Ex-Indie 103.1 host Chris Morris on the end of the station

Local rock station Indie 103.1 is going off the air. Upon hearing the news, Pop & Hiss gave a shout-out to journalist/DJ Chris Morris, who, until a few weeks ago, hosted roots/Americana specialty show Watusi Radio on the station. He recently wrote about the cancellation of his show in City Beat, and below is his reaction to this morning's news that Indie 103.1 is going online only.

I tuned in the station just before 10 this morning to find its cast of announcers and regulars -- T.K., Mr. Shovel, Darren Revell, Party Girl Stacey, Surf Junkie Jeff, Full Metal Jackie -- saying farewell.

Then, after airing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” the station began cycling a prerecorded announcement, between rotating attitude-packed tracks by X, the Clash, Buzzcocks, Black Flag, and the Sex Pistols (“Anarchy in the U.K.” and Sid Vicious’ “My Way”). Indie, L.A.’s much-beloved independent rock station, was leaving the terrestrial airwaves, effective immediately, and migrating to the Internet.

Indie’s on-air adieu blamed “the way radio audiences are measured” -- i.e., last fall’s institution by Arbitron of the controversial portable people meters, or PPMs, which replaced diaries as ratings devices in the Los Angeles market and measured an even smaller percentage of the station’s tiny but loyal audience. In what amounted to a bleakly amusing mea culpa on the part of chain owner Entravision, it admitted that the station had been forced “to play the corporate radio game,” and that the retooled station of recent months -- shorn of several specialty shows (including mine) and pumped up with KROQ-style ’90s hits -- was little more than a “version of Indie 103.1 [that] we are now removing from the broadcast airwaves.”

Apparently, some new edition of Indie is set to broadcast on the Web at www.indie1031.com. Its frequency will now likely be filled by the Spanish-language programming I’d anticipated last month.

All very sad, and quite predictable.

For most of its existence, Indie 103.1 advanced a style of radio in its specialty programming that hadn’t been seen in a major radio market for eons. What was heard on the air was a reflection of the individual jocks’ tastes and passions. The amount of liberty I enjoyed was unbelievable. It was a throwback to the free-form style I grew up with, which held sway briefly in pre-“album oriented” radio in the ’70s; the maverick early KROQ flashed the same gunslinging approach.

And, until desperation set in during the late going, the station’s regular rotation sported some provocative tracks and off-the-wall features that Indie’s crosstown rivals wouldn’t touch. (The choice of “My Way” as a farewell track recalled the era of Indie’s “Furious Frank at Five” -- a daily afternoon dose of Sinatra.) But, as station management learned the hard way, cool programming alone can’t trump 30 years of listener loyalty, marketing money and a strong signal.

So now Indie hopes to flourish on the Web -- “a place where rules do not apply and where new music thrives,” in the station’s words -- by returning to the style it had sloughed off in pursuit of terrestrial ratings that never arrived. I wish my old colleagues luck in their renewed endeavors. (We’ll be working the same turf: My own post-Indie show “Hillbilly Deluxe” debuts on Scion Radio 17, the Web station operated by Toyota’s Scion car line, in February.)

It remains to be seen what form Indie 2.0 will take, and whether its star jocks like Steve Jones -- who won’t be able to command the same kind of bucks in cyberspace -– will remain on board. But it’s apparent that in the cutthroat world of radio, going to the Internet may be the only way to go for programmers with an edge to them.

-- Chris Morris, Special to Pop & Hiss

Comments

[Rev Bad]

Say it ain't so!

Thus ends a great moment in LA sonic history.

[Calidaho]

I have been listening to Indie since it started (I think). I was mad when they fired Dicky Barrett from the morning show and I vowed to quit listening. But, there wasn't anywhere else to turn for decent music. KROQ plays a few good songs in there with the garbage. I was always happy to hear TK's show and loved Watusi Rodeo. KCRW's Morning Becomes Ecclectic is great but on only a few hours in the morning. I will be forced to listen 100% to KPCC and KCRW...or upgrade from my iPod Shuffle and start searching for my own music. Indie was the lazy person's way to hear new & interesting music!! I am so sad!!

