Entry Two Hundred Thirty.
Thursday, 2020.06.18, 5:49 PM CST.
RADIO SRO!!! - radiosro.net!  WEEKLY broadcasts!
Current Mood:  Still grateful, and more than a little amazed.
Current Scent:  Bluer Skies (Whenever You're Around) by Chris Rusak.

Hi again.

I'm going to start with the main thing I want you to know:

If you want to hear me playing classic alternative rock and club/dance tracks, WEEKLY, then on Saturday nights at 7:00 PM central time, you need to tune in here:

radiosro.net

Here's how a series of events have led me to being part of this wonderful project:

SRO25 and SRO Remix
November 2010, November 2011:

So, as you may remember if you've followed my blog for a long time, ten years ago, I attended (and thoroughly loved) a reunion event in Tulsa called SRO25.  It was the celebration of twenty-five years since the opening of the long-defunct SRO club at 18th and Boston.

I got to stand a few feet away from the stage to see see Nitzer Ebb perform in a room of under 200 people, and then I got to meet them afterward... a phenomenal experience.  On top of that, I made some new friends and had a great time.

A year later, I had the privilege of being one of the performers at the follow-up event, SRO Remix.  I had hoped that we would do it again the next year...  but, the year passed, and then the next year passed... and I figured that the SRO celebrations were no more.

SRO35/SRO-i
May 30th - May 31st, 2020:

Earlier this year, Tim Barazza - the man responsible for starting not only SRO... but also KTOW Progressive Radio (1988-1991), my favorite radio programming of all time... as well as Beat Club, probably my favorite Tulsa dance club ever - reached out to me.

He wanted to discuss the possibility of doing an online party called SRO35 to celebrate the opening of SRO thirty-five years ago.  With the current COVID-19 pandemic, we obviously wouldn't want to gather a bunch of people together for a physical event, but to do it online seemed like something feasible.  To be honest, I wasn't sure how well it would go, but I was on-board and excited about it.

So, we did it.  At 4:00 PM on May 31st, I started the programming with a three-hour "Radio SRO" set focused on what people would have heard on KTOW.  At 7:00 PM, I switched it over to a one-hour dance set to essentially "open" for the other four DJs that night - Sean "DJ Sea" Kibble, Chris Martin, Monad "DJ Turk" Turk, and Peter Doerr.  We were using the just-almost-brand-new Mixcloud Live platform for broadcasting, and for the most part, things went swimmingly.

Meanwhile, over on Facebook, Tim had set up a bunch of online group chat rooms - newly-launched technology for Facebook as well! - in which people could gather in groups and chat with each other via videoconferencing on their phones.  Around the world, people who loved SRO and the Tulsa club culture of the late 1980s/early 1990s were able to see and talk with people whom they hadn't seen in years, or perhaps decades.

There were definitely a few technical snafus from the new technology, but overall, it was spectacular.  For all of this, Tim had thought up a new branding:  The SRO Interactive Network, aka SRO-i.

The next day, I agreed to do another Radio SRO set starting at 3:00 PM.  I had lots of listeners, and before my scheduled "end time," 6:00, I decided to go on for another half-hour.  Then, one of my fellow DJs - Chris Martin - kindly offered to send me a pizza if I would keep going for longer.  I wasn't sure if he was serious, but I gave him my address and shortly after, a delightful cheese pizza (per my request) showed up, with unexpected garlic knots.  Absolutely wonderful.

While I was working on that extra time, Tim Barraza himself reached out to me asking me to do another hour.  I very gladly did it.  Mentally, I could have just kept going and going.  I wasn't just playing tunes and trudging through a night like I would have done at some events... I was genuinely enjoying this set, and so were the people chatting with me on Mixcloud about it!

I ended up going about six and a half hours, playing tunes from CDs and vinyl, sitting down very infrequently.  My back and legs were plotting to murder me, but I LOVED that set.  I legitimately had tears in my eyes as I ended it, because for once, I had been able to give people an extended set of tracks from the KTOW era, bringing back the soundtrack of my high school and early college years for one final night... and I felt earnestly respected and appreciated for doing so.

