Greetings,
<Celebrating 28 Years of Reggae Radio- best of the early years; 28 sec.>
Spring of 1988 my college roommate and I were having pizza at The Pie near the University of Utah campus. They were playing the local community radio station, KRCL over their hi fi.
We heard for a new volunteer call. My roommate was doing modern 80’s indie sounds and I was doing Reggae on the Univ. of Utah’s radio club K-UTE. Even on that low frills setup (they only broadcast in the Student Union) we had some radio experience. How to mix songs, do set breaks, maintain logs etc.
So we went down to KRCL and pitched our shows. KRCL was set for modern indie sounds but they wanted to expand their ethnic music programming. They accepted my application to do a Sunday Night/Monday AM show I called 3 o’clock Roadblock – after the Bob Marley song on Natty Dread. The show went from 3AM to 6AM.
After about six weeks of training, I debuted either late June or early July 1988. For the nite owls, insomniacs and graveyard workers. Not a lot of listeners but I learned radio. I did that for a year or so (during the coldest winter in 40 years.) I had to call AAA twice that winter.
In Oct. of ’89, I switched to Saturdays on Smile Jamaica. We were on at 1pm back in the 80’s. My bredren Rutaabaga Reese and I together until about summer of 1990 and then I flew solo. And I just keep on keeping on!
So we celebrate that legacy today with 28 years of Roots Reggae and Dubwize!
Selah!
bless, robt
Smile Jamaica’s Top 5 Salt Lake City Record Stores, 1986-1990
- Smokey’s Records; (defunct mid 90’s)
- Cosmic Aeroplane (defunct around ’90)
- Randy’s Records (still going, mostly vinyl now!)
- Starbound (defunct mid 2000’s)
- Mad Platter (defunct)
Smile Jamaica Ark-Ives: July 16, 2016: Annotated Playlist – 28 Years: CD version; 17 sec.
Set 1:
- Black Uhuru – What Is Life? (E.T. Thorngren rmx); Anthem (Island) ’83
<It was Black Uhuru that made me a Reggae fanatic; 1 min 3 sec.>
- Impact! All-Stars; Java; Java Java Dub (Impact!) ’72 UK vinyl: Dub Album of the Hour
- Naturalites & Realistics – Picture on the Wall; Rub-a-Dubble vol. 1 (CSA) ’86 UK
<#1 hit of the Islands – Picture on the Wall; 31 sec.>
- Yellowman – Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt; Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt (Greensleeves) ‘83
- Peter Broggs – International Farmer; International Farmer (RAS) ’82 4:20 Cannabis Service Announcement
- Natural Beauty – Nice Up Dancee; Nice Up Dancee (RAS) ’86 UK dawta trio
Set 2: Seven Leaf Set; 13 aec.
- Carlton Livingston – Trodding Through the Jungle; Retrospect (Grapevine)
- Equators – Feelin’ High; Hot (Stiff) ’81 UK ska
- Benjamin Zephaniah – Get High; Rasta (Workers Playtime) ’83 UK
- Capital Letters – Smoking My Ganja; 12” Mix; Headline News (Greensleves) ’79 UK youth group
Set 3:
- Third World – 96 Degrees in the Shade; 96 Degrees in the Shade (Mango) ‘77
<Jamaican Heroes martyred in their fight against the Brits; 32 sec.>
- Aisha – Evil Spirits; High Priestess (Ariwa) ’88 Mad Prof.
- The Beat – Tears of a Clown; I Just Can’t Stop It (Go-Feet) ’80 Smokey Robinson 2 Tone ska cover
- Don Carlos – Jah, Jah Hear My Plea; Prophecy (Blue Moon) ‘84
- Chalawa – Natural Mystic Dub; Exodus Dub (Micron) ’77 Can. Dub cover of Bob Marley
Set 4: Wailers Family Tree; 23 sec.
The Dreads:
- Peter Tosh – Till Your Well Runs Dry; Legalize It (Columbia) ’76, William Bell cover
- Bunny Wailer – Burial; Sings the Wailers (Mango) ’81, Tosh cover
- Bob Marley & the Wailers – 3 o’clock Roadblock; Countryman Soundtrack (Mango) ’82: diff. mix: the name of my 1988-89 Reggae show; 1min.
Set 4: Wailers Family Tree – Sistas
- Rita Marley – Beauty of God’s Plan; Harambe (Shanachie) ’82
- Judy Mowatt – Put It On; Black Woman (Shanachie) ’76 Bob Marley cover
- Marcia Griffiths – Melody Life; Steppin’ (Shanachie) ‘79
Set 6:
- Alpha Blondy & the Wailers – Jerusalem; Jerusalem (Shanachie) ’86 Ivory Coast
<Jerusalem: English, French, Arabic, Hebrew>
- Sister Carol – Jah Is Mine; Black Cinderella (Jah Life/Heartbeat) ’84 Carpenters + Michael Jackson/McCartney
- Dennis Brown – Money in My Pocket; Words of Wisdom (Shanachie) ‘79
- Prince Far I – Survival; Umkhonto we Sizwe (Tamoki Wambesi) ’83 deejay; Spear of the Nation
<Mandela’s ANC army faction: Burning Spear + Spear of the Nation>
- Augustus Pablo – Thriller; Thriller (Echo) ’80 UK vinyl; Dub Album of the Hour
Set 7: Rockers do Reggae
- David Lindley & El Rayo X – Bye Bye Love; El Rayo X (Asylum) ’81
<Live at the Zephyr Club; 22 sec.>
- Eric Clapton – Willie and the Hand Jive; 461 Ocean Boulevard (Polygram) ’74 soul cover done reggae
- Hot Chocolate – Confetti Day; Every 1’s a Winner (Infinity) ’78 UK soul/rock/reggae
- Patti Smith – Redondo Beach; Horses (Arista) ‘76
Set 8: Mutant Dub Set
- African Head Charge – Gospel Train; Songs of Praise (ON U Sound) ’90 UK
- Akabu – Warrior Queen; Warrior Queen (ON U Sound) ’95 UK female group
- Jah Woosh – Woodpecker Sounds; Wild Paarty Sounds vol. 1 (Cherry Red) ’81 UK ON U Sound mi
- Badawi – Turbo Auto Drive; Bedouin Sound Clash (ROIR) ’96 Jewish mystical dub
- Ruts DC Meets the Mad Professor – The Prisonder; Rhythm Dub Collision (ROIR) ’87 UK punkdub
- Alpha & Omega Meets Dub Judah – Almighty Jah; Almighty Jah (A & O) ’92 UK trancedub
Words of Wisdom:
Smile Jamaica 