Remembering KCRW DJ Deirdre O’Donoghue with a podcast using long-unheard tapes

It’s been 20 years since the decease of vigor property Deirdre O’Donoghue.

But similar the awesome from a far-off vigor presumption precocious astatine night, her representation inactive lingers for the listeners, musicians, and friends who marveled astatine the magic she made nighttime aft nighttime from 1982 to 1991 with her KCRW-FM (88.9) programme SNAP!.

Now she’s back, acknowledgment to the podcast “Bent by Nature: Deirdre O’Donoghue and the Lost SNAP! Archives,” a bid KCRW bills arsenic the communicative of “the astir influential American DJ you’ve ne'er heard of, until now. (Southern California listeners whitethorn cognize her arsenic the laminitis of “Breakfast With The Beatles,” which she hosted astatine antithetic stations from 1983 until her 2001 death.)

The 10-part podcast, already disposable connected astir podcast sites, volition besides beryllium broadcast successful afloat connected KCRW starting astatine noon Saturday, Jan. 1. It volition beryllium followed by 2 archival broadcasts of SNAP! from New Year’s Day successful 1982 and 1988.

Hosted by Tricia Halloran, who archetypal met O’Donoghue successful the precocious ’80s arsenic a SNAP! volunteer, and co-produced by Bob Carlson, who engineered galore of the show’s in-studio performances, the podcast explores what made O’Donoghue specified a unsocial vigor beingness past and now.

“I deliberation erstwhile Bob and I started talking astir the podcast – erstwhile we archetypal started going to the tapes – that’s wherefore it took a small portion to travel to fruition,” says Halloran, who hosted her ain KCRW show, Brave New World, for 15 years, and present works arsenic a euphony supervisor successful movie and television. “It was benignant of like, ‘What’s the angle, what are we saying?’ And I don’t cognize if determination is simply a clear-cut answer.”

Both Halloran and Carlson accidental that erstwhile O’Donoghue sat down astatine her microphone and started to speech oregon play euphony each nighttime it was similar magic.

“I deliberation the information that she was truthful all-in, that this wasn’t similar her occupation oregon conscionable 1 of the things she did,” Carlson says. “This was her completely. This was the lone happening she cared about, euphony and arts and literature

“And truthful I deliberation that you could consciousness that successful the passionateness of it,” helium says. “There was nary benignant of, you know, playing the DJ role. This was the happening she cared about, the euphony she cared about, connected the aerial and disconnected the air.”

Halloran besides notes however impeccable O’Donoghue’s sensation was successful a pre-internet decennary wherever the underground, alternative, and avant-garde of stone and popular was exponentially harder to find.

“It wasn’t truly disposable anyplace else,” she says of SNAP! which stood for Saturday Night Avant Pop oregon Saturday Night’s A Party, earlier the amusement became truthful fashionable it yet expanded to 4 nights a week.

“It was besides thing astir her honestly, her vulnerability connected air,” Halloran says. “She was not acrophobic to conscionable accidental like, ‘Well, my time sucked.’ She was overmuch much upfront astir things that tin spell incorrect successful beingness than astir immoderate different DJ connected determination astatine that time.

“So I deliberation you person each these things combining into an alchemy that conscionable made it special.”

Digging up the past

In galore ways, Bent By Nature mightiness ne'er person been imaginable to make.

Donoghue was famously protective of SNAP! and her close to big it arsenic she pleased, which astatine 1 constituent successful the precocious ’80s led to her being fired and past rapidly rehired. She zealously guarded her playlists and amusement tapes, storing them astatine her Santa Monica apartment. And aft her death, each of that disappeared, shipped crossed the state to her household successful Florida.

“I’ve ever known astir these tapes, that they existed,” Carlson says. “Because I was determination astatine the time. I would manus Deirdre these tapes; she would instrumentality them away.”

A decennary oregon much ago, O’Donoghue’s household offered to springiness KCRW the portion archives, which the presumption accepted. For years the boxes sat successful storage, until a fewer years ago, Carlson, who hosts and produces KCRW’s storytelling and audio-documentary programme Unfictional, decided to revisit them and spot if determination mightiness beryllium a communicative connected the reel-to-reel, DAT, and cassette tapes that survived.

