Garage' sets up shop in Denver: Van Zandt's old-time rock on local radio

By Ed Will
Denver Post, November 07, 2002

Denver radio received an infusion of
traditional rock 'n' roll this week with the regional debut of "Little
Steven's Underground Garage."

Created and hosted by Little Steven Van Zandt, the show features old
and new garage bands from 10 p.m.-midnight Sundays on the
Mountain, KQMT-99.5-FM.

While Rolling Stone magazine recently raved about Van Zandt the DJ,
most people know him better as the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen and
the E Street Band or in the role of Silvio Dante on the HBO hit series
"The Sopranos."

His self-syndicated radio show first went on the air in April on 20
outlets. It now airs weekly in the U.S. and Canada on 65 stations,
including three others in Colorado.

"People were shocked at the debut numbers," Van Zandt said. "Major
syndicators, all of whom turned me down, said they might be able to
get us 10 stations. That is why we did it ourselves. People just felt that
they could not get traditional rock 'n' roll back on the radio."

They couldn't have been more wrong, as shown by the quick growth in
the number of affiliates and the gain in the audience share in the
show's time slot at most stations.

For example, Arbitron reported WAXQ in New York City saw an increase
from 1.6 share to 5.1 in the first three months it aired the "Garage,"
and WBGG in Miami gained even more, 2.5 to 9.6.

"It is hard to get exact numbers on radio for some reason, but it looks
like safely a third of our audience is under 25 and could be more than
that. It could be as much as half," said Van Zandt, 51.

Those are the numbers that make Van Zandt smile.

"Modern culture has become a little too limited musically, as far as what
young people are getting a chance to hear. There is nothing wrong with
hard rock or rap or pop, but there should be more options than that
and there isn't," he said.

Van Zandt said "Little Steven's Underground Garage" started as a
selfish act. He just wanted the music he likes to get airtime.

The main reason he spends about 20 hours a week doing the show is
because he sees himself in a cultural crusade to expand the musical
choices of a younger generation.

"Why should the next generation have less opportunities than we did?"
he asked. "That's not right, less choices."

Van Zandt said that can change because there is a revival of traditional
rock 'n' roll simmering around the world.

"There are three or four or five bands in every town all the way to
Sweden, as we see now with the Vines and Sahara Hot Nights. We're
playing 40 new bands on the show. People forget that. They tend to
think we are nostalgic radio, and that's not what we are at all," he said.

Van Zandt's celebrity capital, as he calls it, is high right now because of
his "Sopranos" role and his tour with Springsteen in support of the
latest album.

Still, he argues that the star of the radio show is the music, not him.

Of course, he picks the 25 songs each week, which range from "99
Floor" by Moving Sidewalks to "I Fought the Law" by Bobby Fuller to
"The King Is Half-Undressed" by Jellyfish to Tom Petty's latest, "The last
DJ."

"A lot of these songs have fun sort of built in," he said. "I think the
shortness of the songs helps that along. You're doing 2- or 2
1/2-minute songs, 3-minute songs. If you're not particularly happy
about this one, just hang around because there is another one coming
in 60 seconds or so." Rolling Stone recently said of Van Zandt's DJ work
that "his gig as a DJ might be his truest rock & roll call yet."

"I have chosen to spend my celebrity capital on this radio show," Van
Zandt said. "This is my stand. You only have so much time, and this is
what I am dedicating my time to because I feel it is that important. This
whole garage movement is a rebirth of rock 'n' roll, and the fact that the
major record companies still haven't figured it out yet doesn't mean a
thing to me."

Mountain West Music 2002