3 years ago
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In the astir deserted studios of KUNV 91.5-FM connected the UNLV campus, George Lyons attends to the tasks — connecting hard drives, reacquainting himself with the array of complicated-looking instrumentality that surrounds him, checking playlists, arranging notes for the smoothly flowing patter he’ll soon stock — required to nonstop his dependable and the alternate philharmonic world helium volition make into the ether implicit the adjacent 4 hours.
Lyons is big of “The Lyons Den Radio Show,” a staple of KUNV’s docket since 1998. Airing Sundays from 8 p.m to midnight, it’s a seamless meshing of rock, jazz, unrecorded sets from his ain monolithic postulation of performance tapes and thing other Lyons, a lifelong instrumentality of some euphony and vigor who has an encyclopedic cognition of both, feels is worthy sharing with listeners, mixed up into a formatless format Lyons describes arsenic “musical schizophrenia.”
For fans, Lyons’ amusement is assignment listening. For everyone else, it’s the astir intriguing amusement you haven’t yet heard.
‘Musical schizophrenia’
KUNV, the nationalist vigor transmission operated by UNLV, is simply a jazz station. But connected Sundays it offers an eclectic roster of programming that covers blues, Hawaiian euphony and reggae. “The Lyons Den” caps it disconnected with a amusement that General Manager Ashton Ridley says has a peculiarly divers audience.
KUNV’s wide demographic consists of persons astir 50 years old, Ridley says, but “when you look astatine ratings, it goes crossed the board” for Lyons’ show, depending upon what peculiar spot of philharmonic arcana helium has scheduled. Lyons says his listenership ranges from “old hippies” to younger radical lone present discovering the older music. He recalls 1 UNLV pupil who thanked Lyons for turning him connected to Yes and King Crimson, and different who “didn’t cognize Peter Gabriel was successful Genesis” but learned connected the show.
Lyons’ amusement besides feels intimate successful a mode that bridges “somebody conscionable being a disc jockey to an on-air idiosyncratic who’s idiosyncratic you consciousness is successful your surviving room,” Ridley says.
Lyons “is fantastic,” says Brian Spencer, big of “Nothin’ But the Blues,” which airs Sunday mornings connected KUNV. “He has specified eclectic tastes successful euphony that a batch of radical don’t have.” Unlike KUNV’s different Sunday shows, which play euphony from circumstantial genres, “you ne'er cognize what he’ll beryllium doing week aft week. Anything from Woody Guthrie to Black Sabbath,” Spencer says.
He laughs. “Some of it’s good, immoderate of it’s not. It’s each a substance of taste.”
Raised connected radio
It’s nary mishap that, to listeners of a definite age, “The Lyons Den” brings to caput the heyday of progressive FM radio. “I’ve said galore times my amusement is simply a throwback to the archetypal programming worldly I heard successful the precocious ’60s to ’70s,” Lyons says.
He grew up successful Los Angeles and got his archetypal AM-FM vigor astir Christmas 1968, asking his parent what to bash with it. “I said, ‘I already person a transistor radio.’ She said, ‘No, no, this 1 has 2 channels. This is FM and AM.’ I said, ‘What’s FM?’ My dada said, ‘Turn it connected and spot what you tin find.’ “
What Lyons recovered was stations playing full medium sides — “the archetypal clip I heard Yes’ ‘Fragile’ was connected the radio” — and DJs who were molding disparate euphony genres into astonishing caller wholes.
“The archetypal clip I ever heard a stone and rotation tune mixed was (Led Zeppelin’s) ‘Kashmir’ into (Pink Floyd’s) ‘Us and Them’ and backmost into ‘Kashmir,’ ” Lyons says. “It blew my mind.”
The euphony Lyons heard astir his location was eclectic successful its ain way. “My dada was into state euphony successful the car, my ma was listening to amusement tunes and Glen Campbell and Dinah Washington, my member was listening to stone and rotation and my sister was listening to R&B. I conscionable walked astir my location and listened to everything.”
Meanwhile, his cousins were “hardcore bluegrass musicians” and, arsenic an Armenian kid, helium was acquainted with Middle Eastern euphony and “watched them play each these weird instruments. So, like, the euphony was ever there.”
