frequency

So in my humidity-induced languor I was sprawled on my couch with television remote in hand. Yes indeed, I am being highly productive this evening. But cut me some slack - I worked all week, and on Tuesday night I had to assemble a new futon frame (for the couch upon which I've been slouched). The old frame was caked with the gunk of years and literally on its last legs. When the furniture place delivered the new (black metal) frame, I expected it assembled and ready to go. Oh, how guileless was that? The delivery dude carried the frame up, all right - in a box. So I spent an hour-and-a-half in the heat piecing together the new frame. And I also dismantled the old frame. And afterward, glazed with sweat and dirt, I needed a shower. Okay, so I enjoyed a sense of satisfaction at putting together my own couch, but that task was nowhere to be seen on my list of Tuesday night priorities after 9 1/2 hours on the job.

I also put up new blinds in the living room. The old blinds were... well, they were decrepit and god-awful grimy. But home improvements are underway (painting soon), and let's leave it at that.

Okay, my litany of woe is over. Where was I? Oh, right - I was splayed on the couch earlier, flipping the channels, passing by insipid programs and some guy called Bush on the networks. And there on VH1 Classic was the music video for the Information Society song "What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)." Like much of the popular music of the time, it's an upbeat synth groove with Brit-inflected vocals and ostentatious '80s fashion and hairstyles, featuring the catchy chorus:

I wanna know
What you're thinking.
There are some things you can't hide.
I wanna know
What you're feeling.
Tell me what's on your mind.

No, it was never a favorite of mine, but it does cause me to nod my head and tap my foot. And it also brought back memories of my time as an employee in professional radio. Anyone who has read earlier entries here (particularly "transmission" on December 10, 2004) will know that I was a disc jockey in both college and commercial radio back in the glory daze of my elusory youth. Yes, I dealt with faders, microphones, carts, PSA's, commercial production, transmitters, records (remember those?), listener calls and requests, faulty equipment, and a couple of cramped studios.

As for the music, well... at my college show I could play anything I wanted. It was my block of airtime and I assaulted the airwaves with punk, alternative, industrial, and metal for five hours on Saturday nights. But at my commercial job at WSFW (frequency 99.3 FM, 1110 AM), there were guidelines and restrictions. I had to read blurbs of world, national, and local news at the top of every hour. There were several weather breaks every hour, as well as designated times to run the commercials and PSA's. The music was already pre-recorded on large tape-to-tape reels and played on an oversized deck stacked three high. One song would end, that reel would stop, and another would start. The housing for this was a bulky hunk of machinery that looked as if it had been stolen from the set of a 1950s science fiction B-movie. One of the songs that was occasionally played was, yes, the Information Society tune.

So here on my newish couch, over fifteen years away from my métier in the broadcast industry, I remembered that facet of my bygone youth with more than a whiff of nostalgia. Despite the Adult Contempoary music format at WSFW, I still miss that job. It was... fun. My short-term memory may be capricious at times, but erstwhile recollections often infiltrate my mind with an almost frightening clarity.