ThoughtGallery.org > Dare to Be Different (Post Screening Q&A with Lori Majewski & Michael Pagnotta)

Dare to Be Different (Post Screening Q&A with Lori Majewski & Michael Pagnotta)

New Wave: Dare To Be Different: How a small Long Island radio station became the “voice of a generation”

August 1982. Bands like the Ramones, the Clash, U2, the Smiths, the Cars, the Police, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Blondie, Tears For Fears, Elvis Costello, Duran Duran, and the Cure are redefining a fresh new music scene. But to the disenfranchised youth weaned on bland Top 40 and corporate rock, these artists might have escaped notice were it not for a small, independent radio station broadcasting from Long Island, NY. This was WLIR.

For a brief, but startling, five year period, this wildly influential station battled the FCC, faced financial struggles, competed with signals far stronger than theirs and faced shutdown at a moment’s notice. But none of that stopped ‘LIR from doing what no other station would or could. It spotted musical trends from Europe, discovered new and intriguing artists and was responsible for breaking many of these bands in America. ‘LIR nurtured a local club scene and created a heritage that’s since spawned hundreds of tribute sites and message boards.

Curated by a staff of like-minded and adventurous personalities, ‘LIR spoke a new language to its audience. It was the social network of its day and its fans quickly became family.

Lori Majewski is host of two Sirius XM shows: Feedback, which airs weekday mornings on Volume, the talk channel about music; and Lust For Lists, her classic alternative themed-playlist show that airs weekly on First Wave. She’s the co-founder of Teen People, and was an executive editor at Entertainment Weekly and Us Weekly. She’s also 100% obsessed with Duran Duran, whom she interviewed — along with the likes of New Order, The Smiths, and Tears For Fears — for her book, Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s, one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2014.

Michael Pagnotta is a veteran artist manager, entertainment publicist, producer, music supervisor and pop culture commentator. He has represented many of the most infuential pop, rock and alternative artists of the past four decades, from Prince, George Michael and The Rolling Stones to Depeche Mode, Morrissey and the Cure. He can be heard regularly on Sirius XM Volume, EW Radio and Howard 100 channels and seen in the upcoming celebrity documentary series Cashed Out, premiering this summer on Reelz Channel.

 











When: Tue., Jun. 12, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Where: Nitehawk Cinema (Williamsburg)
136 Metropolitan Ave.
718-782-8370
Price: $16
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New Wave: Dare To Be Different: How a small Long Island radio station became the “voice of a generation”

August 1982. Bands like the Ramones, the Clash, U2, the Smiths, the Cars, the Police, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Blondie, Tears For Fears, Elvis Costello, Duran Duran, and the Cure are redefining a fresh new music scene. But to the disenfranchised youth weaned on bland Top 40 and corporate rock, these artists might have escaped notice were it not for a small, independent radio station broadcasting from Long Island, NY. This was WLIR.

For a brief, but startling, five year period, this wildly influential station battled the FCC, faced financial struggles, competed with signals far stronger than theirs and faced shutdown at a moment’s notice. But none of that stopped ‘LIR from doing what no other station would or could. It spotted musical trends from Europe, discovered new and intriguing artists and was responsible for breaking many of these bands in America. ‘LIR nurtured a local club scene and created a heritage that’s since spawned hundreds of tribute sites and message boards.

Curated by a staff of like-minded and adventurous personalities, ‘LIR spoke a new language to its audience. It was the social network of its day and its fans quickly became family.

Lori Majewski is host of two Sirius XM shows: Feedback, which airs weekday mornings on Volume, the talk channel about music; and Lust For Lists, her classic alternative themed-playlist show that airs weekly on First Wave. She’s the co-founder of Teen People, and was an executive editor at Entertainment Weekly and Us Weekly. She’s also 100% obsessed with Duran Duran, whom she interviewed — along with the likes of New Order, The Smiths, and Tears For Fears — for her book, Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs That Defined the 1980s, one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2014.

Michael Pagnotta is a veteran artist manager, entertainment publicist, producer, music supervisor and pop culture commentator. He has represented many of the most infuential pop, rock and alternative artists of the past four decades, from Prince, George Michael and The Rolling Stones to Depeche Mode, Morrissey and the Cure. He can be heard regularly on Sirius XM Volume, EW Radio and Howard 100 channels and seen in the upcoming celebrity documentary series Cashed Out, premiering this summer on Reelz Channel.

 

Buy tickets/get more info now