The SSTory So Far

The Transistor Years (1987 to 1993)

T’was September 1987, when my father who was then manager of RPN DYKB 1404 Khz., and who knew me well as an avid record collector (and a crazyass music nerd), asked if I’m willing to do a radio show every Sunday with no pay? I said Fuck Yeh, I’m in!!! (im paraphrasing here). I mean I dint gave a fuck that it was an AM station, broadcasting in glorious mono. For me, it was a chance to share the shit I had in my closet. Fuck, I don’t care that I had to take all my records (yes, they’re in vinyl format, you fuckin hipsters!), put ém in large grocery bags, and transport the muthafuckas via trisikad to the station. If memory serves, the first few months, I only did a 2 hour show, with no cares as to who the fuck was listening. Being an AM station, the broadcast scope is wider than FM, reaching most parts of Neg. Occidental, Dumaguete, Iloilo, and Guimaras. But I reckon it took like 6 or 7 months before the calls and the letters came in droves! Remember the time when people call you up, and wrote you letters using pen and paper? No? Fuck you then! I did not have a format to follow, I played punk rock, new wave, soul, r&b, classic rock, alternative stuff, and perhaps the only sole station outside of Metro Manila who played shit from the legendary Pinoy Twisted Red Cross label, and other indie acts of the day. You could actually hear the Dead Kennedys, followed by Prince, then The Style Council, then Sham 69, and end with Tracy Chapman, with no breaks in between. I mean, it was a perfect place for people with attention deficit disorder like me! No one can also force me to play shit I don’t like! So yes, no fuckin Bon Jovi, The Dawn, Debbie Gibson, Eraserheads, Rivermaya, Modern Talking, et.al. Also, I invited pals to hang out at the station. I even asked my best pal and bandmate Jem, to do a Heavy Metal segment dubbed as “Steel Salad”. This was when the show became a 5 hour long marathon of sorts. T’was also then, that I devised a segment where I played an entire album, or concert at around 3 or 4 in the afternoon so I could take a snack/coffee break. And because back then, the station did not have a “no smoking policy", the booth would be filled up with smoke of all kinds, and the poor technician eventually reported me to my father for doing all sorts of shit inside the station. Yeah, oh shit indeed!! Hey c'mon now, I was being a typical asshole college kid, aight?

The show also became a venue for local musicians to have their demos played, which included my band then, The Bottles.

The shit eventually became quite a handful for me when I joined 92.7 EC FM as a Dj in mid-1993, wherein I have to do self-produced shows from Monday to Friday, which burnt me out that I no longer have the energy left come Sunday, which was the main reason why I have to kill the show before it kills me.

Still, what made SST quite special was, people to this day here in Sugar City associated me with it more than anything else I did (besides being in FoodShelterAndClothing). And what’s fucked up was that I never had a radio moniker throughout the entire time I was doing the show. Not even once did I mention who I was in that fuckin show!!! Ahhh great times indeed!

The Podcast Years (2017 to ???)

Before a Facebook pal created a group page petitioning me to revive the show, I was already thinking of doin it many years ago during the height of podcasting, and blogging of all kinds. In fact, I dabbled a bit, doing one for my online music label, SSS Records. T’was kinda redundant and futile I reckon in the years to follow with the advent of online streaming, and proliferation of personalized radio services like Spotify, Pandora, and even fuckin’ Youtube with its “make your own playlist” shit! Hell, with all the content readily available for anyone, anywhere to access, why the fuck would I wanna do this shit?!? Then I realized a few weeks ago after a stupid-ass health-scare, that maybe…if I was able to make people like the shit I like back in 1987, perhaps I could still make ém like the shit I like in 2017. The keyword is LIKE. People would commit murder or suicide or both for “likes” these days. Sorry to digress, but it always gives me pleasure (and validation perhaps), to know that people get the same feeling I do. Like the first time I heard The Sex Pistols, or The Cure. That certain rush I still get whenever I listen to an up and coming artist, or a particular new song by a veteran band, knowing that it’s gonna be massive, and people would also get the same rush I do. So just like 30 years ago, The Tour would still be a venue not just for the retro shit of yore, but of new and exciting shit of today! I mean, what’s the point of doin anything, if you can’t pass it on to the kids? Yeah, fuck you I’m old, and so are you! Dammit, let’s get this show on the road!!!