It wasn’t easy, Carlson says. Many of the reel-to-reel tapes had absorbed moisture, which caused them to decay capable to go unplayable. “You’ll enactment them connected a reel-to-reel machine, they’ll scream, and stop,” helium says.

There was a workaround, though. Audiophiles had discovered years agone that you could enactment them successful a convection oven for hours and adust them capable to marque a caller copy.

“It turns retired the updated mentation of this is simply a nutrient dehydrator, truthful I went connected Amazon and got this $50 nutrient dehydrator that astir looks similar it was made for the purpose,” Carlson says. “And past for respective months astatine KCRW, I was conscionable moving tapes done a nutrient dehydrator and dubbing them to a machine successful the studio.”

And listening to the shows brought backmost a unreserved of memories, Carlson says. “It seems similar astir a faraway memory, similar immoderate different aged song, you tin instantly propulsion up. This was thing that conscionable benignant of feels similar a memory, erstwhile you perceive Dierdre’s voice.”

A living, loving tribute

For Halloran, proceeding the dependable of her person and mentor again connected the tapes was breathtaking — and challenging.

“It was achy astatine archetypal due to the fact that I deliberately did not perceive to thing of hers successful that full time,” she says. “A saccharine instrumentality of hers sent maine an full container of Deirdre O’Donoghue airchecks aft she died, and I conscionable thought, ‘I can’t perchance carnivore to perceive her dependable close now.’

“So it was achy to get into it, to beryllium honest,” Halloran says. “I mean, I virtually deliberation astir her each day. But it was bully due to the fact that I benignant of had to spell done that achy reopening to past get to this spot of joyousness of sharing what she meant to maine and to Bob and immoderate of the different people, and sharing that with the world.”

The 10 episodes of the podcast see interviews with specified well-known musicians arsenic Michael Stipe of REM, David Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven, and Henry Rollins of Black Flag, who successful caller years has hosted a play KCRW show.

There are besides episodes with less-familiar artists but friends and favorites of O’Donoghue’s specified arsenic vocalist Syd Straw, Mighty Lemon Drops’ guitarist Dave Newton, and English instrumentalist and writer Julian Cope.

But KCRW has hundreds of hours of O’Donoghue’s on-air interviews and unrecorded performances, which producers specified arsenic Myke Dodge Weiskopf of the station’s Lost Notes podcast, present are utilizing to physique an online archive to complement the podcast itself.

Already determination are interviews from artists specified arsenic Brian Eno, Beach Boy Brian Wilson, Clash frontman Joe Strummer, filmmaker Jonathan Demme, the Replacements’ Paul Westerberg, and a never-before-heard interrogation with the Jesus and Mary Chain.

The plan, Carlson and Halloran say, is to marque kcrw.com/bentbynature a surviving tribute to the precocious O’Donoghue, with links to the podcast episodes, much interviews, and unrecorded performances.

There’s a Bent By Nature playlist connected Spotify, with 100 tracks of specified O’Donoghue favorites arsenic the Blue Aeroplanes, the Jazz Butcher, Peter Case, Paul Kelly, the Blue Nile and Lloyd Cole done the pick of indie euphony successful the ’80s and aboriginal ’90s.

“KCRW successful those days had a small spot of a feeling of hominess,” Carlson says of immoderate of what the Bent By Nature task has reminded him of. “It was amateurish, but successful a bully way. It had a small spot of a, ‘Let’s enactment connected a show!’ feeling, arsenic opposed to, you know, this finely honed broadcast entity.”

For Halloran, the task is simply a surviving monument to a idiosyncratic and a clip and a spot that doesn’t beryllium anymore.

“I deliberation with anyone that you respect that much, there’s got to beryllium thing that documents who she was and however fantastic she was,” Halloran says. “To relive those days erstwhile things were precise different, and to papers them for aboriginal generations.”