If you ever turned on the radio during your morning drive in the past year and wondered who had the pure, unmitigated balls to play “Star Wars Party” by Meco—a song that was not even on the original 1977 hit LP Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk—the answer is Damian Messer.
Such programming chutzpah is actually quite rare in the supposedly “zany” world of morning radio shows, so the fact that Messer’s last day as regular host of the Marble City Radio Company on WUTK 90.3 FM is this Tuesday, 7-8 a.m., comes as bittersweet news. While Messer has successfully graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in journalism and electronic media, it also means that a singular voice will be (mostly) leaving Knoxville’s radio waves—he says his new title will be “Host Emeritus” (and “Executive Producer, Twenty-Year Planning”) as he turns over the full-time reins to Barbara Gibson, Josh Cunningham, and producer Clay McCammon. [Full disclosure: Every Thursday at 7:45 a.m., the MCRC hosts interview me about the Knoxville Mercury‘s new edition.]
“My guiding principle for the show was to create a parody of a traditional morning zoo,” Messer says in an email interview. “I wanted the show to do for WUTK that which a morning drive-time show aught: get people to listen every day, and get people to stick around and listen to the station all morning.”
Since launching on Sept. 1, 2014, MCRC has achieved this feat that through Messer’s unique knowledge and appreciation for arcane pop-culture factoids, often expressed through his banter with co-hosts such as Matt Moon, on-air call-in quizzes, and an unpredictable playlist. A single show’s musical offerings can range from “Holy Wars…the Punishment Due” by Megadeth to a “Sweet Home Alabama” cover by the Moog Cookbook and then on to “The Minotaur’s Song” by the Incredible String Band. Truly, listeners cannot possibly know what’s coming next.
So how did he come to store so much of what some would dare call useless information?
“I know stuff. It’s a thing. Hard to explain to a normal,” Messer says. “I played a lot of Nerd Bowl in my life. aka Scholars’ Bowl, College Bowl, Academic Buzzer Bowl. It informs everything I do. But the research for the music has become so much the reason why I do this. Much like my straight job [at the Disc Exchange], I came into this thinking that I know things. I no longer think that is true. I have spent a year and nine months teaching myself everything I could about music.”
When pressed, Messer will also reveal that he has a shady background reading tarot cards on Jackson Square in New Orleans, not to mention participating in Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow casts. “Mostly I have a background in waiting tables,” he adds. “This has made me the ultimate party host, and I run the best dinner party in Knoxville, five days a week. But it’s the morning. And there’s nothing to eat or drink.”
McCammon aims to continue that party atmosphere as the show’s producer (“I love the format of it already and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”), and says Messer was an inspiring figure for him from the beginnng.
“When I first started on the show, I was terrified of everyone. Damian was so cool,” he says. “If I had to draw a comparison, I would say that Damian was Rizzo and everyone else was the other Pink Ladies. My being the new kid made me Sandra Dee. Pre-makeover. And without the potential to be a blonde bombshell.”
McCammon says he’s learned much from Messer’s particular approach to broadcasting, as well as WUTK’s student laboratory setting, where it is “okay to make mistakes.”
“The number of times I have hit the wrong button thus making the song and the station ID play at the same time is more than I care to admit,” he admits. “But every time, Damian just laughs. Not in a mean way, but in a manner that lets you know that it isn’t a big deal. And when he laughs, you don’t have time to beat yourself up because you usually start laughing too. And, just like the end of every camp orientation, he taught me that the most important rule is to have fun. If you are stiff and trying to be perfect on air, no one will listen. If you are having fun, the audience will too.
“We often joke about how few people are listening but that doesn’t bother us. We dance like no one is watching. And we wouldn’t be dancing without our choreographer, Damian Messer.”
Damian Messer’s Top Three Songs He’s Pretty Sure Nobody Else Plays on the Radio
Damian Messer has played about 4,000 songs total on the MCRC, and a good number of them are ones you don’t often hear on the air. But here are his picks for the most arcane, from MCRC’s Feb. 11, 2016 playlist:
“Dinosaur Sex,” Family Fodder
“Dinosaur Sex,” Emmy the Great
“Dinosaur Sex!,” Charli XCX
“I think something of the reason that I played them all is obvious on its face. Dinosaur sex. Duh.
“Now, I beg you to understand that dinosaur sex has been a deep and abiding interest of mine since I was a young child. The notion simply struck me and would not let go. For more reasons than my prurient interest in sauropoda erotica. I figured that it is simply such a strange notion that it would repeat itself again and again in society. A true meme, if you will. I think the idea of dinosaur sex taught me what a meme really is.
“So, why did I play this? Two of the songs are truly rare. That’s a blast. They’re all great, in different ways. But I played them because they taught me something.”
Featured photo: Dasha Tammark
Editor Coury Turczyn guided Knoxville's alt weekly, Metro Pulse, through two eras, first as managing editor (and later executive editor) from 1992 to 2000, then as editor-in-chief from 2007 to 2014. He's also worked as a Web editor at CNET, the erstwhile G4 cable network, and HGTV.
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