This is episode 1 of the full-length radio play about a college radio station in 1980!
1980 takes you back to the time when vinyl was king - and an inside track to the latest music was a prized commodity. Enter Rod Levers, a massively popular DJ whose knowledge of the 1980 music scene lends him outsized power and influence. And we all know what happens with power . . . Also enter Joey Normal, a kid fresh out of high school with some musical ideas of his own. For Joey, 1980 is all about the musical revolution of punk rock. And there's station director Mr. Ciarelli, a "product of the dinosaur rock generation." And Sue, who likes folk rock. And Meredith, who is hung up on the proto-EMO music of Joy Division and the Cure . . . And finally, Cookie Hooker, who likes New Wave but doesn't listen to the lyrics at all . . .
Joey and Rod and the others vie for control of Capital Radio - the "epicenter of the musical universe"- but who will be sitting in the DJ chair at the end of the play?
Set against the backdrop of real world events, 1980 is a gritty, realistic drama is about a music era like no other - bands were only recently uncoupled from the giant corporate record companies, and independent outlets provided an explosion of fresh talent and creative expression. But it was also a time when real world events provided a sobering dose of reality.