This is a love letter to Radio One. I couldn’t possibly write an editorial for the music issue without mentioning our musos across the hall, who Dunedin’s music scene owes everything to. Celebrating their 40th this year, Radio One (91FM) gives a platform to the up-and-coming artists of Ōtepoti – the beating heart of the local music scene.
I don’t think you’d find a more passionate group of people dedicated to grassroots artistry than these guys. The knowledge that these nerds have about music is insane. You know you’re at a table of Radio One volunteers when conversation turns to the intricacies of DONK and Ska (two genres of music I’d never heard of before one particularly educational OUSA lunch).
Jordan Irvine is especially knowledgeable. They’re one of Critic and Radio One’s co-parented children (our houses are slowly merging), hosting a radio show and writing Local Produce. They’ll be able to tell you everything you’d ever need to know about any song.
While we were listening to the Shrek 2 soundtrack before the Swamp Rave, Jordan became audibly annoyed at how the soundtrack was out of order for the movie. Sometimes I’ll see them biting their tongue when we’re playing music in the office. Jordan wrote half the culture section for this issue, having enthusiastically listed more pitches than the other writer’s combined at the pitch meeting.
I find it endlessly amusing how appalled Radio One people become at my obvious lack of music knowledge. My top Spotify-wrapped artists have consistently been perhaps the most mainstream you could get: Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Hozier, and the Arctic Monkeys making regular appearances. The latter I think got me at least a little kudos with the Radio One crew. Jordan wouldn’t meet my eyes over the former.
Dunedin is one of the best places in the country for grassroots artistry, with Radio One having spearheaded this and fostered the growth of some of NZ’s top artists. Everyone starts somewhere, and Radio One are the people who give budding stars the chance to grow into something. To make mistakes, fuck up on air, learn the basics of sound booth technicalities, and bow at the altar of the greats who came before them; people like Martin Phillipps, the former lead singer of iconic Dunedin Sound band The Chills, who died last week. The grief in the air in Radio One at the news of his death was heavy.
It was a huge coincidence that, while searching in the archives for old Radio One poster art to use for this issue, we found not only the sick poster used for the cover (seriously, how rad) but one owned by Martin Phillipps himself. The inside cover is the back of the poster. This issue couldn’t have been put together without Radio One’s help. The double centrefold was literally taken from the walls of their office.
It goes without saying that there’s a lot to learn from Radio One, including the astounding number of gigs that are on each week. Just never suggest that vinyl might sound indistinguishable from a Bluetooth speaker to you. I’ve learned a lot from those nerds, and I hope you do too.