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I'm betting most of us have never heard of KLOL Radio, a Houston station that was around long before "LOL" became a computer abbreviation. What made the place legendary was that it was total free form radio, allowing its often wild DJs to play anything they wanted with no playlist.
I'm always interested in any documentary on this topic, but it's really the story of how a format that many stations tried and succeeded with, was essentially killed by managers, corporations and legislators, who wanted what they believed was a more viable commercial entity. So of course, they killed it.
"Runaway Radio focuses on Houston’s 101 KLOL – starting in 1970 as a progressive radio station, where DJs played whatever they wanted, to how it evolved into one of several wild Album Oriented Rock (AOR) stations across the country, where on-air personalities were sometimes bigger than the music itself!
But in the end, changes and pressures from Washington, the music industry and Silicon Valley led to the station’s, and much of the format’s, demise in the 2000s.”
What's interesting about this particular movie is who's in it. There are comments from some famous musicians, including Dusty Hill from ZZ Top, Sammy Hagar, Carmine Appice, Melissa Etheridge and more. Even the trailer for the flick, called "Runaway Radio" is pretty intriguing. You can see that below, but whether this doc will ever come to a medium where you can see it here is unknown.
I hope it will. After seeing the trailer, I'd watch it for sure.
Runaway Radio Trailer Previews the Jamming Documentary
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According to the KLOL website "the film will be available to rent or buy on all major VOD platforms including Itunes, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, and cable/satellite starting February 27th"