Musical transformation

During our junior year, my college roommate and I decided to enroll in a radio class, which led to landing a 4-hour slot Saturday mornings from 2 am until 6 am on 89.1 KUOR. That began my career in radio. Even though we realized we had like maybe 3 listeners, we thought we were the coolest thing since sliced bread. Pretty much played anything we wanted, and what we wanted was rock and roll.

The tennis player who had led me to Jesus the year before suggested I include a Christian artist named Phil Keaggy--specifically, a song called "Time". So I did! After awhile, I got "promoted" to the coveted Friday night shift from 10 pm - 2 am, and actually, along with another classmate--Bob Ricks (who also had a late night shift on KCAL at the time)--developed quite a listenership.

The fraternities and sororities on campus started asking if we did parties (DJ music). "Sure" was our initial response, and booked our first gig for $50. We did this Friday night frat party in the pouring rain using albums from the radio station, setting up equipment on a pool table that would cause the song to skip each time someone danced up against it. From there, we graduated to all-school dances, formals out in Palm Springs, and at the height of the disco craze became quite the campus celebrities.

After graduating in 1981 I landed a job in the development office of the University and pretty much the radio shows and parties disappeared. My faith began growing in leaps and bounds, and Contemporary Christian music began to be a force to be reckoned with. I was encouraged to ask KUOR if I could have a one-hour slot to play Christian rock--they said "yes", and the Reality show was born. At first, I didn't really have much music to play, and was VERY liberal with what could pass as "Christian". Bob Dylan's Slow Train Coming, Santana, some pretty questionable songs like the Doobie Brother's "Jesus is Just Alright" would occupy those 60 minutes right alongside Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, Rez Band and Paul Clark.

All the while, I was still struggling with what to do with all my secular albums. I still liked listening to them, but felt a strong pull to get rid of them. It was either dump them in the trash or sell them; I chose the later, justifying my decision by reasoning that I could use the money to purchase more Christian music, which I did. After awhile, that one hour turned into a 4 hour (9 pm-1 am) program on Monday nights, and about that time bands like Undercover, Stryper, Altar Boys and The Choir were making quite a stir in Christian bookstores across Southern California, and beyond. Berean Christian Store in Colton became Reality Rock's first radio sponsor.

Interestingly enough, right about the same time (early/mid '80s) an amazing band called U2 burst onto the music scene. The big question of the day was "is U2 a Christian band?" Regardless of how one answered that, they were a force to be reckoned with--both inside and outside the church. They influenced a slew of bands who recorded on secular labels, played in secular places but whose lyrics were full of biblical/scriptural/spiritual references--The Alarm, Simple Minds, The Waterboys, The Call, Face to Face, and many others who in turn influenced countless other bands and artists--including ones recording in the Christian "industry", which had really become just that--new record labels and bands were popping up seemingly everywhere.
Reality Rock basically jumped on a surf board and rode this wave for most of the '80s and well into the '90s. It was quite a ride, to say the least.

This post is part two of a three part series! More to come . . .