Weekends provided for experimentation on college radio stations, allowing other musical formats with not a large song selection in the music library to get some airtime. The first radio station I worked at was far more conservative with their music formats than the second. While the second station featured blues, contemporary Christian, world beat and more, the first station didn’t really branch out in terms of different sounds until 1995 with the creation of a contemporary folk program.
Originally airing Saturday mornings from 8am to noon, the program later moved to the same time Sundays and sometimes both days depending on the semester. Because weekend sign-on was at 8am, the folk show was the only four-hour program that station had, with enough variety to make it make it work. In truth, while the original host aimed to make it straight contemporary folk, it soon became a menagerie of music, including traditional folk songs from luminaries like the Kingston Trio, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger and the Weavers; Celtic pieces; acoustic guitar instrumentals and then the odds and ends that really didn’t fit any of the other formats. Speaking of formats, the program never got caught up in the station's bizarre branding and generally was just called, "The Folk Show,” though there was a push one semester to rename it "Eclectic Avenue." The idea was dropped when someone finally came to his or her senses.
Listeners loved the format. Sitting in as substitute host, I quickly found out how pleased people were that the station was showcasing music outside the predictable playlists. One song I soon found that had developed a following was Blow ‘em Away, a rather humorous take on the issue of drive-by shootings. Its frank lyrics and subject matter made it a memorable song, making it the most requested song of the format – quite often seconds after it ended. Yes, people would call and ask for me to "play it again."
David Wilcox’s live version of the Chuck Brodsky song did have its detractors and one weekday the faculty advisor said that the director of the communication program had received "calls" and recommended the song be “ceremoniously dropped” from rotation. Meaning, it was not to be played anymore after the following weekend (read: give it a spin or two this weekend but then loose it after that).
I did get my just revenge: for two and a half years the disc sat at the bottom of a desk. Waiting. I am happy to say Blow ‘em Away was the first and last song I played on my last folk shift before I graduated.
That’ll show ‘em.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Blow 'Em Away
(Brodsky)
David Wilcox
From the album East Asheville Hardware
1996
In the morning
I commute
Mild mannered man
in a business suit
and when I come home
at the end of my day
There's all these other cars in the way
So I pull up behind one
I pull out my pistol
and I blew'em away
I'm driving my car
and I wanna go fast
but there's a slow car
won't let me pass
well I flash my lights
I honk my horn
Well, I have to consider him warned
I pull up behind him
I pull out my pistol
and I blew'em away
I'm Jesse James
behind the wheel
And it's high noon
in my automobile
They call me crazy
they call me sick
Well oh well I'm going to quick
Some Son Of a Bitch
he cut me off
Three whole lanes
he cut across
He made me mad
made me swerve
Well, Son of a bitch got what he deserved
Well, I pulled up behind him
I pulled out my pistol
I blew him away
A motorcycle
he's riding between
He's backed up traffic
Right between the lanes
He looked at me
That's an act of war
I saw him comin'
and I opened my door
I knocked him over
I pulled out my pistol
And I blew him away
Some little old lady
Bless her heart
well she was walking her poodle
across the boulevard
it was wearing a red knitted sweater
a little knitted hat
and it was probably named Fifi
or something stupid like that
Well I said, "Here Fifi"
I pulled out my pistol
and I blew him away.
