|
On
fall 1991, in Miami, Florida Fitz,
a club disk jockey who was studying broadcasting, worked at the campus'
radio station for a semester; this was the seed that later became Radio
Jungla. The experience he had for that semester was very basic but it was
the starting point to other experiences that followed.
As
he became notorious in
Miami
's DJ
scene he was invited to do shows at clubs and radio stations acquiring
more experience at broadcasting. The style of music he played was hardly
heard of in
Miami
,
therefore, radio play was minimal. Only Friday night shows would feature
something similar to what he played. One day a friend told him about this
pirate radio station that was playing music very similar to the music he
played. Something clicked inside of him. "This is it. This is true
underground, the only place where exclusive stays exclusive." He
listened to the radio station hopeful to hear a phone number to call until
finally a phone number was announced. He met the owners of the radio
station and quickly became partners promoting parties and spinning both at
the station and at the parties. One day, the radio station was shut down
by the FCC, but this was bound to happen
since it did not have a license. This event did not stopped the owners of
the radio station it merely delayed them. While the owners of the radio
station worked on a new location to put the radio station Fitz
worked on some original electronic music with other DJ's in the
Miami
scene. By
the time the Winter Music Conference of 1996 was on the way the now single
owner of the radio station had already reopened the station at a new
location closer to the
Down
Town
area of
Miami
. He gave Fitz
full partnership of the radio station allowing him artistic freedom and a
show all day Saturdays. Fitz's
show was helped by Ambient Junkie and Protejaelambiente who in turn
invited many artists to express themselves especially at the time when the
Miami Winter Music
Conference was happening and all the different artists from all over
the world came to learn from each other.
After
the conference, things where doing real good at the radio station, but the
station owner had not shown to check the station. It was Fitz
and Ambient Junkie who constantly checked on it. On one of those check ups
Ambient Junkie saw a letter of eviction hidden underneath the turntables.
The Owner of the station had not paid the landlord of the building for the
rented space. They had very little time to do things since it was a Friday
and the deadline of eviction was the next Monday Fitz
and Ambient Junkie called the owner who also owed them some money to tell
him they had to move everything out of there or else he would loose it
all. He said ok but he didn't go to help them move. They took the stations
equipment to Ambient Junkie's who lived close by and started transmitting
from there. By this time the owner of the station's equipment was not even
calling in to check. One day he called them asking for the equipment back
but since he owed them some money they decided to buy him out of the
equipment by trading some instruments plus the amount he owed. He accepted
the deal and then part of the station was owned by Ambient Junkie and the
other part by Fitz.
They continued playing at Ambient Junkie's place until one day another low
power "pirate" radio station opened in the
South
Beach
area
playing similar format. Fitz
did not want competition and also thought
Miami
was big
enough for both stations to exist without competing with each other. It
was decided to move the station to
West
Kendall
which was
very far from
South
Beach
. The
station became Radio Bajotierra (Underground Radio) WTHC 101.1.
Radio
Bajotierra was run from a room in Fitz's
apartment. There, with help from P.J. AKA DJ Diesel the antenna was set up
on the roof of the building during the night. For his help DJ Diesel got
his own show featuring the sounds of Miami Bass, Hip Hop, and a very
steamy talk show on weekday afternoons. The shows had lots of variety,
with lots of special guests. Some of the most common DJs and or artists
that would perform on a regular basis were Protejaelambiente, Claudia,
Abhaia, Servo Natura, Jah Nai, Fitz
and more. There they would also broadcast parties straight from the
apartment where DJ's and artists would play at he same time forming an
improvised ensemble unique in all aspects and genres.
Radio
Bajotierra lasted for about a year until Fitz
moved to
Puerto
Rico
where it
became Radio Jungla. In Puerto Rico Fitz met with Nolo who had been living
there for a few years already. During the time Radio Jungla was on
the air it became so popular in its locality that the ratings for that
area in commercial stations went down. This gave a sense of curiosity
among the other radio stations managers; so much that they wrote emails
trying to contact the people responsible for Radio Jungla. Finally Fitz
called one of the people of the other radio stations and he was told about
a Monday night talk show and that it would be about Radio Jungla. Fitz
& Nolo with some higher power help appeared on the talk show that
night and not revealing their names or any information that was not
needed. The station lasted about four months until the FCC
found out about it making it cease operations. However, that is not the
end of Radio Jungla.
These
days the radio station is waiting for the new rule making from the FCC
that will make small community radio stations like Radio Jungla legal.
Let’s hope for the best.
For any questions or
support Contact:
fitz@radiojungla.com
|
