Page 16 - January 2012 Issue 1

I’m Joe Madigan, and I host Jumpin’ Joe’s Basement Show every Sunday on radiodowntown.ca People often ask me how a guy my age (36) got into the “oldies.” I was 9 years old, and I was home sick from school. I turned on the TV and saw a man with glasses playing the piano signing with puppet crocodiles on The Muppet Show. I immediately saw him as an inspiration since I was the only one in my class that wore glasses and I wanted to learn piano. That man was Elton John.
So I went digging through my parents’ record albums, and I found “Elton John’s Greatest Hits.” I dubbed the album on
cassette so I could hear it on my Sony Walkman. I also sought radio stations that
played Elton John. In St. Louis, that station was K-HITS 96.
From there, I discovered The Who, and I went digging for their albums. Then came the Beatles and the Stones, and a second radio station on my
pre-set, Oldies 103.
In high school, I tried to fit in by listening to Dave Matthews Band, and alternative rock, but it never resonated with me. I went back to my Elton John cassettes, The Who’s “Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy,” and The Rolling Stones “Hot Rocks” compilation.
I started my freshman year at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio in 2003, and wanted to do a show on the campus radio
station. I knew I wanted to play “the oldies,” but I didn’t know how to present it. I then remembered a WIXY 1260 bumper sticker on my uncle’s old record player. WIXY was the radio station in Cleveland that played the oldies when they were new. Fortunately, there are websites devoted to archiving and preserving the history of radio, and have plenty of recordings of WIXY 1260. When I heard an aircheck of Jack Armstrong hosting his show on WIXY 1260 from October of 1966, I knew right then and there what I wanted to do.
In January of 2004, I started a show called “Retro Radio,” re-creating 1960s style top 40 radio. Not only did I play the records, but also the old WIXY jingles and played songs from the WIXY- Sixty Surveys. The show became very popular among oldies listeners in Cleveland. I hosted the show for 15 years before starting my current show in 2019.
The show still has the energy of Retro Radio, but I dig deeper and play more than just the hits. I play the deep cuts from the Rolling Stones and The Beatles that you never hear on the radio. I play the forgotten groups like Love, The Rainy Daze, Fever Tree, and The Seeds. I also play those forgotten regional hits like “Open Up Your Door” by Richard and The Young Lions, “Respect” by The Rationals, and “Private Train” by the Five Man Electrical Band.
As the years go by, the oldies stations disappear one by one. Music from the 60s have been replaced with the hits from the 80s. The 1960s was an incredible era of music, one that the world will never see again. My duty is to preserve it and keep it alive for generations to come.
Jumpin’ Joe’s Basement Show airs every Sunday at 4:30pm (eastern) on radiodowntown.ca. The show’s website is basementradioshow.com
An episode of The Muppet Show
introduced me to rock & roll.
Joe Madigan presenter at Radiodowntown.ca
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