From the January 2002 Idaho Observer:

Free Radio America

By Jan Blum and Dr. Gary Trexler

Heritage Broadcasting

Heritage Broadcasting System Radio Network is in transition. Live broadcasts ceased in November. With precious few radio stations dedicated to free speech, we consider this very bad news. The good news is that several of the same people are staying on, and will join with many new people to create an entirely new radio station that aims to be back up on the airwaves in February. We have spoken with the new owners and they asked us to wait until next month's column to officially unfurl their flag, so stay tuned for the inside scoop. But, we can tell you a few things. For loyal Heritage fans, Loris (previous owner) and Andy (engineer) will still be involved in the new project. The three month hiatus isn't being spent lolligagging around, although Loris and Andy certainly deserve a good rest. There is a flurry of activity -- they are hiring, moving, and wiring. We hope to bring you their new schedule next month and, if things go well, they'll be on your radio within days of next month's edition of The Idaho Observer arriving in your mailbox.

www.tucradio.org

This radio show comes out of a closet. Literally! Produced by Maria Gilardin in a closet in her apartment, here is weekly documentation of the revolution. Since 1980 the 48-year-old Gilardin, an artist-turned-activist and radio producer, has generated groundbreaking programs on a range of issues spanning the third world debt crisis, Wal-Mart, food distribution, biotechnology, and NAFTA. Her focus is the impact of big corporations on our society.

Here is here story about the name, TUC, that she chose for her show. “When looking for a name, I came across a pilot's handbook and found the acronym TUC, an aeronautical term. “Time of Useful Consciousness” is the time between the onset of oxygen deficiency and the loss of consciousness. These are the brief moments in which a pilot may save the troubled plane.” She's sure got the association right!

Gilardin is a different stripe of patriot - unaware of many of the issues dealt with in The Idaho Observer, for example. But she's wide awake about globalization. In looking through her list of past guests, we found many that we've had on our shows and we also find her topics and concerns compelling.

Gilardin learned radio in the KPFA news department in 1980 and was one of the founders of the women's department there. She co-wrote the GATT Guide for the Earth Summit in Rio, was founding producer of the national weekly public-affairs show “Making Contact,” and is a member of the International Forum on Globalization. Since 1993, Gilardin has written and produced radio on global trade and great ideas of local resistance to globalization.

www.wwcr.com/cr_ors.html

The Old Record Shop

Saturday 5:00AM (Central Time) 1100 UT 5.070 MHz WWCR-3

Sunday 10:30PM (Central Time) 0430 UT WWCR-3

“The Old Record Shop” program dates to November 1951 when two young students at Vanderbilt University in Nashville wanted to get into the then budding record industry. Neither was a talented singer, so they decided to sing in the old style of the 1920's, actually using an old recording for backup music. Further they surmised that if they could get it on radio, so many requests would pour in that no record company could possibly turn them down.

Result: Ken Berryhill and Tom Landess launched a radio program entitled The Old Record Shop, into which they planned to insert their recording of “Do You Ever Think Of Me.” However, after hearing their own recording, they declined to inflict it upon the public. By this time the show was on two radio stations (WTJS - Jackson, TN and WMAK - Nashville, TN) and becoming very popular on its own, especially in Nashville where numerous songwriters and performers were avid listeners.

Tom left the show in 1952, but Ken Berryhill continued producing it off and on for several years, reaching a peak in the mid-1960's. The show took a lengthy hiatus around 1968 when Ken went on to other pursuits, but he would revive it from time to time on a local educational FM station, but aired under different names: “Time Machine” or “The Old Jazz Boy.”

Finally, in 1994, Ken was persuaded by a long time fan to revive the show on shortwave, and so The Old Record Shop was heard 'round the world for the first time and continues to the present over WWCR (Nashville, TN).

Berryhill claims to be the “World's Oldest-Living Disc Jockey,” which is probably true, since he has now been alive in Eight decades, having been born in the 1920's.

Re-runs

Just kidding. This is simply a reminder about several of the radio shows we have featured over the last year. These broadcasters are speaking the plain truth about what is happening in our society in this new “war against terrorism.” Following are the websites of talk show hosts who are not breaking eye contact with the monster:

www.sweetliberty.org
www.mediachannel.org
www.jillnicholson.com
www.radioliberty.com
www.americanewsnet.com (Saturday, 10 am - Randy Yarbrough)
www.truthradio.com (M, T, W at 5pm Mountain Time- Liberty Forum).

Also, Dr. Len Horowitz can be heard daily over WWCR-1 at 0100 UTC between 7 and 8pm Central Time.

Contact Gary and Jan at bobolinkz@yahoo.com