But, it turned out that I was wrong about part of that.

This wouldn't be the final night.

The rise of Radio SRO
June 6th, 2020 - June 7th, 2020:

Soon after that, Tim and I chatted a bit more; considering the success of this online event, did we think that it might work on a regular basis?  I agreed with Tim to perform the next Saturday and Sunday, and I got to work on more new graphics and brouht up the idea of a brand new program that I called the Groovy Train - an homage to the old KTOW Party Train dance program that I had cherished back in the day.  (RIP, JT.)

At 7:00 PM CST on Saturday evening, I started Radio SRO back up, and a little after 10:00 PM, I switched over to the Groovy Train - essentially turning off the house lights at Fascination Street and kicking on the coconut fog and club light effects until around 1:00 AM.  The next day at 4:00 PM, I started another Radio SRO set that was scheduled until 10:00 PM.  Over twelve hours of programming in one weekend.

I loved those sets that weekend so very much... but as I explained on the mic, it was going to make things rough  on me to be "on the air" for twelve hours or so every subsequent weekend, not only because it was physcially and mentally draining, but more importantly, because I knew that time was getting carved out of potential time with my family and it would put a strain on my marriage.

On an additionally positive note, however, people were being VERY generous with their tips going into the Radio SRO "Virtual Tip Jar," so I was at least making some extra money from this... and that was helping a lot.

I talked with Tim about it some more, and we both agreed to scale it back to Saturdays only for now.

The next weekend, fate had other plans.  Heh.

Radio SRO/Power Issues
June 13th, 2020 - June 14th, 2020:

So, I was scheduled to go "on the air" with Radio SRO at 7:00 PM on Saturday the 13th, then switch to the "Groovy Train" programming at 10:00 PM, taking it until at least midnight (knowing it would last until probably at least 1:00 AM), and that would be it for that weekend.

I was geeked.  People online were geeked.  I had been scrambling through my horribly unorganized music collection, grabbing CDs and records left and right over the course of the week, and by the time Saturday evening came around, I was ready to just crush it.

And then, around 6:15 or 6:20 or so... the power went out.  A transmission line failure caused transformers around a huge part of Tulsa to lock up, ceasing electricity to over 28,000 customers.  I made the necessary posts online to let people know what was going on.

The power came back around 9:30-9:45, at which point my family and I were out for dinner at Sonic.  So, I got home as quickly as I could, and at 10:15 PM, I started up the Party Train, taking the set all the way out about 2:20 AM.  We still had people on chatting and having a good time.

Because everyone had been so kind and patient about the situation, I also scheduled another Sunday 4:00 PM-10:00 PM Radio SRO set.  Again, lots of memories, great chat, fun music, etc.

Also, the tips were again very generous, and even though I am not "doing this for the money," I was - and am - very grateful.

Where This Brings Us Currently:

Unless we have another freak occurence like that power failure, I plan on getting online every Saturday at 7:00 PM for at least FIVE HOURS of classic musical goodness.

7:00 PM - 10:00 PM - SRO Interactive Network presents Radio SRO (classic alternative music up into the 90s).

10:00 'til I'm done - SRO Interactive Network presents The Groovy Train (classic club/dance music - alternative, house, rave, etc.)

Tim is looking into expanding the SRO-i streaming programming, but I don't feel like I'm at liberty to give any more details.  What I can tell you is that I've been very pleased and optimistic about the future of SRO-i and Radio SRO, and I am proud to be a part of it.  I owe an enormous amount of gratitude to Tim, not only for allowing me to participate, but also allowing me so much creative control.  And, of course, I am incredibly thankful to everyone who has been listening and spreading the word about the broadcasts.  This is an incredible experience, and one that I never would have imagined could be possible.

Thank you all very much... more soon!

Badger

The views/thoughts expressed above, just like every other view expressed on my site, are mine as an individual.  They do not necessarily reflect or agree with the views of any company for which I work, nor any company for which I've ever worked, nor any company that I own.