Revenge of the Particle
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Revenge of the Particle is a 3-hour music program that showcases an eclectic mix of mostly non-mainstream music. From 1995 to 1997, the show aired on WOMR from Provincetown, Massachusetts. The show currently airs via internet from Hopkins, Minnesota on Dementia Radio. The hostess of the show is comedy music artist DJ Particle.
[edit] History
In May 1995, in Provincetown, Massashusetts, Emi Briet (DJ Particle) pitched an idea to local community radio station WOMR for a different kind of oldies show, as she was fed up with the limited playlists the commercial oldies stations rotated. Her idea was to have any song at least 15 years of age be eligible for her playlist. The program director liked her idea and set her up in a bi-weekly Midnight-3am slot. Calling her show Particle's Pick, the premiere broadcast was slated for the early morning of Memorial Day.
Unfortunately, Emi fell ill on that Sunday afternoon and could not premiere her show. Filling in for the premiere broadcast was WOMR DJ Ted E. Beare.
Two weeks later, however, Particle's Pick aired with its rightful hostess, and she stayed true to her word, picking out hits from her collection that didn't see very much commercial oldies airtime. She also had special song blocks including "Double Shot" (2 songs by the same artist or 2 songs with a unifying theme), "Original and Remake" (in which she would play two recorded versions of the same song by different artists), and the "Disco Half-Hour" (renamed the "Dance Classics Half-Hour" when songs from 1982 got added to the mix in January 1997) the latter of which always aired at the top of Hour 3. On days when WOMR had no DJ scheduled between 3am and 6am, Emi would frequently extend her show to a marathon 6 hours, extending the Dance block to cover all of hour 3.
On March 31, 1996, to give the show a more upbeat feel, she renamed the show to its current name, the premise being that by choosing to listen to the eclectic mix of the show, one would be taking "revenge" against the corporate media.
She also did the occasional special show, including the Anniversary show that aired on Memorial Day, the "Spirit of 76 Special" before July 4 where she would count down Billboard magazine's Top 100 of 1976 (despite being able to obtain only 92 of the 100 songs), and "Particle's Christmas Pick" which would be her show just before Christmas, with 3 hours of holiday music. The 1976 specials aired on June 25, 1995, June 23 & July 7, 1996 (since she was not able to go 6 hours that year due to Kathy Tarr's Brand New Day, which was airing at 3am at the time), and June 22, 1997.
In August 1997, citing occupational conflict, Emi cancelled Revenge, and the show remained off the air for just over 8 years.
In October 2005, Emi found a new home for her show on Dementia Radio, albeit with some changes; the 15-year cap was lifted, novelty music became more of a focus, the commercial breaks were now parodies as well, and the dance half-hour would now play techno. Otherwise, the show retained the same format and theme as it had on WOMR.
Since moving to Dementia Radio, the show has added a special broadcast on Halloween, in which Emi takes on the alias of DJ Sadako "from the bottom of a deep dark well", calls the show Sadako's Halloween Revenge, and plays songs appropriate of the season. Also, a final "Spirit of 76 Special" in 2006 counted down the Funny 25 of 1976 as ranked by the Dr. Demento show, to stay with the format of Revenges new home. However, starting in 2007, this annual time slot will feature Dr. Demento's Funny 25 of the half-year.
The Techno Half-Hour is often guest-hosted by Emi's room-mate and co-producer, The Almighty DJ Milla. Her Almighty title was won from the formerly almighty Nateboi in a drinking contest at Marscon 2007.
[edit] Trivia
- The theme of the show is a 1993 techno/electronica song called Ish Revenge by artist Ish. This theme has been used ever since the show's name change.
- The short unintelligible snippet that plays before each of DJ Milla's guest appearances on the Techno Half-Hour is the audio from Worker and Parasite, a parody, by Matt Groening, of old Eastern European cartoons.
- Revenge is currently the only show on Dementia Radio that reruns the next day.
- The closing quote, in which Emi tells listeners to "Keep your ear to the radio, and keep hot water with you at all times," is a reference to the Japanese anime series, Ranma ½.
