Trash Disco – Twenty Years In The Making (Part 1)

As the song goes… “It was twenty years ago”. It was a cold Friday night at midnight on the night of September 13 2002 that the first episode of Trash Disco went to air. Songs were played and mistakes were made. But how did it even get started?

I always had an interest in radio, ever since hearing the likes of legends like Kenny Everett and what he could do with relatively primitive equipment and a phenomenal imagination. But it really kicked off when I was living in Sydney when I was offered the chance to have my own show on a community radio station. I had a weekly show on Thursday nights playing obscure and unusual tracks from all decades. And then, due to changes in my work circumstances, I found myself back in Melbourne. I quickly set about finding community stations that were near me.

I found Southern FM, nestled back then quietly in the heart of Moorabbin. I put together a bio/program profile (it looks hideously amateur when I look at it now) and gave it to the station. The name “Trash Disco” was a last minute change from the original name “Death Disco”, named after the Public Image Ltd song. And the tagline “The Obscure, the alternative and the absurd” would soon become “The Obscure, the alternative and the strangely familiar”.

They gave me a time slot and a start date, and all I had to do was prepare. To be honest I can’t even remember if they gave me any training on the panel. Possibly not, as I had just completed a broadcasting course at 3PBS not long before. I dutifully turned up, with two small suitcases in hand. One full of CDs, the other full of minidiscs, which is where my vinyl lived at the time. In the studio were two CD players, two minidisc players and a turntable. Also in the studio was Rochelle, who hosted the show that was on before me called “Wide Open Road”, which was on from 10pm until midnight. . I can’t remember her surname, but she was super nice and showed how me how to work things on the desk.

She finished her show, then I took over. I started with The Cure’s Shake Dog Shake – which was as intended, unlike my first show in Sydney, where the first song I played was the wrong one. A recording exists, which Patreon supporters have access to, which shows what that first show was like. It’s not without its mistakes, but I learned very early on to never draw attention to the things that go wrong. This is a rule I sometimes break, but mainly stick to it.

Thus was born Trash Disco! Already the Weekly Weird Al track was an established feature, and the 90s was only three years ago, so what would become “new-ish” stuff was just part of the show, as artists were still going and hadn’t really gone away. But the “feel” of the show was there – slightly UK-centric, new wave and alternative.

By mid-2003, Wide Open Road was over and Trash Disco moved to the 10pm slot. This is when I got to meet the guys from Built For Speed – Dr Nick, CJ and sometimes Jimbo. Built For Speed had already been going for some years (and still is!). The guys were always great and changeovers would often involve me being on their show for the last few minutes to tell them what I was going to to in my show. Trash Disco would stay at 10pm from this point on.

Dr Nick at the mic above CJ giving his opinion on the latest movie

Then in late 2003, something special happened. I had the chance to interview the genius that was Weird Al Yankovic. I researched and researched, and wrote questions and also wrote some station/program ids I wanted him to record. I was so nervous, but he put me at ease, he was such a nice guy. We had our chat, and then the digital camera I had wouldn’t work properly (digital cameras were still in their infancy at that point and iPhones had yet to be invented) so I couldn’t get a selfie with him, but I could take a photo of him outside the hotel in St Kilda (see below). He even recorded the ids for me, forever preventing me from ever changing the name of the show. You can read more about the Weird Al interview here.

Weird Al Yankovic outside the Novotel in St Kilda

SPECIAL SHOWS

A precursor to the now familiar Theme Nights, special shows started to appear. Even the themes would be familiar to today’s listeners – Australian Music, Anti-Valentines, shows dedicated to Bowie, Duran Duran and The Smiths.

THE END

By late 2004, life was changing and the show had to end its first run. But the show went out with a bang! The show had built up a following amongst Duran fans (and we’d had one or two Duran specials already) but around this time the original Duran Duran line up had reunited for the first time since 1985 and after a short tour an album was released – Astronaut. So for the last show, a group of Duran fans got together for dinner and then came across to the studio to play Duran Duran’s new album and plenty of other tracks and generally have a dance around the studio. Trash Disco even got a mention on the Duran website itself (and it’s still there!). It was a fitting end to Trash Disco’s first run.

Duran Duran website mentions the show!