KNOW a KAOS DJ: JJ Syrja, Retroactive

What's your name?

J.J. Syrja

What's your show called?

Retroactive

What's your show about? 

The history of rock and soul through my personal lens, which
sometimes echoes the KAOS ethic and other types of radio programming.

When and how did you start at KAOS?
My ex got a job out here in 1993 (we lived in Michigan) and mailed me
the KAOS program guide--it was just what I was looking for. So fab that I
didn't have to attend Evergreen to get a show!

Do you remember the first song you ever played on-air?
Leon Thomas' version of "C.C. Rider" (April 1994).

What’s the most memorable moment you’ve had live on the air? 
I was playing Yoko Ono about ten years ago when the phone rang. She
is still misunderstood and disliked, sadly. I braced myself for a nasty
KAOS caller. Instead I got, "I love Yoko! Is that from 'Fly' or 'Approximately Infinite
Universe'?"

How do you prepare for a show — or do you just wing it?
I plan obsessively but leave room to alter what gets played. My Spinitron playlist is adjusted
quite a bit when the show finishes.

What’s something you wish more people knew about community radio?

That community radio can be listenable and professional sounding
without being slick. I don't appreciate dead air or, "I'm going to play a Public Service Announcement now." That doesn't have to happen.

What’s the last song you completely fell in love with?

There are more recent songs, but I really marveled at Nick Lowe's
"Lately I've Let Things Slide," where the down and out character tells a story with just
a few words: "That untouched takeaway/I brought home the other day/has quite a lot to
say." Or Springsteen's other side of the coin on "Working on the Highway": "One
day I looked straight at her and she looked straight back."

What record made the biggest impact on your life?
Chuck Berry's "School Day." My mother wasn't a rock'n'roll fan but
bought it for me in the '50s. It was about a day in the life of a student and
lyrically so different than the grownup stuff Mom was listening to (like Sinatra).

What was your first concert?
Stephen Stills and Manassas...a pretty good onstage mix of eclectic styles and players. Saw them a year later on TV and they were horrid; the music sounded coked out.

What music-related hill will you die on?
There's such a disconnect between what Motown songs are on the radio
now and the era I grew up in (yes, I know that was decades ago and that time
marches on). Now it's a handful of artists represented by a handful of songs on the radio. Before Motown became a corporate monster, it was a local Detroit indie label that eventually exploded and I heard Brenda Holloway and the Contours on Top 40 radio constantly. They don't
deserve obscurity.

What’s your favorite local band or artist right now?
I loved the Noses and then Mirah in my early days in Olympia. I knew
about Karl Blau but recently a friend told me to check out his covers album.
Extraordinary.

What artist do you like that would surprise your audience and friends the most?
The Monkees. One of my faves when I was 11 and my oldest daughter's
favorite band when she was 11.

What artist do you not like that would surprise your audience and friends the most?
I'll get ripped for this: I find the Grateful Dead tedious. Nothing
I've heard or the few albums of theirs I own a copy of can wipe out my view. They
created a sweet sound yet I've never found it to be dynamic. Other "major" bands from the '60s
had at least one compelling vocalist. The Dead didn't have one. If you're thinking Jagger or Dylan
didn't sing well, my view is that they trampled their limitations as singers and
deserve their status.

If you could interview any musician—living or dead—on your show, who would it be?
Mose Allison.

What are a few of your desert island discs?
Fairport Convention--Unhalfbricking;
The Beatles--Rubber Soul
Aretha Franklin--I Never Loved a Man the Way I
Love You
Van Morrison--It's Too Late to Stop Now
John Coltrane--A Love Supreme;
Chuck Berry Is on Top
The Who Sell Out; and the debut (self-titled)
albums by the Clash and the Pretenders.