[SeanO]

Signal strength was the #1 problem. I live in LA but grew up in Thousand Oaks. Everyone I knew would have been die-hard Indie listeners - but unlike KROQ Indie doesn't reach TO. It doesn't even reach most of the SF Valley. The entire LA suburban white youth market went untapped. These are the bored kids who skate, surf, listen to punk rock, and hate KROQ.

[Sean]

Good riddance,

traditional radio needs to die off so the future can finally take hold. Internet radio must be the sad death knell for terrestrial radio. I'm sorry, but there's no reason "indie jockey's" can't perform their freeform style on the internet.

[Katie]

I live in Detroit, but I remember the day I was in LA for a business trip and heard a radio station play "I'm Amazed" by MMJ, way before any station at home had picked up on it..."What's this?!" I thought, "Good music on the radio? No way!" Turns out it was Indie 103.1. I was so sad to go home because it was back to the land of the bland, in terms of radio. Imagine my joy when I saw that they streamed online - it was a holiday!!

I'm truly sad to hear that their terrestrial listening audience wasn't big enough to keep it going; I will continue to listen online, and I hope that all of the jocks will continue to contribute their wonderful personalities and distinct points of view in terms of music - it is what makes this station so wonderful.

[Mog]

Indie, before it's recent corporate makeover, was great. And Indie co-sponsored events were great ways to learn about local LA / SoCal bands.

I'm still mourning the loss of independent classical station KMZT 105.1. (It switched to country in 2007.)

I don't understand why the largest radio market in the US is unable to support a variety of formats. The radio business model seems a little, well, jacked!

[CS]

somafm.com FTW!

[Dan W]

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKK! A piece of me has died. This was the greatest radio station of all time for us 30 somethings.

[Tom Fakowski]

I was hoping 103.1 was playing an early April fools joke on us this morning. Good bye Joe E., Jonsey, David Lynch's weather and thanks for all the fish... I mean ear candy.

P.S. I haven't felt this way about the radio since Mars FM went off the air - also at 103.1, if I remember correctly. Another classic that was too good for mass appeal. They had a show, called the All Night Truck Driver's show. Umm hmm....

[Jay]

Man I'm stunned. I hadn't listened to the radio in years, since it's all Top 40 crap over and over and over. After moving to LA i started hearing bands I actually enjoy, on the radio! I used to keep a notepad in my car so I could write down new bands I wanted to check out. Well I guess my radio will be turned off again. Thanks for all the tunes Indie and the free Angels tickets!!! Indie I luuuvv you!!!

[MLou]

Steve Jones is great. I was never a fan of the Sex Pistols (though I'm an avid fan of Punk Rock and give them credit where credit is due). He won me over with his ramblings. He did college radio back in the day, off kilter. He played great music most of the time. I will have to listen online. I was a fan since the beginning of Indie and I knew it was only a matter of time till they went off the air. Sad day in LA.

[Mike]

This is a sad day in LA and radio history.

I hope that car radios soon allow you to use your cellphone's internet connection so we can stream indie wherever we go...

[Rory McVeigh]

A sad day for anyone who wants to hear something different than the usual repetitous playlists. I'm in the UK so have never actually heard Indie 103.1 on the radio, but having been inrigued by Jonesey's jukebox I downloaded a few podcasts and loved it so much I downloaded as many as I could. There are quite a few of us in the UK who appreciate the station - there's a peice in nme.com about the story. Oh well ... maybe the web version will be okay and people will post captured shows for us to listen to at our leisure. Here's hoping it's not the end.

[Kim]

In a world where someone like Katy Perry is considered edgy and has qualified herself to use terms like "bridge and tunnel" (see LA Times article a few months back), this isn't surprising.

I was beginning to wonder what was happening to Indie, because it seems like they were being strong armed into being KROQ Jr.

It was good while it lasted.

I guess I have to go back to KCRW. Ho hum

[Nathan]

Sad day indeed. I vowed not to listen to indie after Chris lost his show - I was introduced to Watusi Radio when I started working with Chris. All that remains are the rigid, play-list stations, who don't really care about giving up and coming bands their due.

I'm going to buy myself one of them satellite radios, but in the mean time I'll avoid the radio as a form of respect for the death of radio in L.A.

