Twenty-twoyears is a long time for anything in a world where change can come toorapidly, too often. It’s especially long in radio, where burnout,turnover and corporate consolidation have thinned the herd of radioveterans. Steve Palec is among the exceptions, keeping his WKLHshow, “Rock & Roll Roots,” for more than two decades. Palec can beheard every Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon.
How did you get into radio?
WhenI was a sophomore in high school, I wrote a letter to every station intown. I told them, “I’ll do anything to learn. I’ll sweep your floors!”WZUU responded, thinking I was applying as a janitor. They took meliterally. But WUWM said I could hang out. A few weeks later I was onthe air for the first time.
WUWM had a loose format in those days.
Theysure did. They’d run a half-hour of NPR, then play songs for 15minutes. After I graduated from high school I went to Whitewater, whereI cut my teeth at a great campus station. My first on-air interview wasat Whitewater. It was with Frank Zappa. I was nervous and he wasn’tkind.
Youdid some sports-casting and finally wound up at WQFM around 1980. QFMhad been Bob Reitman’s station in the ’70s and was considered wideopen, musically. Had this already changed?
Therewere still crumbs from the Reitman era. The management was becomingmore cognizant of ratings and sponsorships, but they hadn’t fullyembraced the technology of policing their programming. Today every songis logged on a computer printout. Back then DJs filled out cards. Itwas kind of an honor system, but even so I saw some people who wereshown to the door because of what they played. I got away with thingsbecause of two words: “I’m sorry.” I’d say “I’m sorry” and I’d live toplay another day.
What was FM like in those days?
Itwas like the clichesex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. It was anything youwanted. There were people who were there to have something to do beforegoing out to the bars. But I saw radio as a careernot just a job. Itook it seriously.
How has radio changed?
After a while, the audience had disposable income. It wasn’t sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. It was rock, mortgage and kids.
You were going to quit and work in commercial real estate?
Iam working in commercial real estate. I intended to get out of radioaltogether, but KLH kept coming back to me. When they offered me threehours on Sunday where I could do pretty much anything, I said yes.
What’s the concept behind your Sunday show?
Irespect the station I work for, but I want to be creative. I’ll servethe meat and potatoes but throw in some weird side dishes. I like tofollow Dean Martin with Barenaked Ladies. I like doing interviews andtelling the stories behind the music. Take “Layla.” I’ve heard the song10,589 timesit’s still powerful, and so is the story behind it: EricClapton lusting after Pattie Boyd, who was the wife of his best friend,George Harrison, who wrote “Something” about her. Did you know thatDonovan’s “Jennifer Juniper” was written about Pattie’s sister, Jenny?It must have been some family…
Photo by Amelia Coffaro
