizard Lounge). So far it's strictly pre-disco, heavily slanted toward early album tracks. "Though we do a few hits to please the kids. We're stealing `To Love Somebody' back from Michael Bolton. I'm sure what's going to happen -- it's going to be way bigger than our regular bands combined." Meanwhile, Boy Wonder have their CD-release party this Saturday at T.T. the Bear's Place.

COMING UP

The great Dr. John rolls into the House of Blues tonight (Thursday); Binge rock at the Linwood; Chandler Travis does his quirky thing at the Lizard Lounge with the Sugar Twins guesting; Red Telephone and the Sterlings pop it up at Lansdowne Street Music Hall; the Racketeers are at Bill's Bar; and reunited rap heroes Brand Nubian are at the Middle East. . . Tugboat Annie and the reunited Swirlies are at the Middle East tomorrow (Friday); Elmore Leonard reads at Lansdowne Street with the Stone Coyotes; Sugar Daddy is at T.T. the Bear's Place; teen zydeco whiz Chris Ardoin is at Johnny D's; Tinsley Ellis is at Harpers Ferry; the Davies County Panthers are at Jacques; and Expanding Man is at Bill's. . . Having moved to New York last month, Blake Hazard returns to open for Melissa Ferrick at the Paradise Saturday; Roadsaw have a party for the national re-release of their Nationwide album at the Middle East, while Count Zero, Ray Corvair and Señor Happy are upstairs; the Grits are at Toad; Dennis Brennan is at the Lizard Lounge; the Strangemen are at the Linwood; and Mighty Sam McClain is at the House of Blues. . . The Secret Stars and Buffalo Tom's Chris Colbourn share a Middle East bill Monday. . . Current hitmakers Eve 6 play a sold-out Paradise show Wednesday.