[david]

The ads running about how the station is too corporate and therefore moving to the internet because they hated "The Man" has nothing to do with the DJs and was actually commissioned by the station's head of sales. But this is fitting for a station that managed to convince everyone that it was "indie" except for a select few who could see through their crap from the very beginning.

[Jason Hayes]

Thank you for all of you that played a part in bringing great fun and awesome music! You will be very very missed Indie! A big F you for all who played a part in Indie's demise.

[Jennybeth]

Sad, very sad. When I moved here two years ago, I asked my friend to reprogram the presets in my car. The first button she set was Indie 103. She said it was would be my "go to" station, and it was...always. I will miss you Indie, especially Jonesy. He always put a smile on my face.

[Ruby James]

This is like finding out the coolest little hangout where people go who are just like me closed down, and we're left outside wondering where to go. I may not have known every other listener, but I am confident these listeners and I would have found a great communal bond that only music can inspire. I won't even type the letters of the treacherous radio station on the far right of the dial (you know which one I'm talking about), at the risk of sparking ANY interest to what they may be broadcasting. They suck, they're sell-outs, and they know it. Indie, you're my true punk rock hero.

[andy b]

PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!!!! Isn't there something we can do?!?
Indie was the best Radio station and an asset to the community....a pledge drive... something...let us "loyal listeners" put our money where our mouths are...I know I'd dip into my pocket to keep hearing something other than the standard drivel on the waves...computers are great but they don't help the morning commute....

If there is anything that can be done...please someone speak up and let us know...

i'm reminded of a very old slogan that i will paraphrase here

"I WANT MY INDIE RADIO!!!"

[SeanO]

Good news!!! A whole bunch of DJs are going to continue online! Check the website for a list. No Jonsey (yet) but many other including Rollins. If you have an iPhone 3G, you can get an app called "Wunder Radio" which carries the Indie 103.1 online stream. I can now listen to this great station in my car again!

[Ruby Friedman]

Watusi Rodeo and Indie did much to support my band, The Ruby Friedman Orchestra, and helped our nascent sonic undertaking gain a foothold in the maelstrom of emerging artists by showcasing us live "on air" for a half-hour...Thank You, Watusi Chris Morris and Indie !!! Sad to see you all go...

[Rommel Del Crypt]

well, listening to that recording during indie's last hours on the air, was sad. I was sad to hear that really. thanks to the way things are set up in the media, goliath tends to win for the most part.but at the same time, i'm glad that indie put itself out of it's misery, before the programming became completely unbearable. i compare it to having a friend that changed during the last year or so, but he is still your friend, somewhat., and it's hard to see him go away, but thanks to that friend, youve made other friends, and experienced new things.. so for that i thank indie. now next time. hopefully djs like TK, or whoever was left to see its demise will put up a fight to keep it the way it was, not let it burn to the ground. thats if there is a next time.we are all to blame though. time to listen to satelite radio, and if you cant afford it, static sounds twice as good as kroq nowadays.

[ElJay]

This sucks. An eclectic, forward-thinking rock station gets booted off the air and an unlistenable piece of garbage like KROQ which caters to 14 year olds and hasn’t updated their playlist in 15 years (seriously, does anyone care about The Offspring, Papa Roach or Bush anymore??) remains. I’m so sick of all the homogenized, lowest-common-denominator B.S. on LA radio. KXLU is great and I’ll always support them but I can’t pick it up in my car, man! Indie might have been just as corporate owned and operated as any other mainstream FM station but hell…they played The Buzzcocks, X, The Stooges, Black Flag, Early Bowie, as well as all kinds of music that fans of honest rock and roll love but other big FM stations won’t touch. Guess it’s back to Leykis (when he’s not being a misogynistic a**hole), NPR (if they’re talking about anything halfway interesting), or The Sound (if they’re not playing Jack Johnson or old-guy rock) on the way home from work….great.

[Turtle]

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Indie lovers and fans, a petition has started and is being passed around from inbox to inbox. If you want indie back let it be know, Go to Letindielive.com and sign the petition. Don't let indie be silence by the corporate media.

"Anarchy on the airwaves, Anarchy in the streets, Music is the anarchy that speaks to me"

Your Partner in crime,

Turtle.