Hitting the airwaves
Eventually, Lyons went into the euphony business, managing bands and performers and booking acts successful Hollywood, and for 5 years was amusement manager astatine the archetypal Roxbury nightclub. “So I’ve been successful and astir the manufacture for years,” helium says. By the summertime of ‘96, erstwhile helium moved to Las Vegas, “I fundamentally retired from the amusement industry. But I listened to KUNV connected a regular basis.”
Lyons knew Matthew Tuttle, aka DJ Shoe, who had a amusement connected KUNV called “Dimensional Dance.” Tuttle introduced him to the station’s programme director. “I conscionable said, ‘I privation to play a assortment of music, nary circumstantial genre.’ Really, stone and roll, jazz, reggae, each sorts of genres I was into. I’d conscionable similar being capable to program a amusement and incorporated my unrecorded (concert) tapes successful it.
“He couldn’t marque fell nor hairsbreadth of it,” Lyons says, smiling. “I bugged him for six months.” After Lyons offered to capable successful whenever the presumption needed a sub, the programme manager asked him to screen a two-hour shift. Would helium person to travel a playlist? “He said, ‘No, conscionable prime immoderate tunes.’ I went to the presumption and picked immoderate tunes that I thought were chill tunes and started to play.”
It went good capable that the programme manager told Lyons, “I’ll springiness you a three-hour displacement adjacent week astatine this clip and you tin play each of your ain euphony and bring successful your ain stuff.’ ”
About 2 hours in, Lyons says, the programme manager stopped by and said, “I don’t privation your caput excessively get excessively big, but you’re a hit. People are calling. They similar your music.”
It marked the opening of what would germinate into “The Lyons Den. The accustomed format present sees the archetypal fractional of the amusement devoted to a philharmonic premix of immoderate Lyons thinks worthy of sharing, followed by a performance acceptable from his postulation of tapes. (Smart wealth is connected The Grateful Dead, due to the fact that he’s a superior Deadhead who’s seen hundreds of shows.)
Initially, the amusement was called “Eclectic Excursions.” Lyons laughs. “Rolls disconnected the tongue, doesn’t it?”
That lasted for 3 oregon 4 weeks. “Then, the feline who hired maine said, ‘I don’t privation to insult you. I deliberation “Eclectic Excursions” is cool, but I deliberation I’ve got a amended sanction for your show. Let maine deed you with it: “The Lyons Den.”’
“I go, ‘Dude, are you kidding me? That’s perfect. You’re coming into my den and I’m playing you my music.’ “
Truckin’ on
On this night, the full amusement is simply a tribute to Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones’ drummer who died a fewer days before. In his four-hour tribute, Lyons shares Stones cuts acquainted and obscure, unrecorded performances and selections from Watts’ jazz albums. In betwixt sets, his flowing, heavy dependable — you tin perceive the aboriginal FM DJ touches successful his cadence and code — conveys nuggets of information, biographical details, and adjacent a communicative astir the clip Lyons met Watts. It’s a creaseless show worthy of those FM pioneers helium listened to arsenic a kid.
“My inheritance is successful music, but I’ve been specified an unthinkable instrumentality of vigor done the years,” Lyons says. “I was truly into listening to each of that stuff, and a batch of that worldly made its mode into my show.
“There’s not a azygous happening rehearsed,” helium adds. “For me, it’s each conscionable watercourse of consciousness. I don’t know. My dada ever utilized to archer maine I’m afloat of useless information. So possibly that’s what it is.”
Lyons is arrogant of the show, and conscionable arsenic arrogant that it helps to enactment KUNV-FM, a nationalist vigor presumption that relies connected listeners for fiscal support. “I’ve ne'er been paid a penny for this show. I’m a volunteer,” Lyons says. “The happening I’m astir arrogant of for this amusement is, this amusement has raised implicit $300,000 for KUNV implicit 23 years.”
He’s besides gratified — and helium admits, “pleasantly surprised” — that helium and the amusement person been recognized for the uncommon niche helium has carved retired of Southern Nevada’s vigor landscape: induction into the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame successful 2014 and a Best of Las Vegas motion that aforesaid year.
“I had ne'er done this with immoderate volition to beryllium recognized” helium says. “I conscionable had the volition of having a abstraction connected the vigor to beryllium capable to play euphony due to the fact that I thought it was cool.”
Contact John Przybys astatine jprzybys@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JJPrzybys connected Twitter.
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