The Frequency of Memory: Echoes From When Radio Was Alive

An ode to the static, heart, and magic of radio’s past.

It begins in the color between colors —  a tribute to Word Jazz pioneer Ken Nordine and Beige, the anti-color, the void, the quiet hum between stations. There, Jim slips into a broadcast daydream where words melt into jazz and voices bend reality like soundwaves in a tin antenna. Suddenly, the dial turns — and we tune through the static to the crackling kingdom of FM radio, where two radio legends, Brother Jake Edwards and Terry DiMonte, spin stories of studio basements, friendship, and 360,000 watts of human electricity. Together they conjure an era when broadcasters were pirates, pranksters, and poets with microphones — when every on-air mistake became myth, and every jingle jolted in your bones. A hymn to noise, nonsense, and the strange holiness of live radio — where stories spark and even beige can burn bright. Conovision: capturing the stories before they fade to static.

Episode References:

• Beige
• Ken Nordine
• Jake Edwards 
• Terry DiMonte 

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:05) - The Story of Beige
• (03:48) - Enter Jake Edwards and Terry DiMonte
• (06:03) - First Stories from the Airwaves
• (10:00) - Alchemy at CITI-FM
• (15:01) - Basements and the Brotherhood of Radio
• (21:47) - Community and Content
• (25:38) - Reinventing the Sound of FM
• (31:05) - The Spark That Started It All
• (36:01) - Polar Bears and First Broadcasts
• (41:57) - Luck, Risk, and Choice
• (45:29) - The Morning Show Life
• (52:19) - Music, Friendship & Rock Royalty
• (55:41) - The Dude: Jake & Jeff Bridges
• (58:50) - Remembering Miles Goodwyn
• (01:04:33) - Fame, Egos & Pricks
• (01:08:59) - Hardest Work Ever
• (01:10:44) - Farewell to the Golden Era
• (01:12:27) - Conclusion