AC/DC
Things change, though–especially in radio. Today WLUP is an all-talk station skewed to its old audience, which now falls into the 25-to-54-year-old niche. But in 1993 WLUP’s owner, Evergreen Media Corporation, purchased hard rock station WWBZ, rechristened it WRCX, and turned it into a mainstream rock station. You’ll still hear Metallica, Led Zeppelin, and Aerosmith, but you’ll also get a dose of newer artists like Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Son Volt, and Green Day. The station is sort of a hybrid, drawing part of its audience from its competitors–adult alternative WXRT, classic rock WCKG, and modern rock WKQX.
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Kicked off by Mancow Muller’s outrageous successful morning show, the station has a cohesive lineup similar to that of the old Loop. While the jocks are mostly men with fakey names like Chris Payne and Lou “Lick Me” Brutus, the women, like midday jock Jo Robinson, act as the hip older sisters who’d take you to concerts or the cool girls in class who knew how to rock and wouldn’t get grossed out when you farted. Throughout the day there are many allusions, direct and indirect, to bodily functions, penis size, and drinking, especially on DJ promos and during shift changes when the jocks banter back and forth. (As I write this Sunday’s late night DJ informs me that “I’m Karen Haney, with your nocturnal emissions”). It creates a clubby cohesion that makes it difficult to turn the dial; in last fall’s Arbitron ratings, WRCX ranked first during the morning drive and second throughout the day among listeners 18 to 34 years old.
WRCX gave away tickets to last Saturday’s “BallBreaker Bash,” including front-row seats to a fan wearing a 103.5 T-shirt. The station had been playing several cuts off the group’s new record and, of course, the band had to be interviewed. The strategy reinforced the station’s cool credentials by making the listener think that it had an in with the band.
But it worked. The audience responded with the traditional raised lighters. During “Dirty Deeds,” nearly the entire audience shook their fists and yelled “Done dirt cheap!” Sure, AC/DC’s stage antics are funny and kind of stupid, but they somehow avoid being overly dumb or embarrassing. As teenagers, we’d make fun of Angus-the-counting-horse’s Rumpelstiltskin-like foot stomp. But it was never malicious because the band always execute their stunts with a sly, knowing wink–they know they’re being goofy. They’re having fun, and so are we. They also inject their humor into the merchandising; fans can get their picture taken with a life-size Angus cutout or buy a Brian Johnson-style hat featuring his embroidered caricature.
He could have been reciting lyrics to an AC/DC tune.
