Vin Scelsa became a freeform New York radio legend at the old WPLJ and now-defunct WNEW-FM during the ’70s and ’80s. He continues to endure with his highly-praised Idiot’s Delight show. This article originally appeared in  Aqaurian Weekly in 2000.

“Whatever happened to the airwaves belonging to the people?,” pioneering free form discjockey Vin Scelsa wonders as we discuss the demise of commercial radio. While trendy playlists and stale programming have dwindled radio’s mainstream audience to the lowest common denominator,…

British discjockey John Peel died, age 65, of a heart attack, October 26, 2004, while vacationing in Peru. Way before MTV Unplugged promoted contemporary artists’ live renditions, the masterful Anglophile introduced enduring Peel Sessions. The ‘Original Pirate DJ,’ Peel broadcast from ships anchored outside English waters before BBC Radio hired him in 1967; exposing groundbreaking acts T. Rex, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Fairport Convention, and Faces. Later, Peel went against conservative programmers, uncovering punk, reggae, hardcore, and hip-hop…