9th Floor Radio-not your traditional programming
Alese Osborn
Issue date: 2/4/10 Last update: 2/4/10 at 4:38 AM PST
Section: News
Within the great cheese-wedge-shaped Laney Tower building, take the elevator to the eighth floor, curl round the hall to the back staircase and up to the massive locked steel door of the ninth floor with only a sign posted to guide you: “Knock hard! We are all the way in the back and play our music LOUD!”
A beautiful, tiny woman—Melissa Neal, station manager and producer, will most likely pull the door back. “Our mission (at 9th Floor Radio) is to provide exposure for under-represented forms of music,” says Neal, “but we are not genre specific.”
“I’d be more interested in giving someone a show who was not going to play top 40 music, because there are already so many stations like that; why bother making another one?”
You will find their objective to be completely active when perusing 9th floor’s show catalog.
Shows such as “The Black Hour” produced by Reginald James feature discussions fueled by current events and local guests, ranging from politicians and activists to artists and musicians. “The Black Hour” was one of 9th Floor Radio’s earliest shows along with Dr. Feelbad and Catatonic (now airing for over two years).
Among the more popular shows is “J@ck Sh*t “. Host J@ck Sh*t has a way of making you laugh out loud as only someone with a cynical yet generous personality and flair for intelligent and crude quips can. Sh*t also designed 9th Floor Radio’s logo.
New shows like “Social Disease Radio” also have much to offer by way of entertainment. I caught DJ Jason Storm of S.D.R. leaving after his set to go to “weird hardcore” band practice.
Storm says he tries to provide at least a half hour of brutal satanic music and does so because he doesn’t hear that type of music on normal radio. This tends to be typical of a 9th Floor DJ; someone who is immersed in the cause of their show beyond airing hours—promoting the things they want to see more of in the world.
9th Floor Radio did not start this way. In the beginning, it was only Peralta TV staff, playing songs just to test the equipment. One of the first organized shows was “Punk Rock Reunion” where Peralta Director of Marketing, Jeff Heyman, gathered old records and invited friends in to showcase their vinyl collection. There are currently 30 active shows, but you may find retired shows in the online archives.
Promotions Coordinator, Aaron Harbor, says, “People should listen and let us know their ideas and get in touch. Just tell us how you think we are doing. We get more people asking for shows than telling us what shows they like or what they enjoy about the station. That type of feedback is very useful.”
To contact or listen, visit www.9thfloorradio.com, Also check out 9th Floor Radio on Peralta T.V. playing every Thursday and Friday night from 11pm-1am.
A beautiful, tiny woman—Melissa Neal, station manager and producer, will most likely pull the door back. “Our mission (at 9th Floor Radio) is to provide exposure for under-represented forms of music,” says Neal, “but we are not genre specific.”
“I’d be more interested in giving someone a show who was not going to play top 40 music, because there are already so many stations like that; why bother making another one?”
You will find their objective to be completely active when perusing 9th floor’s show catalog.
Shows such as “The Black Hour” produced by Reginald James feature discussions fueled by current events and local guests, ranging from politicians and activists to artists and musicians. “The Black Hour” was one of 9th Floor Radio’s earliest shows along with Dr. Feelbad and Catatonic (now airing for over two years).
Among the more popular shows is “J@ck Sh*t “. Host J@ck Sh*t has a way of making you laugh out loud as only someone with a cynical yet generous personality and flair for intelligent and crude quips can. Sh*t also designed 9th Floor Radio’s logo.
New shows like “Social Disease Radio” also have much to offer by way of entertainment. I caught DJ Jason Storm of S.D.R. leaving after his set to go to “weird hardcore” band practice.
Storm says he tries to provide at least a half hour of brutal satanic music and does so because he doesn’t hear that type of music on normal radio. This tends to be typical of a 9th Floor DJ; someone who is immersed in the cause of their show beyond airing hours—promoting the things they want to see more of in the world.
9th Floor Radio did not start this way. In the beginning, it was only Peralta TV staff, playing songs just to test the equipment. One of the first organized shows was “Punk Rock Reunion” where Peralta Director of Marketing, Jeff Heyman, gathered old records and invited friends in to showcase their vinyl collection. There are currently 30 active shows, but you may find retired shows in the online archives.
Promotions Coordinator, Aaron Harbor, says, “People should listen and let us know their ideas and get in touch. Just tell us how you think we are doing. We get more people asking for shows than telling us what shows they like or what they enjoy about the station. That type of feedback is very useful.”
To contact or listen, visit www.9thfloorradio.com, Also check out 9th Floor Radio on Peralta T.V. playing every Thursday and Friday night from 11pm-1am.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
The Black Hour
posted 2/08/10 @ 10:01 PM PST
Thanks for the shout out in the article. The Black Hour will continue to work to ensure that Black voices are heard and Black issues are addressed.
Black Hour = Black Power
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